As a result of the right’s preemptive strike on the racial front, liberals have remained dangerously silent in the face of the most egregious acts of racism against Obama to date. It is for this reason that Representative Joe Wilson could heckle Obama during his Congressional address and only be challenged for his rudeness rather than his racism. Although he has received a formal reprimand from the House of Representatives (the political equivalent of an after-school detention) such a punishment is nothing more than a badge of honor that enhances Wilson’s street cred amongst those who were happy to see the nation’s first black president “put in his place.” This type of political cowardice from Democrats only emboldens the right to continue prosecuting its war of racial terror.