WASHINGTON ( CNN ) -- Race and politics are a combustible combo that explodes into headlines when an ex-president lights the fuse , as Jimmy Carter did recently . President Obama during the 2008 campaign faced questions over race and politics . `` When a radical fringe element of demonstrators and others begin to attack the president of the United States as an animal or as a reincarnation of Adolf Hitler or when they wave signs in the air that said we should have buried Obama with Kennedy , those kinds of things are beyond the bounds , '' the Democrat told students at Emory University on Wednesday . `` I think people who are guilty of that kind of personal attack against Obama have been influenced to a major degree by a belief that he should not be president because he happens to be African-American , '' he added . The controversy erupted this week when Carter first raised the race issue to NBC . `` An overwhelming portion of the intensely demonstrated animosity toward President Obama is based on the fact that he is a black man , '' he said . Bill Cosby , a black comedian and actor , said Wednesday in a written statement that he agrees with Carter . `` During President Obama 's speech on the status of health care reform , some members of Congress engaged in a public display of disrespect , '' he said . CNN contributor David Gergen said that some of the allegations of race-baiting might have some weight among Democratic voters . `` Jimmy Carter , I 'm afraid , is not alone in his views , '' he said . But Gergen warns that the racists tend to be on the fringes of the right and do not reflect on the greater field of opponents to Obama 's ideology . `` But I think it 's wrongheaded , and I think it 's unfair , and I think it 's indeed a libel upon many of the opponents , most of the opponents of health care reform , to say that they 're racist , '' he said . `` Seven previous presidents have tried to bring health care reforms of this kind . All seven have failed . And , as I recall , all seven were white . '' Carter 's comments , though , are the kind that raise people 's defenses . In particular , they turn off independents , who by nature tend to hate the hard edges of politics . The White House , for its part , wants no part of the Carter controversy . `` The president does not believe that that criticism comes based on the color of his skin , '' said White House press secretary Robert Gibbs . As a candidate , Obama understood the political danger in letting his race become a major topic . He largely avoided it when he could , but race was always a subtext , as it is now in his presidency . `` But I can also say , frankly , that this White House and even his campaign were very afraid to even go down this road dealing with anything with race , '' said CNN contributor Roland Martin . Carter also told NBC that there is an `` inherent feeling among many people in this country that an African-American ought not to be president and ought not to be given the same respect as if he were white . '' Framing criticism as racism cropped up several times during the campaign . When Geraldine Ferraro , a Clinton supporter , said during the 2008 Democratic primaries that Obama would never have gotten as far as he had if he had not been black , candidate Obama pointedly left race out of it . `` I think that her comments were ridiculous , '' Obama said at the time . But Ferraro blamed Obama supporters for her hate mail , saying `` I have been called all kinds of names . And the attacks are ageist . They 're sexist . They 're racist . '' iReport.com : Freedom from speech ? And the topic of race even came to haunt Bill Clinton , the so-called first black president . Before the New Hampshire primary in January 2008 , Clinton told an audience that `` there 's no difference in [ Obama 's ] voting record and Hillary 's ever since . Give me a break . This whole thing is the biggest fairy tale I have ever seen . '' Some interpreted that as belittling Obama 's campaign . After much criticism , Clinton later said he was talking about Obama 's opposition to the war in Iraq , not his campaign . But those two words -- `` fairy tale '' -- launched weeks worth of accusations , sometimes on the front page of The New York Times , that the Clintons were playing the race card . iReport.com : Share your thoughts on race and politics . Some observers said Carter 's statement was far too broad , and that many of the attacks on Obama are about policy , not race . `` I do n't think one can paint a broad brush in saying that all of these folks who have criticism , anybody who criticizes the president ... is based upon the issue of race , '' Martin said . Mary Matalin , a CNN contributor and Republican strategist , said Carter 's criticism is `` absurd . '' `` It 's very dangerous politics , '' she said . `` Barack Obama got , in the last election , more white male voters than any of his predecessors . ... Republicans and conservatives and Democrats and liberals , the whole country felt very good putting -- setting aside policies after his election . ''
Former President Carter says criticism of Obama is largely based on race . Carter does n't say criticism is based on color of his skin , spokesman says . CNN contributor : Carter should n't use such broad strokes on racism . GOP leader says all the racism controversy is ` ` absurd ''