Washington Post Says Presidents Obama and Carter are "Voter Suppressors" and Against "Civil Rights"

In an editorial entitled “Voter suppression is the civil rights issue of this era,” The Washington Post tried to liken Republicans and President Trump’s bipartisan Presidential Advisory Commission on Election Integrity as somehow tied to efforts to protect “confederate statues” and anti-civil rights Jim Crow laws.  The obvious problem with this is it was Southern Democrats who put up these statues and enacted the Jim Crow laws.  

The less obvious problem is a living Democrat President and a living Democrat President's Commission not only disagree with the examples they cite as “voter suppression” but support them.  First is President Obama whose Presidential Commission on Election Administration called for voter lists to “come as close as possible to creating an accurate database of all eligible voters.”  The Post considers this effort to remove ineligible names from the voter rolls “purging.”  The Post further calls for "[pushing back hard against" this activity, and therefore the recommendations of President Obama's Commission, and says "this should be a paramount cause for [civil rights in] the Trump era.”  In other words, President Obama's Commission (which was co-chaired by his campaign lawyer and White House Counsel, Bob Bauer) is a vote suppressor and anti-civil rights because of its support for accurate voter rolls. 

Another item The Post demands “[p]ushing back hard against [are] those who . . . demand forms of voter ID that many Americans don’t possess . . . this should be a paramount cause for [civil rights in] the Trump era. “  Well, Jimmy Carter not only accepted a report that called for voter ID, he co-chaired the effort. 

With their support of list maintenance and voter ID, President Obama's Commission and President Carter are, according to The Washington Post’s logic, “vote suppressors” and opposed to civil rights.  This is ridiculous, but not as ridiculous as The Post's attempts to tie reasonable bipartisan efforts to ensure the integrity of the election to statues of Confederate generals.  Shame on The Post.