It appears to me that the McCain campaign may be executing a classic "Race? Not me!" campaign.Agree? Disagree? Comments are open.
The past 24 hours reflect exactly how to pull it off with nary a fingerprint that matters.
First you help inject race into the campaign and raise its focus as an issue (as the McCain campaign did yesterday with a little door opening from Obama himself).
Second - this unleashes energy and anger in the African American community (energy that often the African American candidate, Obama, can not control). Leaders like James Clyburn take to the airwaves - and cable channels have two African Americans debate who is or isn't raising race. In any case black faces dominate the cable airwaves and some of those faces are angry.
Third - McCain then appears to speak in front of an all black audience. White swing voters think "see, he isn't racist". And if the crowd applauds so much the better, if it boos him for tactics real or imagined white swing voters see a white guy "who is at least trying" and angry blacks who are not being duly appreciative - either way it isn't good for Obama.
Coincidence?
Ever since McCain's NAACP speech that seemed to me to be directed at white swing voters and not at African Americans I have believed that the McCain campaign is adept at understanding how to raise race as an issue and use it to its advantage. Is a pattern emerging?
« The Tao Of Schmidt | Main | McCain Camp Mocks Prophetic Obama » Provocation Of The Day: Joe Trippi On McCain And Race01 Aug 2008 12:26 pm
I definitely want to solicit a response to this, but here's a thought from Joe Trippi:
TrackBackListed below are links to weblogs that reference Provocation Of The Day: Joe Trippi On McCain And Race:
» McCain’s Use of the Race Card from Liberal Values Comments (70)
umm, the GOP has been using racial animosities to win elections for decades. is anyone surprised by this? 
Trippi is right, but I don't want to talk about it, as it only helps the republicans to waylay the Obama campaign. So, do you think the country is on the right track?
It's McCain's fault that Obama is playing the race card? I'm surprised Trippi didn't push the meme that the "Celebrity" ad was aimed at portraying Obama as a predator and the 2 helpless white blondes as the prey. By the way, the new ad with Charlton Heston is hilarious!
Trippi's got it precisely right. I'll just point out that it's impossible for race to be injected into the campaign at this point and Obama to benefit. Even moreso if the "discussions" of race center around "the race card."
I think Trippi was right, up until his conclusion. I don't think the McCain campaign is adept at anything. They stumbled onto this strategy by hook and by crook. They're just mendacious enough to do it, but not brilliant enough to figure it all out beforehand.
Trippi is undoubtedly right that McCain's real audience is white swing voters, many of whom aren't totally comfortable with race being an issue. What McCain's campaign is doing is more subtle than it appears on its face, and it's not easy to tag with a simplistic term like "racist" or "race baiting," but it's certainly troubling. And sadly, probably effective, too.
Exactly right, CR. The Republicans have been playing racial politics since at least 1968. But this point misses the bigger issue. Which is that McCain wants this campaign to be about anything other than issues and the current state of affairs. He was the campaign to be about caricature because that's the only way he can win. White, patriotic, sober John McCain against the black guy with the alien name who may or may not be a "patriotic American."
I think Trippi's basically got it ... or at least an aspect of the McCain strategy here. Though it may be a bit more simple. From the McCain campaign's point of view, "let's stir up some (race-tinged) shit, knock the Obama campaign off its stride, and test whether it can recover." I agree with the many people's take that the Obama overseas trip had/has the momentum to put this in the bag for Obama. The McCain camp had to find something to blunt that momentum. The most direct, and most effective way to blunt that momentum was this week's "race card" theme.
Obama has no response to questions of his qualifications or experience or preparedness to lead. So he does what any man lacking substance does, he throws a Red Herring into the room. In Barack's case it is the race card. He waffles on his stances and pretends to be the victim of a racial smear because he has no core convictions.
Obama is the last person on earth who would want to "play the race card". His whole candidacy rests, in part, on moving beyond race. Margaret Carlson told Andrea Mitchell today that the McCain camp was lying in wait for an opportunity to pounce on this, and Obama's "dollar bill" comment gave them the opening. Why is this not obvious to everyone? The "angry white male" in swing states may decide this election. The key question: what is there to be angry about?
