ALLEN WEST: DON'T PLAY THE RACE CARD, DEMOCRATS -- THAT'S MY JOB

African-American teabag congressman Allen West of Florida writes on his Facebook page:

Mr. President, please don't play the race card in 2012

... why is it that we continue to hear charges of racism emanating from the left, and most disturbingly, from the White House itself? It seems anytime there is criticism of the President or any of his black members of his administration, such as Attorney General Eric Holder, that criticism is decried as racist.

Mr. Holder recently said of his critics, "This is a way to get at the president because of the way I can be identified with him, both due to the nature of our relationship and, you know, the fact that we’re both African-American." In other words, he insinuated Republicans -- along with Conservatives and Tea Party members -- are incapable of judging anyone solely by their character, something I take very personally.

Mr. Holder and others need to know, the criticism of the President is not of his person, but of his policies, which have clearly failed our nation--and most tragically of all in this supposedly post-racial period --have failed the black community....

As we proceed into this general election cycle, it would be a disgrace if Mr. Holder's comment is the first salvo in the upcoming campaign to deflect honest assessment of the President's performance in office. This campaign must be about ideas, policy and the direction of this country, and the President must not hide behind a curtain of so-called racial bias.

All Americans, black or white – and every shade in between – must be allowed to voice their opinions, level their criticisms and engage in candid discussion without fear of being labeled "racist" simply because of the color of their skin. This is precisely what Dr. Martin Luther King spoke of so eloquently, and what we celebrate today.

For a guy who doesn't like it when the race card is played, Allen West sure likes playing the race card. Here he is talking to Laura Ingraham on Fox News this past August:

REP. ALLEN WEST, R-FLA.: ... When you had unemployment in the black community, 16.3 percent in July and it dropped down to 15.9 percent for the month of August, that's not in the right direction. So you have this 21st century plantation that has been out there where the Democrat Party has forever taken the black vote for granted and you have established certain black leaders who are nothing more than the overseers of that plantation and now the people on the plantation are upset because they have been disregarded, disrespected and their concerns are not cared about. So I'm here as the modern day Harriet Tubman to kind of lead people on the underground railroad away from that plantation into a sense of sensibility.

INGRAHAM: Now, you are saying Maxine Waters is the plantation boss at this point?

WEST: Well, absolutely because what you end up having, you know, I'm going to be brutally honest, is that white liberals have turned over to certain leaders, "perceived leaders" in the black community like a Jesse Jackson, Al Sharpton or Maxine Waters or Barbara Lee and said, you know, pacify and keep the black community firmly behind us regardless of the failures of our social welfare policies. You look at the devastation in the black communities. You look at what's happened in the inner cities of Chicago or Detroit. You look at the riots and the things that are happening already in Philadelphia.

INGRAHAM: The flash mobs. Where the heck is Sharpton and Jesse Jackson, Barbara Lee, Maxine Waters on the flash mobs? Where are they on those?

WEST: That's my point....

And you have West during the 2008 election:

My advice to Senator Obama is to run as a Man and Leader, and the American people will evaluate you as such, not as a victim. This is a Presidential race, based solely on a capacity to lead the United States of America. It is not about skin tone....

It also seems rather humorous that the Presidential candidate who was supposed to be such a "uniter" and transcend race is the one talking about it the most. If Senator Obama was confident in his abilities and character, he would not need to create a crutch for failure. Senator Obama has just tipped his hand, any criticism of him and his policies will be directly attributed to racism. I congratulate Senator Obama for taking race relations in America back some 30 years.

And here's Allen West a month ago:

Rep. Allen West suggested Thursday that Democrat Lois Frankel is running against him because "maybe she likes running against black guys."

The conservative freshman firebrand made the comment during an interview with POLITICO about his 2012 election plans, dubbing Frankel a political retread.

"She's a career politician looking for her next gig," West said of Frankel, adding that the mayor herself ran in another district against Rep. Alcee Hastings (D-Fla.). "Maybe she likes running against black guys," he continued, referring to a prior race with Hastings, who is also black....

West is a black guy who claims to want post-racial politics, and what does he do? He picks a racial fight -- on Martin Luther King Day. He's just being precisely what he claims to hate.