Well to be entirely honest, this took longer than I expected.
Of course, by claiming that Obama is playing the “race card” (I can’t take that phrase seriously), McCain is in no way playing the “race card” himself. You see, McCain is white, and everyone knows that white people don’t have a race, and definitely not any privilege to go along with it, let alone a race card! (Hey, I was never issued one when I lined up to get my “gender card.”)
At least the Times was smart enough (no, really!) to note that McCain was the one bringing up race here and trying to garner publicity for the “issue.” But they’ve also been stupid enough to give McCain precisely what he’s after.
With his rejoinder about playing “the race card,” Mr. Davis effectively assured that race would once again become an unavoidable issue as voters face an election in which, for the first time, one of the major parties’ nominees is African-American.
And with its criticism, the McCain campaign was ensuring that Mr. Obama’s race — he is the son of a black man from Kenya and a white woman from Kansas — would again be a factor in coverage of the presidential race. On Thursday, it took the spotlight from Mr. Obama when he had sought to attack Mr. McCain on energy issues.
In other words, McCain has used Obama’s comments about Republicans in general as a means to not only be the poor victimized white guy, but also to do exactly what Obama said the Republicans would do. Desperate or actually clever? I’m not even sure anymore.
I do know that if McCain didn’t want to bring Obama’s race into it, like he so vehemently claims, he wouldn’t have. After all, one can say “those who claim that this commercial had any racial motivation are entirely wrong” if that’s the lie message they’re trying to get across, without screaming “the black guy — you know, the candidate who’s running for president against me who just so happens to be black while I just so happen to be white — is oppressing me with his blackness! Woe is me, I can’t help being white!”
By the way, if you missed the reason why the ad in question is considered my many to be racially motivated, I get that. Honestly, it took a bit of prodding to get me to see it for anything other than your standard low-blow, too. Bob Herbert thoughtfully explains the problem, and how it’s not just some weird coincidence. We’re looking at a pattern, and while Republicans may be out of touch and just plain horrid, they’re not stupid. They know what they’re doing. And if they don’t want the left to keep bringing up their racist tactics, I guess they ought to stop using them to win elections.
{ 6 comments }
tooooootally! arg.
I also didn’t originally see why the ad was being connected to race, but that Bob Herbert piece was great – thanks for linking it!
It seems like the Republicans are doing quite a job of backing Obama into a corner. If McCain continues with these attacks that are subtly racist and Obama doesn’t speak out, then the public can accept those messages. But if Obama does speak out then McCain gets to whine that he’s playing the race card. It’s a genius move by the Republicans really. The more Obama addresses race, the more they can set up an us and them mentality. Divide and conquer, right? Because the day people actually learn how to vote based on… I don’t know… the ISSUES and the many problems we need to get fixed in this country, thats the day the Republicans lose the election.
Cara, have you ever seen this article on the race card?
I find it deconstructs the whole thing very nicely.
That is, generally speaking. It’s not specifically about McCain, I was simply reminded.
These tactics are so vile. :(
Our media needs to start doing its job. Anyone with a brain clearly knows that McCain is the one who is playing the race card. Also, the Huffington Post mentioned that he had a racist ad on his site in June.
Here’s another article deconstructing one of the McCain ads and pointing out how it paints Obama as the Anti-Christ using imagery from the Left Behind books.
Comments on this entry are closed.