The problem here is that Trippi skips the real step one. He says, "First you help inject race into the campaign and raise its focus as an issue (as the McCain campaign did yesterday with a little door opening from Obama himself)." The 'little door opening' would properly refer to the first injection of race. To be more precise, Obama first injected race quite some time ago, explicitly referring to Repub efforts to scare us away from a black man. So when Trippi claims that the McCain campaign raised the focus of race as an issue first, he is quite wrong. If McCain had unfairly raised the issue of race, don't you think the Urban league would have raised a ruckus? Obama is the one who was protested today by African Americans. And if Obama wants to focus on the issues there's an easy way - agree to townhall debates with McCain. Even Joe Klein thinks Obama's continued refusal is a mistake.
First you help inject race into the campaign and raise its focus as an issue (as the McCain campaign did yesterday with a little door opening from Obama himself). Flawed premise. Look, I know the full history of the GOP's use of explicit and implied racial appeals in its messaging. I fully expect it to pop-up in the general election from some of conservatism's nastier precincts and believe that it already has in some instances. This ain't one of 'em. You really have to do some mental contortions even to come close to seeing what people are talking about. Trippi actually brings to light one aspect of this controversy that I hadn't previously considered: well-intentioned and impassioned advocacy on Obama's behalf by African-American surrogates and supporters could hurt Obama when the discussion turns to race. Damn, that's depressing.
The cry of an illegal race card was fauxtrageously-delicious, and the media bought it because they identify with McCain in the sense that they are very put off by false charges of racism. Of course this wasn't that at all. And every reporter knows it. Obama committed the sin of saying something that can be construed in a bad light if you're willing to pretend that the Republicans have any foot to stand on with regards to this issue. Which they don't. You guys know that too. Just think for one second how political journalism would be different if you all didn't accept the fact the Republicans campaign on a platform of bald-faced lies. Imagine you didn't know they were full of shit 90% of the time. Would this story be worth any of your time at all? Me thinks no.
Add to this that McCain goes in front of the Urban League, makes takes some swings, albeit very gentle swings, against Obama, hoping for a few boos from the audience that Fox and Limbaugh and Hannity will play over and over and over again. The audience didn't . . . Still, its telling that the Mccain campaign was all over GMA morning shows still playing this Race Card Card. Apparently, ABCNews has signed on with the McCain campaign, with a headline on their website, "Obama Camps Admits Playing the Race Card."
Given the fact that one candidate is making history as the "first" African-American nominee of a major party, it is not possible that race not be visible in this campaign. Merely showing pictures of the two candidates makes that inevitable. Whether it is an "issue" depends entirely on how the campaigns treat it. They can treat it as a recognized fact, like one candidate being taller than another, or they can use it to trigger cultural connotations. In this case, the very term "race card" has negative cultural connotations and makes race an issue. The campaigns do have a choice, they can say differences are not an issue, or they can say differences (including race) are an issue. But neither camp can escape the fact that they are playing on a board with 300+ years of racial history, much of it hurtful and negative. The question is, do the candidates really put "country first", that is when the battle is joined, would they rather win even if the method they use exacerbates existing tensions and leaves a nasty residue after it's over. In a perfect world, both would recognize the differences and demonstrate that they don't matter through their campaign strategies... but the world ain't perfect and winning has it's own rewards. It must also be noted, that race is already a HOT issue to a lot of folks, just read the comments reacting to writings on the MSM (internet versions). The comments are often vitriolic, ugly and centered around race.
Has McCain said anything even covertly racist? Yes. Repeating "Obama is playing the race card!" again and again is pretty obviously intended to be interpted as "he's a blackity-black angry black man, just like Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton and Louis Farrakhan" for white middle class voters. That's flat-out racist.
I personally think all of this is ashame. And it makes me ashamed to be a part of a country in which a political contest can be decided on which campaign whines better. Voters "claim" to want to hear issues, but as past elections have shown that's not what happens inside the voting booth.
It's McCain's fault that Obama is playing the race card? I'm surprised Trippi didn't push the meme that the "Celebrity" ad was aimed at portraying Obama as a predator and the 2 helpless white blondes as the prey. By the way, the new ad with Charlton Heston is hilarious!
