'Bro', 'Brother', 'Dude', 'Cool Daddy', 'CAT",

are all names that I've personally been called in the past to clearly annotate that I was the different one in the room, the meeting, on the team, or at the social event. President Carter's words are being parsed, "segregated" and dismissed as poorly timed, when in actuality they apply all the time.

President Bush's latest off the cuff comments about then Presidential Candidate Barack Obama, as recanted by Matt Latimer, were yet another confirmation of just how pervasive and true the point that President Carter was trying to make was. I don't know President Bush, nor am I implying that he is a racist. But I do believe that he as well as the overwhelming majority of whites in this country would never refer to another white man as a "Cat!" Not only was President Bush calling Candidate Obama unqualified (which is his right do so), he was also separating Obama from the herd of "real" potential candidates. He was so overtly but unsuspectingly putting the then Senator on a rung below the rest of the field.

I've been in many circles where I was the only black person and have had the group at large come up with some prefix, connotation, or current colloquialism to use in referring to me, the one who is accepted but sill different. It's flatly clear to me when whites are talking about another black person on their job or in another circle because there is always a peculiar preface about the person, or an intentional extra adjective such as "Dude", "Cool", or otherwise added to the conversation. I know the nomenclature, I know the after stare to check to see if I object to the mal-reference, I am well aware of the rationalization to follow if I ask why the person made the mal-reference.

The easy defense tactic for many is to play the false equivalency game by showing that if there is one Teabagger, Birther, Deather or any other group member that opposes the President who is not a racist, then President Carter's entire argument is false. Well unfortunately, no only were President Carter's properly framed, he did not in any way charge that all who oppose the President were racists, or racially motivated.

President Carter's main point was that many in this country are now engaged in purposely diminishing and disrespecting the office of the Presidency because it is more comforting to them to delegitimize President Obama than to oppose his policies on the merits. President Carter is acknowledging the fact that many who consider themselves as the most Patriotic Americans find it more comforting to discredit the office of the Presidency rather than to accept a person different from themselves in that office. President Carter is acknowledging the fact that nowhere other than a bar, a brawl or some other venue that has no rules of etiquette at all would it be acceptable to discredit a persons office or occupation the way ease and ambivalence that many do today.

If the idea of a Black Man being President is so far a mental leap for a former President, that he could so flippantly dismiss the candidate that has earned more money than any other in political history, then it is no wonder that probably 1/5th of the country that he leads shares that same mindset.

So while the Obama White House Administration rightfully sees President Carter's remarks as a distraction and knows that his words could be used divisively, the Bush White House has clearly confirmed just how wise President Carter is.