Obama & Race
Posted 06-26-2008 at 04:50 PM by Jason Marcel
Cheap shots in American politics are to be expected, especially in the presidential campaign. But in American politics, something a little uglier runs as an undercurrent under many campaigns sometimes, and it makes for great drama. Canadian politics is filled with stick figures and polite bureaucrats. People make their points and move on. But in America, there's a grandiosity to it. A theatricality. It's as though screenwriters are helping things along in speeches. American politicians use tons of poetry and inspirational words and sentiments. "You're not selling the car....you're selling yourself!". And that idea has transformed the way Americans do business.
Now that two full weeks have passed in the presidential campaign, we're beginning to get a good idea about the tactics that each campaign will use. Obama has decided to start selling himself, placing ads in nearly 20 states, many of which are Republican strongholds, with a sprinkling of ads in swing states such as Nevada, which is now up for grabs what with McCain's nuclear ambitions. Meanwhile, McCain has been playing the "I'm the one with experience" card, like if he didn't tell us this we wouldn't know.
If the campaign rolls on this way, Obama will win handily, since Hillary lost on the "experience" factor. That dog don't hunt, and McCain will need to shift strategies fairly soon. Two weeks the go, the "poll of polls" had them tied. Now Obama is up 48% to McCain's 40%. This marks the first time either of them has a lead outside the margin of error.
The right-wing machine is just getting cooking, and Karl Rove this past week is now making speeches trying to brand Obama as a "snob", an "elitist", and "arrogant".
Obama is smartly readying for an attack by the right-wing, stating to his supporters that they'll use just about any tactic if they think it will ensure victory. This is a no-brainer in American politics. Mudwhistle has a baiting thread asking if "Obama is starting a race war". There is absolutely no evidence of this whatsoever.
During the last 18 months, Obama hasn't played the race card yet. The Clintons did, and it hurt them. The Clintons also used the gender card, and that didn't help them either. I believe American citizens are beyond all this crap, but there are, of course, those out there who will use any tactic to smear the other guy.
Obama is readying for a race attack, and that's a pretty smart thing to do. John Kerry took far too long to respond to the Swiftboat accusations. The minute that story broke he should have come out swinging the next day, but instead waited nearly two weeks to do anything. Imagine if the Democrats tried to accuse McCain of being weak for giving into his captors in Vietnam and admitting that America had committed atrocities there. They wouldn't stand for it. Republicans know how to deal with attacks better, and they know how to attack better. If McCain's story was the same as Kerry's, the Republicans would be shoving it down everyone's throats how brave McCain was, and if anybody said otherwise they'd kick your ass.
But let's rewind to the 2000 primaries. The right-wing machine discredited McCain unfairly by sending out all that information to voters that McCain had had a black child out of wedlock. This was said to have derailed McCain's chances, just when it looked like he might be able to take on Bush after having whipped him in New Hampshire. The Republican machine used the race card on of it's own, and the guy was white. Yes, he and his wife adopted a black baby, but the truth got lost amid all the gossip and banalities on tv, radio, and in American culture in general.
It's this same fringe group of players who are so happy to use Obama's middle name of Hussein at every opportunity; the same people who claim he's muslim and went to a madrasah, another false claim. But it's not even reserved to a right-wing fringe, as we saw Obama have to deal with it during the primaries.
Overall, I think all the statements that are really passive-aggressive and baiting are mostly trolling and not very useful. Surely we can discuss race in a more intelligent way.
I don't support McCain or Obama, but they ought to be defended by all Americans against the pettiness of race-baiting and ageism that too frequently occupy the online world and in parts of the rest of the media.
But this kind of stuff plays right into what I've been saying about American politics and culture of our times; that as long as the two-party system in America demands that Americans tear each other apart, we won't really see any progress on the major challenges of our time.