The one thing I find odd about how events have played out in the past couple of days is that Obama's response to the race card allegation has not gone back to his larger theme that McCain = Bush. This kind of attack from political operatives whose figurative Godfather is Karl Rove makes it very easy to go back to the bread and butter, McCain = Bush. e.g. How do we know McCain = Bush, because when McCain got desparate, just like Bush in 04, he turned to Karl Rove-trained operatives to slander his opponent insetad of talk about real solutions to the real issues facing this country. This is politically safer terrain for Obama than just trying to say "I didn't play the race card, and you know it because of x, y, z" and in fact, by saying "this needs to be about issues, not race," you actually implicitly make the argument that you are not playing the race card (i.e. the best way to not look like you're playing the race card is to not get baited into a media free-for-all that is all about race).
The dollar bill line is a standard one, one that Obama has already invoked dozens of times. The McCain people knew it would be available if ever they made it appropriate, for instance, by running an ad putting a black man between two blonds. Take it as axiomatic: anything that smacks of "the race issue" Obama wants to stay as far away from as he can, and works in favor of McCain just so long as he can make it appear it isn't him who raised it. McCain's being a racist is neither here nor there, he's just a candidate who wants to win and knows race can help him do so. The obvious fact, it perhaps needs saying, is that the first black president would no more favor blacks more than any other Democrat than did the first Catholic president favor Catholics. But it's an equally obvious fact that millions of whites fear that he would favor blacks. Playing to these fears is probably the only way McCain can win.
It's McCain's fault that Obama is playing the race card? Unless "playing the race card" = "acknowledging the fact that he is black," this is an outrageous assertion. Of course, the whole point is to paint Obama as an aggrieved African-American militant -- which is an utterly racist strategy -- so good job Strom Thurmond!
If people choose to vote against their own interests, vote based on phantom fears, and vote for continuing the policies that have created the America we see today -- one divided, one full of confused animosity, one drowning in debt, one whose number of unemployed is reaching record highs -- we will deserve what we get. For the first time in our country's history, the current generation is passing down this nation to the next poorer than they found it. That is the legacy of the last 30 years: America in decline. And if ignorant mockery, game playing, and xenophobia trump making our country great again, there will be nobody to blame but ourselves.
Hey DT, check this out. http://www.dailykos.com/story/2008/7/25/133255/508/431/556903 it was written BEFORE this most recent brouhaha but there are plenty of examples of the republicans using race baiting and race as tools and weapons to win elections. all you have to do is read a history book. or try googling "the southern strategy". either way, i think its hilariously funny how the GOP can summon this phony outrage because, despite their past use of race-baiting, the GOP is ABOVE all that now. How do we know? because they say so.
I think Joe Trippi Nailed it.
Did anyone see the McCain web ad from 7-27-2008 showing Obama's face on the dollar bill, the Statue of Liberty and Mt. Rushmore? Why, oh why would they run an add with those images? Did anyone see that the McCain camp's statement about the race card contained the phrase "played the race card from the bottom of the deck?" Did you know that OJ Simpson's lawyers made that line famous after the trial? But nah, the republicans and McCain would never use racial politics to their advantage - they are too honorable to ignore such a potent strategy.
It is kind of funny that this blows up a couple weeks after Jesse Jackson says Obama talks down to black people, and a day before he gets heckled by a group that thinks he's ignoring the plight of blacks in this country. Which of course leads to the obvious question, is Obama black enough? Oh wait, sorry, we did that already. I'm lost. Is he a race hustler this week or a Marxist dandy islamofascist? It's a wonder McCain isn't subject to this type of bizarre questioning. It's almost like people feel free to think things about Obama that they would never, ever think about McCain, much less give voice to. I wonder why that is....
Obama is ahead. You don't "play the race card" (that phrase is loathesome, btw) when you're winning. Now, if you're behind and desperate for attention, you might claim that your opponent did. Who knows? Maybe gullible journalists and putupon whitefolk will talk about it for 36 hours instead of, oh, I dunno: your obvious senility? And stating your race is not "playing the race card." He's half-black. That IS his race.
when is the mccain campaign going to start running ads about john mccain? i mean, what does he stand for except "not obama"? i think its childish, as weaver said. our country is facing some very serious problems and challenges and we deserve a debate that is worthy of those challenges. brittney and paris, and "hey, obama's too cool to be president" doesn't tell us one single thing about how mccain is going to solve our problems. to rip off a line: "where's the beef?" in john mccain's candidacy?
