Jimmy Carter says Barack Obama's critics on health-care reform are racists. "There is an inherent feeling among many in this country that an African-American should not be president," the former president said recently.

Mr. Carter is no doubt right that some Americans want Obama to fail simply because he is black, but in the case of health-care reform, we think the former president is wrongly equating criticism of ideas with prejudice against the man offering the ideas.

Indeed, until two weeks ago, Mr. Obama had offered no concrete ideas on health-care reform, and yet the health-care debate in this country was already months old. Long before Mr. Obama spoke to a joint session of Congress, Rep. Bob Etheridge was in Smithfield getting an earful from his constituents. The same was happening in town-hall meetings across the country.

But regardless of who proposed what and when, we don't think the color of Mr. Obama's skin has much to do with opposition to some ideas for reforming health care. Even if Mr. Obama were white, we think conservatives would still oppose the so-called "public option," which they fear would eventually spell the end of private health insurance -- and competition -- in America. And even if Mr. Obama were white, we think older adults would still oppose any reform that took money out of Medicare.

It's important to remember also that President Bill Clinton tried his hand at health-care reform. That was 16 years ago, and Mr. Clinton lost, not because he was white, but because America wanted none of what he was offering. His idea, according to Wikipedia, was to require employers to offer health insurance through competitive but highly regulated health-maintenance organizations.

Mr. Obama has said that he would like to be remembered as the president who happened to be black, not the black who happened to become president. Mr. Carter isn't helping him by seeing racism in Americans who are raising honest objections to policy proposals.