New York Times: President Obama said Friday that he did not believe his race was the cause of fierce criticism aimed at his administration in the contentious national debate over health care, but rather that the cause was a sense of suspicion and distrust many Americans have in their government.

"Are there people out there who don't like me because of race? I'm sure there are," Mr. Obama told CNN. "That's not the overriding issue here."

In five separate television interviews at the White House, Mr. Obama said he did not agree with former President Jimmy Carter's assertion that racism was fueling the opposition to his administration. He described himself as just the latest in a line of presidents whose motives had been questioned because they were trying to enact major change.

New York Times (9-16-09): In an interview Wednesday shortly after meeting privately with Mr. Obama in the Oval Office, Colin L. Powell, secretary of state under Mr. Bush, said: "You can find pictures where Bush was called all kinds of names, with all sorts of banners being held up and burned in effigy. I've seen it in every presidency."

Mr. Powell said he believed that Mr. Obama might be facing even more apparent hostility but that the blame lay not necessarily with racial bias, but instead with the partisan culture of the Internet and cable news and the way they amplify the more extreme voices.

"The issue there is not race, it's civility," Mr. Powell said. "This is not to say that we are suddenly racially pure, but constantly talking about it and reducing everything to black versus white is not helpful to the cause of restoring civility to our public dialogue."

Last Sunday, Maureen Dowd penned a story in which she lashed out against Representative Joe Wilson, whom she "heard" utter the phrase "You lie, boy," instead of "You lie," where "boy" is a racist term.

But Ms. Dowd forgot to practice what she preaches, for in 2008, she employed "boy" on several occasions against Barack Obama:

• America's pretty boy

• Wonder boy

• Boy wonder

• Glib golden boy.

On a related note, this was not the first time Dowd "imagined" things:

DAILY HOWLER (9-16-09): But people! Maureen Dowd doesn't do policy! She simply decides whose side she is currently on, then starts to dream and imagine. For years, she imagined things which savaged Big Democrats, helping send George Bush to the White House. (In November 2000, she imagined Candidate Gore before a mirror, singing "I Feel Pretty." Two days later, Florida voted.) Now, she imagines quite different things--but she remains a cosmic idiot.

Link to Dowd's original anti-Gore "I feel pretty," portraying him as an effeminate narcissist.

This is the snake the liberal blogosphere fell in love with on September 13th, 2009.

CBS (9-14-09): Kroft (from 60 minutes show) asked Mr. Obama if he thought the House should rebuke Wilson. 

The president chuckled and said, "But see, this is part of what happens. I mean, it becomes a big circus instead of us focusing on health care." 

Today was Josh Marshall's turn among the race-baiting high-minded liberals who pretend not to remember that a man fired 29 shots at the White House in an assassination attempt against Bill Clinton for which he now serves 40 years. He praises a column by Maureen Dowd, who said that she "imagined" Joe Wilson saying "You lie boy," rather than "you lie." There is no story Dowd cannot twist and turn in order to fit her desired narrative.
Some people "cannot or will not accept that a black man is the President of the United States," Josh says, ignoring that those same people would not accept Hillary Clinton either.
Why didn't conservatives go around attacking black Supreme Court nominee Clarence Thomas during the confirmation hearings? Because he was an ultraconsevative, just like them. 
What is the magnitude of Republican hatred against Michael Steele? nonexistent. Republicans only attack Steele when he says something not conservative enough.Michael Steele is black.
If Barack Obama were a Republican, conservatives would love him. He would still be black.
Glenn Greenwald has a list of  very nasty attacks on Bubba (false accusastions of rape, calls for a special prosecutor to investigate the possibility that Bill Cl;inton killed Vince Foster, the booing of the President because he was perceived to be illegitimate for failing to gather 50% of the vote against Ross Perot).
Etcetera.
Playing the race card works in a primary, against a white Democrat such as Hillary Clinton who everyone hates, because of the way the media is structured. In a primary, left, center and right-wing outlets agree to pretend that the statement "Obama's Iraq policy is a fairy tale" is racist. Drudge fakes outrage. David Brooks feigns praise for Hillary's rival, and Rush Limbaugh waits until Obama's victory is imminent before he "supports" Hillary in order to undermine the future Presidential candidate.
But post-election times are different. Playing the race card during the Gates incident backfired. Polls showed sympathy for Crowley.
Because Republicans control the media.
Today, what could have been a post-speech bump became nothing due to what I believe is the incessant harassment of southern whites, who must be pissed off that everything from "you lie" to a joker poster created by a Dennis Kucinich supporter is racist. We have heard more about Joe Wilson than about Obama's effective speech.
Keep playing the race card at your own risk.