I think Trippi nailed it as well--they were looking for an opening to scream "the black guy's playing the race card, and they got it--even though Obama's comment was pretty innocuous and self-evident. McCain's team is doing everything it can to point out that Obama is not patriotic enough, not American enough, not humble enough--in short, not one of us. His being black is just an extra added bonus to the same line of argument the Republicans have used in the last several presidential campaigns. I was hoping it wouldn't work this go round, but now I'm not so sure.
"You know, he doesn't look like all those other Presidents on those dollar bills, you know." There is is the Race Card. I found it. I'm about to faint just reading it. Guess what John McCain's first slogan was "The American President Americans Have Been Waiting For" which subtly suggests that Obama and his supporters are somehow less American. I mean especially with a background of whisper campaigns charges that he isn't patriotic etc. I am willing to forgive Obama for breathing a word that the McCain campaign is trying to take advantage of peoples biases. This race to cry race card is disgusting.
To be more precise, Obama first injected race quite some time ago, explicitly referring to Repub efforts to scare us away from a black man. truth is its own defense. if the gop doesn't want to be accused of scaring voters away from the black man, maybe they shouldn't be trying to scare voters away from the black man. i mean, have you been missing in action for the last 80 years? It is an objective provable fact that the GOP has used these tactics in the past. So why should we think they won't use them in the future? Because they say so? puh-lease.
To be more precise, Obama first injected race quite some time ago, explicitly referring to Repub efforts to scare us away from a black man. truth is its own defense. if the gop doesn't want to be accused of scaring voters away from the black man, maybe they shouldn't be trying to scare voters away from the black man. i mean, have you been missing in action for the last 80 years? It is an objective provable fact that the GOP has used these tactics in the past. So why should we think they won't use them in the future? Because they say so? puh-lease.
Please watch this and tell me what you think on camp McCain accusing Obama for playing the race card... I wonder if the media will talk about it...Remember Obama has being accused of playing the race card for mentioning that the GOP will accuse him of looking different with other presidents on the dollar bills....well take a look and comment...
Breen, whatever "the GOP" means, I'm asking about McCain in particular. Not "the GOP," ranging from national to state to local groups to individuals. As for "look he's playing the race card," I'm a little confused as to how else a comment like "I don't look like the other guys on a dollar bill" is supposed to be construed.
Some thoughts. The McCain campaign cannot use racist attacks without a huge blowback, but they can cry "race card!" and that alone is a powerful asset. Every day the MSM is talking about the race card is a day that Obama is weakened among on-the-fence white voters. To these voters, and most white folks, "The Race Card" is a way to shut-down debate with unfair and unfounded accusations of racism. (Classic examples from real life include "you don't like so-and-so because he's black..." or "the city council is against black people..." .) Anyway, a lot of white people believe they've had the race card played on them in various conflicts, and they really hate it. The more people that are convinced "there those black people go again, playing the race card", the fewer people will vote for Obama. So the McCain team will look for every chance to cry "race card!" This dustup is good example of this strategy - Obama's original comment was pretty lame, and hardly the sort of thing that would get labeled "playing the race card", but the McCain team was there to pounce on it. Obama will have to steer the debate in other directions, and start hitting McCain hard, because he really can't fight off the "race card card" unless McCain grievously overplays. Obama can be more careful to give the McCain team fewer chances to play the "race card card", but it is so useful for the McCain camp, they will likely spring at every chance. Maybe crying wolf will backfire with the press, but face it, this is a play for low-info voters and all the McCain team needs to do is get the idea out there to the right people. footnote: I fully recognize that the charges of racism are often fully deserved and that anger over "the race card" is often just anger at being presented with evidence of racism. But this post is about the perceptions of white voters.
