In his most recent address before a joint session of Congress, Obama falsely stated that illegal aliens would not have access to public health care. At that point Congressman Joe Wilson shouted out, “You lie!”

For that refreshing outburst of truth, former President Jimmy Carter called Joe Wilson a racist.

It made no difference to Jimmy Carter, or the liberal media who are still running with the story, that Wilson was correct. The provision that would have allowed illegal aliens access to health care was removed from the health care bill soon after Obama’s address. So, why are the media outlets continuing coverage of Wilson’s words and his two apologies?

Yet, when the Rev. Jeremiah Wright and Van Jones spewed their venom against whites, Jimmy Carter’s racism refrain and the liberal chorus behind him was strangely silent. Why is there little or no media coverage of Wright and Jones and no comparable cries of racism for their hatred of whites? The liberals and the media can’t have it both ways.

Liberals have routinely, systematically, and exhaustively used the word racist to strike fear into the hearts of anyone who would dare assert his First Amendment right to a dissenting opinion. But in a relentless onslaught of political correctness, people have been forced to couch their words, dance around issues, and reframe their views in dread of having the racists label pinned on them.

Before Michael Steele was the first black chairman of the Republican National Committee, he was the first black lieutenant governor of the state of Maryland — indeed, the first black person to ever win statewide election there. In 2006, Steele ran for the open U.S. Senate seat from Maryland and endured vicious attacks of racism from his own party and from fellow blacks.

In an egregious display of overt racism, Maryland Senate President Thomas V. Mike Miller Jr. called Steele an “Uncle Tom.” Miller is a white Democrat, and Jimmy Carter uttered not a word!

And Baltimore delegate Salima Siler Marriott, a black Democrat, compared Steele to “a slave who loves his cruel master or a cookie that is black on the outside and white inside.”

During Steele’s campaign rallies, black Democrats shouted “Oreo!” and threw Oreo cookies at him. Again, Jimmy Carter and the race-sensitive liberals voiced no outrage.

In 2005, black Congresswoman Maxine Waters said of then President Bush, “The president is a liar.” White Democrat Harry Reid echoed the charge: “President Bush is a liar. He betrayed Nevada and he betrayed the country.”

But no one called Maxine Waters a racist and no one demanded an apology from Harry Reid. The double standard is obvious, but I wonder if anyone is really listening.

Charges of racism are levied against anyone who questions the policies of America’s first black president. The cacophony has become so predictable, the label so threadbare, and the standard so unfair that the “racist” charge has now lost its sting.

Indeed, over the years, it is the liberals who have shown themselves to be the true racists. Liberal Democrats should learn: Crying racism is like crying wolf. After a while, no one heeds the cries!

Dianne Hermann formerly taught in Washington, D.C., schools for seven years before moving to Missouri. She currently teaches in the Joplin School District and lives in Joplin.