Is it cynical to ready one's self for the ugly undercurrent where a fringe of right-wing players may try to spread vile untruths about Obama? Perhaps it is cynical, but it's the reality of American politics. There is ugliness on both sides of the political spectrum in America, but the right-wing machine occupies a special place there, and it begs the question why so many of them are so unpatriotic as to want to assassinate another American's character so zealously.
The Democrats are weaker than Republicans in many ways, but at least they give McCain the respect that a military man deserves.
Now that two full weeks have passed in the presidential campaign, we're beginning to get a good idea about the tactics that each campaign will use. Obama has decided to start selling himself, placing ads in nearly 20 states, many of which are Republican strongholds, with a sprinkling of ads in swing states such as Nevada, which is now up for grabs what with McCain's nuclear ambitions. Meanwhile, McCain has been playing the "I'm the one with experience" card, like if he didn't tell us this we wouldn't know.
If the campaign rolls on this way, Obama will win handily, since Hillary lost on the "experience" factor. That dog don't hunt, and McCain will need to shift strategies fairly soon. Two weeks the go, the "poll of polls" had them tied. Now Obama is up 48% to McCain's 40%. This marks the first time either of them has a lead outside the margin of error.
The right-wing machine is just getting cooking, and Karl Rove this past week is now making speeches trying to brand Obama as a "snob", an "elitist", and "arrogant".
Obama is smartly readying for an attack by the right-wing, stating to his supporters that they'll use just about any tactic if they think it will ensure victory. This is a no-brainer in American politics. Mudwhistle has a baiting thread asking if "Obama is starting a race war". There is absolutely no evidence of this whatsoever.
During the last 18 months, Obama hasn't played the race card yet. The Clintons did, and it hurt them. The Clintons also used the gender card, and that didn't help them either. I believe American citizens are beyond all this crap, but there are, of course, those out there who will use any tactic to smear the other guy.
Obama is readying for a race attack, and that's a pretty smart thing to do. John Kerry took far too long to respond to the Swiftboat accusations. The minute that story broke he should have come out swinging the next day, but instead waited nearly two weeks to do anything. Imagine if the Democrats tried to accuse McCain of being weak for giving into his captors in Vietnam and admitting that America had committed atrocities there. They wouldn't stand for it. Republicans know how to deal with attacks better, and they know how to attack better. If McCain's story was the same as Kerry's, the Republicans would be shoving it down everyone's throats how brave McCain was, and if anybody said otherwise they'd kick your ass.
But let's rewind to the 2000 primaries. The right-wing machine discredited McCain unfairly by sending out all that information to voters that McCain had had a black child out of wedlock. This was said to have derailed McCain's chances, just when it looked like he might be able to take on Bush after having whipped him in New Hampshire. The Republican machine used the race card on of it's own, and the guy was white. Yes, he and his wife adopted a black baby, but the truth got lost amid all the gossip and banalities on tv, radio, and in American culture in general.
It's this same fringe group of players who are so happy to use Obama's middle name of Hussein at every opportunity; the same people who claim he's muslim and went to a madrasah, another false claim. But it's not even reserved to a right-wing fringe, as we saw Obama have to deal with it during the primaries.
Overall, I think all the statements that are really passive-aggressive and baiting are mostly trolling and not very useful. Surely we can discuss race in a more intelligent way.
I don't support McCain or Obama, but they ought to be defended by all Americans against the pettiness of race-baiting and ageism that too frequently occupy the online world and in parts of the rest of the media.
But this kind of stuff plays right into what I've been saying about American politics and culture of our times; that as long as the two-party system in America demands that Americans tear each other apart, we won't really see any progress on the major challenges of our time.
Is it cynical to ready one's self for the ugly undercurrent where a fringe of right-wing players may try to spread vile untruths about Obama? Perhaps it is cynical, but it's the reality of American politics. There is ugliness on both sides of the political spectrum in America, but the right-wing machine occupies a special place there, and it begs the question why so many of them are so unpatriotic as to want to assassinate another American's character so zealously.
The Democrats are weaker than Republicans in many ways, but at least they give McCain the respect that a military man deserves.
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