isnt it ironic?...mccain lost to bush in 2000 due to the race card being played on him by karl rove...and now he is using rove's tactics to play it on obama
TO DT: and i'm saying, John McCain is a member of the republican party. the republican party has, in the past, used race and racial tensions to win elections. therefore, is it really that big of a stretch to think they'll do again this time around when they have the first black candidate as a major party nominee when all the atmospherics are against the republicans and they have absolutely nothing else to run on? you seem to think john mccain and the gop deserve the benefit of the doubt on this, despite their past actions. And btw, as someone said, truth is its own defense. Obama DOESNT look like any other president we've ever had. He points that out as an objective fact, and he gets accused of inserting race into the campaign. Does that make sense to you? That would be like john mccain saying, "hey, people may not vote for me because of my age." Could we then accuse him of playing "the age card"
Some thoughts. The McCain campaign cannot use racist attacks without a huge blowback, but they can cry "race card!" and that alone is a powerful asset. Every day the MSM is talking about the race card is a day that Obama is weakened among on-the-fence white voters. To these voters, and most white folks, "The Race Card" is a way to shut-down debate with unfair and unfounded accusations of racism. (Classic examples from real life include "you don't like so-and-so because he's black..." or "the city council is against black people..." .) Anyway, a lot of white people believe they've had the race card played on them in various conflicts, and they really hate it. The more people that are convinced "there those black people go again, playing the race card", the fewer people will vote for Obama. So the McCain team will look for every chance to cry "race card!" This dustup is good example of this strategy - Obama's original comment was pretty lame, and hardly the sort of thing that would get labeled "playing the race card", but the McCain team was there to pounce on it. Obama will have to steer the debate in other directions, and start hitting McCain hard, because he really can't fight off the "race card card" unless McCain grievously overplays. Obama can be more careful to give the McCain team fewer chances to play the "race card card", but it is so useful for the McCain camp, they will likely spring at every chance. Maybe crying wolf will backfire with the press, but face it, this is a play for low-info voters and all the McCain team needs to do is get the idea out there to the right people. footnote: I fully recognize that the charges of racism are often fully deserved and that anger over "the race card" is often just anger at being presented with evidence of racism. But this post is about the perceptions of white voters.
Some thoughts. The McCain campaign cannot use racist attacks without a huge blowback, but they can cry "race card!" and that alone is a powerful asset. Every day the MSM is talking about the race card is a day that Obama is weakened among on-the-fence white voters. To these voters, and most white folks, "The Race Card" is a way to shut-down debate with unfair and unfounded accusations of racism. (Classic examples from real life include "you don't like so-and-so because he's black..." or "the city council is against black people..." .) Anyway, a lot of white people believe they've had the race card played on them in various conflicts, and they really hate it. The more people that are convinced "there those black people go again, playing the race card", the fewer people will vote for Obama. So the McCain team will look for every chance to cry "race card!" This dustup is good example of this strategy - Obama's original comment was pretty lame, and hardly the sort of thing that would get labeled "playing the race card", but the McCain team was there to pounce on it. Obama will have to steer the debate in other directions, and start hitting McCain hard, because he really can't fight off the "race card card" unless McCain grievously overplays. Obama can be more careful to give the McCain team fewer chances to play the "race card card", but it is so useful for the McCain camp, they will likely spring at every chance. Maybe crying wolf will backfire with the press, but face it, this is a play for low-info voters and all the McCain team needs to do is get the idea out there to the right people. footnote: I fully recognize that the charges of racism are often fully deserved and that anger over "the race card" is often just anger at being presented with evidence of racism. But this post is about the perceptions of white voters.
If you fine folks think JonnyMac is playing dirty, just hang in there. He hasn't even gotten started yet. This good ol' boy knows more dirty tricks than than his North Viet Namese captors did. Remember: they broke his will.
For the myopic conservatives out there like Daniel Larison and Ross Douthat, let's stipulate that the "Celeb" ads were not in any way racist nor were they intended as racism.
If you fine folks think JonnyMac is playing dirty, just hang in there. He hasn't even gotten started yet. This good ol' boy knows more dirty tricks than his North Viet Namese captors did. Remember: they broke his will.
