CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- On the 50th anniversary of the West Virginia presidential primary, the uproar of the firing of Shirley Sherrod reminds us again of some of the similarities of both John Kennedy and Barack Obama.
Each president made history by their election (first Catholic and first black) and each downplayed either their religion or their race in their campaigns and in their administrations.
In the West Virginia primary, Kennedy was skittish about any action that would emphasize his Catholic faith in this overwhelmingly Protestant state.
During that campaign Kennedy wore his faith lightly - repeatedly reassuring voters that his religion would not influence his presidential action. He was not photographed with priests or taking Communion in the state. Jackie Kennedy related a story about the consternation of his staff at a luncheon in a West Virginia town when an Episcopal minister, charged with giving the prayer, was mistaken for a Catholic priest.
During the general election, some Catholics took issue with Kennedy's calculated effort to distance himself from his religion for electoral reasons. However, many saw it as a pragmatic avenue to an important victory, for they realized that a segment of the population harbored fears of a Catholic president.
In the White House, Kennedy was sensitive to these concerns that he would favor his co-religionists. Hence, his opposition to any form of aid to parochial schools and an appointment of an ambassador to the Vatican - both positions which future Protestant presidents would implement.
Kennedy's stand incurred the ire of the bishops and ultimately doomed his first domestic initiative.
Dr. Mark Massa at Fordham University contends that such "secularization" of the campaign and Kennedy's presidency actually harmed future Catholic candidates since the church hierarchy now sets a higher bar than was set for John Kennedy.
However, most Americans agree that Kennedy's caution did much to undermine anti-Catholic concerns in our nation.
Charlie Peters, founder of the Washington Monthly, has pointed out that the 1960s saw a dramatic reduction in anti-Catholic prejudice due as much to Kennedy's visibility as to his policies, for Americans were seeing a Catholic first family in the White House each day.
Most Americans expected that the election of Obama in 2008 marked a similar pivot point in American history, as the nation would now see a black first family in the White House. In fact, a CNN poll found that 51 percent of Americans, including 74 percent of blacks, believe that the Obama presidency has improved race relations.
The poor handling of the Shirley Sherrod firing, though, suggests that the Obama administration is too attentive to critics who have played up the fears that he would favor blacks.
CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- On the 50th anniversary of the West Virginia presidential primary, the uproar of the firing of Shirley Sherrod reminds us again of some of the similarities of both John Kennedy and Barack Obama.
Each president made history by their election (first Catholic and first black) and each downplayed either their religion or their race in their campaigns and in their administrations.
In the West Virginia primary, Kennedy was skittish about any action that would emphasize his Catholic faith in this overwhelmingly Protestant state.
During that campaign Kennedy wore his faith lightly - repeatedly reassuring voters that his religion would not influence his presidential action. He was not photographed with priests or taking Communion in the state. Jackie Kennedy related a story about the consternation of his staff at a luncheon in a West Virginia town when an Episcopal minister, charged with giving the prayer, was mistaken for a Catholic priest.
During the general election, some Catholics took issue with Kennedy's calculated effort to distance himself from his religion for electoral reasons. However, many saw it as a pragmatic avenue to an important victory, for they realized that a segment of the population harbored fears of a Catholic president.
In the White House, Kennedy was sensitive to these concerns that he would favor his co-religionists. Hence, his opposition to any form of aid to parochial schools and an appointment of an ambassador to the Vatican - both positions which future Protestant presidents would implement.
Kennedy's stand incurred the ire of the bishops and ultimately doomed his first domestic initiative.
Dr. Mark Massa at Fordham University contends that such "secularization" of the campaign and Kennedy's presidency actually harmed future Catholic candidates since the church hierarchy now sets a higher bar than was set for John Kennedy.
However, most Americans agree that Kennedy's caution did much to undermine anti-Catholic concerns in our nation.
Charlie Peters, founder of the Washington Monthly, has pointed out that the 1960s saw a dramatic reduction in anti-Catholic prejudice due as much to Kennedy's visibility as to his policies, for Americans were seeing a Catholic first family in the White House each day.
Most Americans expected that the election of Obama in 2008 marked a similar pivot point in American history, as the nation would now see a black first family in the White House. In fact, a CNN poll found that 51 percent of Americans, including 74 percent of blacks, believe that the Obama presidency has improved race relations.
The poor handling of the Shirley Sherrod firing, though, suggests that the Obama administration is too attentive to critics who have played up the fears that he would favor blacks.
How else to explain the hair-trigger reaction of the administration to an edited and misleading excerpt of a 43-minute speech on racial reconciliation? A speech that apparently no one in the White House, the Department of Agriculture, the NAACP and most news organizations bothered to check out or study.
An administration that was slow to take up the initiative on the Gulf oil spill was quick to react to a questionable and unfounded charge of racial bias. Fear apparently overtook the fact checking.
While the reaction of the Obama administration was disappointing, it was not unpredictable.
Like Kennedy's appeal among Protestants, part of Obama's appeal among whites is the fact that he doesn't talk about it much. During the campaign, he downplayed the race issue and, during his presidency, his critics have played up the fears that he would favor blacks.
Worried about a racial backlash, Obama downplayed the race issue during his campaign and, as president, has avoided comments and public-policy proposals that could be seen as favoring blacks over white people. He told the American Urban Radio Networks that, "I can't pass laws that say I'm just helping black folks. I'm president of the United States."
However, his actions have not stopped his extreme critics, and, as the Sherrod episode demonstrates, sensitivity to their charges has only strengthened them.
Obama would do well to remember the poem Kennedy recited in a speech to broadcasters in 1962. The doggerel by the Spanish bullfighter, Domingo Ortega went:
Bullfight critics ranked in rows
Crowd the enormous Plaza full
But only one is there who knows
And he's the man who fights the bull.
Rupp, a political history professor at West Virginia Wesleyan College, is a Gazette contributing columnist.
