That tattered, dog-eared race card has been hauled out once again by President Obama, to explain-away his decline in public esteem to Nixonian levels. Bloomberg and the New York Post both pick up on a nugget buried in David Reminick's hagiographic, endless New Yorker article based on his interviews with the C-in-C.

"There's no doubt that there's some folks who just really dislike me because they don't like the idea of a black president."

The saving grace is that Obama acknowledges the converse:

"Now, the flip side of it is there are some black folks and maybe some white folks who really like me and give me the benefit of the doubt precisely because I'm a black president."

Points for honesty. But what would be better would be some attempt at estimating the two factions. Perhaps noting the black support in the 95% range and the persistence of that support even as other voters have turned away.  Also some acknowledgement that whites initially gave him very high levels of support early in his first term. Racism cannot explian away his delcine in the polls. That is entirely due to his own behavior in office.

My own view is yes, there are a few stone racists out there who simply hate blacks. But they are a miniscule minority in today's America. White racism has become the most socially unacceptable position of all, and is expressed only by people who stand as outcasts from society. Among blacks, expressions of anti-white and anti-Asian racism is less subject to censure, and may account for a substantially higher minority than racism among whites.

It's just too bad that Obama continues to reach for the race card.