How nice. Comments are open. It'd be nice if comments were open on every post, for at least a little while. It's like waiting for daddy otherwise; either have them on or off. Your assertions are maddening sometimes-- and I LIKE your stuff.
one pitfall for Team McCain: They may want to play the "race card card" so badly that they bait the Obama team by walking right up to the line of racist attacks and inching their toes across for a second. That means broadcasting things that get blacks and liberals to cry racism, but which have some other plausible rational for white swing voters. For example, the inference made by Josh Marshall and others that the Paris & Britney ad was meant to paint Obama as "having an appetite white women". That's probably too subtle for most viewers. But, if the Obama campaign had been careless enough to react in the way that Marshall did, you can bet that Team McCain would screaming "race card! race card!" even louder than they are now. The thing is, if this race card business works too well for the McCain camp, they may be tempted to draw Obama into lots of these battles - each time skirting closer to outright racist attacks. If they go over that line in the minds of the voters, they will do themselves grievous harm.
This web ad is from the McCain camp back in June. This was before Obama made those comments about the faces on the bills: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CDTJDv4hevU&feature=related
What exactly is the meaning of "moving beyond race"? That we all pretend race has no meaning in today's soceity? That, it seems to me, is the foundation of McCain's recent ploys/ White Americans want to believe that prejudice magically has disappeared and exists only as a firment of the black imagination. If a black person points out, "Well, not really,: he is "playing the race card." The princiapl issue in this election is whether white voters can renounce racial denigration, and Obama cannot ignore that. Neither should McCain -- he should announce that he wants no voter to take race into consideration. That would be, so to speak, the white man's burden. Why is it we do not demand white, as well as black, politicians to speak on race -- or "move beyond race"?
I am waiting for one of the Obamaphiles to explain what it was he meant, then , by saying " I do not look like the guys on the dollar bill"? Was it the powdered wig? Or maybe Lincoln's beard? Or everyone's greenish tinge? Please, give me a break! Of course he was playing the race card!
"I am waiting for one of the Obamaphiles to explain what it was he meant, then , by saying " I do not look like the guys on the dollar bill"? Was it the powdered wig? Or maybe Lincoln's beard? Or everyone's greenish tinge? Please, give me a break! Of course he was playing the race card!" He meant he's black. He said it again today. Had you not noticed he's black. 'Cause he is. And guess what, he's being attacked for it every day by Republicans. And so he raised the issue with a bunch of white, conservative, rural voters. And McCain attacked him for it. Which makes him a race-baiting asshole, just as Trippi said.
trippi is exactly right. as I said over at Douthat's blog, all of this will only become more obvious as the campaign continues. Just keep watching.
Obama's picture between two blond bimbos. Isn't this the Harold Ford attack all over again?. Rodney Redneck and Joe Sixpack really don't care about issues because they would have to read something or listen to more than a twenty second soundbite to understand issues. Now Rod and Joe can spread whatever lies they want to and feel good about it because they "just don't cotten to no uppity homeboys" who want to hit on their "womenfolk".
People don't vote based on race, do they?
Yes, Trippi is right. But I agree with 'Northern Observer' - we're fueling the race-baiting issue by discussing/thinking/writing about it. Enough already! Back to the real issues - please, Senator Obama, will you please meet John McCain in some town hall meeting anywhere so the whole world can see and hear you two together.... and then voters can decide without any race-baiting or celebrity distractions who's best suited to lead the country...
It is OBVIOUS that John McCain needs a NEW set of advisers! OsiSpeaks.com
Am I supposed to accept Joe Trippi as an honest commenter on this race? Please, only a moron would do that.
Ah, America and race. I was honored to see James Baldwin speak at UCSB back in the mid 1980s. Baldwin said America was in essence the hope of mankind - we had the opportunity to show the world how disparate people can live successfully together. Since then, Bosnia and perhaps Iraq have shown the world how disparate people cannot sometimes live together. I think Baldwin would be for Obama. He calls us to our better angels and is demonstrably already one of the greatest leaders in the Western world. It is a remarkable trait - quite rare and subject to mirth and mockery as McCain's help seems capable of demonstrating of late. Meanwhile, on topic, it is clear that Dr. Schmidt has removed a piece of the old man's integrity right off his chest for all to see. While it appears that the patient is not completely pleased with the treatment, experience has taught the old hero that if recovery is the goal, nasty medicine is, well, the medicine: a bit of race baiting, a couple of blondes and maybe a burning flag for good measure. By any means necessary - Malcolm would be proud.
Shame on the whole electorate for being distracted from real issues, e.g. http://perotcharts.com with such trivia as genetic makeup.
