Tea party Rep. Joe Walsh (R-IL) thinks that the color of the president's skin will play a big part in next year's election.

"[Y]ou see this administration playing class warfare and race warfare games," Media Research Center's Brent Bozell told Walsh during a recent interview. "Now, that’s their problem. But what does it say about the national media that they are aiding and abetting this by not exposing the dishonesty here?"

"This guy pushed every one of the media’s buttons," Walsh replied. "He was liberal, he was different, he was new, he was black. Oh my God, it was the potpourri of everything."

"They are so vested in our first black president not being a failure that it's going to be amazing to watch the lengths they go to to protect him."

Earlier this year, Walsh claimed that Obama was elected because he was black.

"Why was he elected? Again, it comes back to who he was. He was black, he was historic," Walsh told Slate's Dave Weigel in May. "They were in love with him because they thought he was a good liberal guy and they were in love with him because he pushed that magical button: a black man who was articulate, liberal, the whole white guilt, all of that."

(H/T: ThinkProgress)