It’s fine to be passionate about something. But it’s also good to remember that the word “ass” is within the word passion.

That’s my free advice to both U.S. Rep. Joe Wilson and Kanye West. The congressman and the entertainer each made a complete ass of himself on national television in the past week. And both men did it while saying something they were passionate about.

I have no doubt Wilson believes President Obama was not telling the truth about coverage for illegal immigrants in the health care reform bill. Similarly, I have no doubt that Kanye West thinks Beyoncé made the best music video ever and should have won the VMA award for it rather than Taylor Swift taking the prize.

But most of all, I have no doubt that both men were stunningly rude and totally inappropriate in the expression of their opinion. Wilson’s behavior was inexcusable on the floor of the House in Washington, D.C., while West’s behavior was inexcusable on the stage of Radio City in New York. From the halls of Congress to the music hall, rude ruled. 

That said, neither man’s comments struck me as racist, or even racial, in nature. While the white congressman insulted the black president and the black rapper insulted the white country girl, I do not think that means either incident was predicated on race.

Indeed, does anyone doubt that Wilson would have made the same outburst over the same issue at President Hillary Clinton? Or President John Edwards? Or for that matter, President John McCain?

Wilson’s opposition to health care reform seems to me to be ideological, not racial. Any president of any color, any sex or any party who crossed his rigid (or principled, take your pick) stance on the health care bill would have been subjected to the same “You lie!” verbal abuse.

Similarly, does anyone doubt that Kanye West would have seized the microphone from Paula Abdul (who made one of the all time great music videos herself) to proclaim his undying admiration for Beyoncé? These incidents were about rudeness, not racism.

Which brings us to Maureen Dowd. The New York Times columnist, whose work has often ricocheted between the brilliant and the inane, veered to the latter with a column that was not only disingenuous but dangerous.

Dowd took it upon herself to declare that what Congressman Wilson meant to say to President Obama was “You lie, boy.” Having dropped that into the punchbowl, she then proceeded to essentially blame racism for the president’s difficulties.

It seems lost on Dowd, and others who are advancing that view, that Obama is the president. He won the election. In fact, he won it easily. Moreover, he even carried three states of the confederacy (Florida, North Carolina and Virginia). It’s hard to see the racism in that kind of victory.

In my view, Dowd does Obama no favors with this approach. Bill Clinton took on the same health care fight and faced the same withering criticism over it. To suggest that the ideological opposition that continuously ripped Clinton from the right (and Bush from the left) is now based on race is to ignore that reality. Much worse, it serves to incite racial tension and distrust.

In Dowd’s world, what a difference a few months makes: from a post-racial America inaugurating its first African-American president to a racist nation in which that president is being attacked merely because he is black.

You can’t have it both ways.

Much to his credit, Obama refuses to go along. He knows he is the president, knows the responsibility the job carries with it and knows he cannot let ideological differences be cast as a racial divide. While America is in fact neither post-racial nor racist, but instead lies somewhere in between, the progress that has been made cannot be abandoned.

As for Joe Wilson and Kanye West, grow up gentlemen.  

Fisher is president of Fisher Communications, a Columbia advertising and public relations firm. He is active in local issues involving the arts, conservation, business and politics. Let us know what you think: Email editor@free-times.com.