Marc: Obviously. Ask yourself a couple of questions: 1. With this year's fundamentals, and considering just how good Obama and his campaign are (ideology aside), is it plausible that a white Democrat with similar gifts would be running only five points ahead? 2. Wouldn't it be suicide if McCain actually left fingerprints on the race card? The political solution is obvious. Incite those on the left who will reliably over-react. Watch result. Obama becomes blacker, and race is brought to the fore, but no traces!!! Repeat. Of course this is McCain's play. He isn't stupid. Do you need to be sure this is the case? McCain is spending 1/3 of his TV money on an ad with a video-montage of Britney Spears, Paris Hilton, and Barack Obama. No fingerprints, but guaranteed to incite an over the top freakout on the left. QED. The downside for McCain? He released an ad with a video-montage of Britney Spears, Paris Hilton, and Barack Obama!!! The sheer strangeness of it could cause unforeseen blowback, but Republicans are pretty good at calibrating this type of political play.
Marc: Obviously. Ask yourself a couple of questions: 1. With this year's fundamentals, and considering just how good Obama and his campaign are (ideology aside), is it plausible that a white Democrat with similar gifts would be running only five points ahead? 2. Wouldn't it be suicide if McCain actually left fingerprints on the race card? The political solution is obvious. Incite those on the left who will reliably over-react. Watch result. Obama becomes blacker, and race is brought to the fore, but no traces!!! Repeat. Of course this is McCain's play. He isn't stupid. Do you need to be sure this is the case? McCain is spending 1/3 of his TV money on an ad with a video-montage of Britney Spears, Paris Hilton, and Barack Obama. No fingerprints, but guaranteed to incite an over the top freakout on the left. QED. The downside for McCain? He released an ad with a video-montage of Britney Spears, Paris Hilton, and Barack Obama!!! The sheer strangeness of it could cause unforeseen blowback, but Republicans are pretty good at calibrating this type of political play.
Some time in early to mid-October, drive the back roads from Scranton to Green Bay, listen to local radio, eat in diners and truck stops, overhear the political chatter at some public gatherings, then tell us who's playing the race card and how.
Well of course they're using race, but not in a mean spirited way. Most white people still don't have intimate black friendships and so can more easily imagine that a black president is more different from them than a white president. If the theory is that a certain group of voters vote for the guy with whom they think they can drink a beer, then the Republicans are casting Obama in a way that highlights how he is different by picturing him on Mt Rushmore, on a dollar bill, on the statue of liberty, and as the Saviour. I doubt many White rural voters imagine a Black saviour and so by suggesting Obama as the One, they are simultaneously attacking his strength, his likeability, while highlighting the difference with public expectations.
This is why this stuff works. Because people who take it upon themselves to be "neutral," although they do so in good faith, are easily manipulated. Once this election is past, everyone will acknowledge what happened this week, just as everyone now understands what Nixon's "law and order" campaign, and Reagan's States' Rights Speech and welfare queens routine, and the Willie Horton ad, were about. These were transparent plays on racial fear and resentment. The "race card card" is also a transparent play on racial resentment. It doesn't matter whether Obama did anything that was in the least bit inappropriate. The entire point was to get everyone talking about race and, particularly, whether Obama was using his race to his advantage (the images here are affirmative action and the OJ trial--note that they specifically alluded to the latter in their press release by quoting OJ's defense team). The press will understand this eventually. But not before they have repeated the McCain campaign's allegations many, many times. And when they do, most of them will simply stop playing along (a few will keep playing along even then); there will be no backlash from the press, no holding of McCain to account. The best thing anyone could do right now is ask, over an over again, "Why are we talking about this. Why doesn't McCain have anything to say other than this garbage? Why does McCain want us to be discussing this?" Ask a few of those questions, answer them honestly to yourself, and then see if you don't end up thinking a little bit differently about what is newsworthy about the "race card" charge. For a model, watch Andrea Mitchell over the past week. She literally asked and answered several of those questions on the air. You could almost see the light bulb come on in her head as she did it. I haven't liked every report she's done over the years, but if we had a few more like her in the press this negative turn by McCain would have gotten at least some small portion of the skepticism and disdain it deserves.
