I love President Carter. He is the only former president who did not try and enrich himself after he left office and by some polls has acted more presidential since he left office than
when he was was in the White House. However, I think that he is off the farm on his view that the people attacking President Obama are racist.

To be sure there are some posters and graffiti that depict President Obama with stereotypical features as there have been some that depict him as Hitler. However, the early days of President Clinton's administration were full of attacks on him in every way. The attacks were so strong that when the Monica Lewinsky sex scandal surfaced no one believed it. People thought it was one more attack and one more anti- Clinton set up.

Even before Monica there were depictions of Clinton with a big liar nose. They attacked HillaryCare and every new program that Clinton announced. People called him socialist or worse. They accused him of being the "baby-killer-in-chief. They made fun of his eating habits, his saying he did not inhale and they mocked what he wore when he worked out.

No, these attacks on President Obama are not racist but it is symptomatic of a country that has gone awry with anger and divisiveness. It has been happening since Bill Clinton took office and show no signs of letting up. Racism as a factor in these attacks is secondary to the overall divide and lack of civility that has plagued America in the last two decades. Calling it racist is just one more divide from the other side.

Ellen Ratner is Washington bureau chief of Talk Radio News and a FOX News contributor.