This idea that Obama would never want to bring up race is a red herring. He played the race-baiting card against the Clintons and won. Why not do it again? There is absolutely no other possible explanation for his repeated remarks about how different he looks and how people are trying to make others afraid of him. Only kool-aid drinkers pretend otherwise. Every criticism of him is met with this argument that a criticism of him is a criticism about his race. He is an ordinary slime-bucket of a politican who got ya'll to buy into him being some sort of different and special New Man. It is all lies.
"There is absolutely no other possible explanation for his repeated remarks about how different he looks and how people are trying to make others afraid of him." Um. How about the fact that a whole lot of people have been trying very hard to make others afraid of him? Would that explain it? The willful blindness and false outrage is just breathtaking.
Marc is the problem. He is the right wing mouth piece dressed in "moderate" clothing. He repeats attacks on Omaba, helps spread the lies and pretends to be above them. He is first class hack.
"cable channels have two African Americans debate who is or isn't raising race. In any case black faces dominate the cable airwaves and some of those faces are angry." Email the cable channels and urge them to keep black faces off the airwaves until the election is over. Email Barack and urge him to keep Michelle out of sight unti the election is over, because her black face always looks angry. Email Diop Olugbala and ask him to attend anger management counseling until the election is over.
McCain is playing the race card for sure. What do you expect from republican candidate who know how to win by being racist implicitly. They neither have any shame nor any honor. These republicans know only one thing.. do anything to win, it does not matter if McCain looses his honor and integrity.
Obama, who seems to be closely associated with brazen racists, buries himself every time he speaks. As uninspiring as McCain is, seems he has a chance! Like they're saying, just keep praying Obama doesn't get laryngitis.
Trippi is right with a little nuance thrown in: When Obama talks about what the Republicans will do to audiences, his message is supposed to act as a vaccination against the spread of lies and innuendo about him. The McCain campaign, gathering that if he says this enough times without comment from anyone it will work as a vaccination, over-reacted to the opening they got and choose to instead begin to spread the disease. They can't afford for people to be vaccinated against their attacks, so by jumping on this now, they allow the disease to fester and amplify. An aside: I remember a few weeks back when James Carville was saying that some of the "children" in the Obama campaign were playing with fire by failing to be properly deferential to Billary. Now, James is a grownup, so I wouldn't think he'd try to help the McCain campaign, but Bill is not a grownup and never has been. This jumping on it (by the McCain camp) and in this way reminds me so much of the Clenis that I wouldn't be surprised to learn that Bill and Steve Schmidt had exchanged notes on when and where to deploy the virus. In fact, now that I think about it: who's doing McCain's advance and setup these days-certainly not the folks responsible for his June 3 mishap- those backgrounds and settings look awfully similar to the way Hillary used to be set up? Interesting.
Trippi is right with a little nuance thrown in: When Obama talks about what the Republicans will do to audiences, his message is supposed to act as a vaccination against the spread of lies and innuendo about him. The McCain campaign, gathering that if he says this enough times without comment from anyone it will work as a vaccination, over-reacted to the opening they got and choose to instead begin to spread the disease. They can't afford for people to be vaccinated against their attacks, so by jumping on this now, they allow the disease to fester and amplify. An aside: I remember a few weeks back when James Carville was saying that some of the "children" in the Obama campaign were playing with fire by failing to be properly deferential to Billary. Now, James is a grownup, so I wouldn't think he'd try to help the McCain campaign, but Bill is not a grownup and never has been. This jumping on it (by the McCain camp) and in this way reminds me so much of the Clenis that I wouldn't be surprised to learn that Bill and Steve Schmidt had exchanged notes on when and where to deploy the virus. In fact, now that I think about it: who's doing McCain's advance and setup these days-certainly not the folks responsible for his June 3 mishap- those backgrounds and settings look awfully similar to the way Hillary used to be set up? Interesting.
|
Subscribe to this blog by Email Twitter || On Facebook || QIK Live Channel  Recent Posts
Monthly Archives
|
| 
Copyright © 2009 by The Atlantic Monthly Group. All rights reserved.
I'm really at a loss. Has McCain said anything even covertly racist? I know Obama's been pre-empting racism and creating a scary vision of impending racism. But... has there actually been any? I'll be happy to consider any citations that anyone has.
Posted by dt | August 1, 2008 2:37 PM