|
WORD COUNT
662
AUGUST 13, 2008
REVVING UP FOR A
DIRTY CAMPAIGN – by Donald Kaul
First, they charged
Barack Obama with being eloquent. Then they called him a celebrity. And
now, finally, they’re accusing him of being black.
Will these
Republicans stop at nothing?
In truth, it would be
an exaggeration to call John McCain’s campaign tactics thus far “dirty.”
Tacky, certainly, but they have not yet risen (or fallen) to the level
of “dirty.” (Although the ad lying about Obama blowing off a visit to
wounded troops in
Iraq so he could get
a photo op comes close.)
Right now, it’s more
at the level of a high school jock yelling insults at the smart kid
who’s stealing his girl. “Nyah, Nyah, you’re an intellectual and your
mother dresses you,” that sort of thing. Kid stuff.
Dirty, I image, is
not far away; it depends on the polls. (If McCain falls behind in the
polls, you are really going to see some nasty ads.)
Right now, the McCain
camp is content to go with the tried-and-true Republican tactic of
attacking its opponent’s strengths.
Does Obama have a
remarkable gift for phrase making? He is accused of being glib. So was
Winston Churchill, of course, but never mind. Is he able to draw huge,
enthusiastic crowds wherever he goes? He is accused of being a
celebrity, a fellow traveler of Britney Spears and Paris Hilton. Is that
weird or what? The McCain people have a candidate who can barely fill a
coffee shop and they’re trying to paint that as an advantage?
(This is what Paris
Hilton’s mother---a McCain contributor by the way---had to say about
that ad: “It is a complete waste of the country’s time and attention at
the very moment when millions of people are losing their homes and their
jobs. And it is a completely frivolous way to choose the next president
of the United
States.”)
The McCain people
even went so far as to show Obama hitting that three-point shot in front
of the troops in
Iraq. It was a
marvelous moment and a great shot but the only reason you might want to
call attention to an opponent’s basketball skills like that is to
emphasize that he is, well, black. (Although, frankly, black guys tend
to take it to the rim. It’s white, suburban players who settle for the
J.)
Then, when Barack
predicted Republicans were going to stress the fact that he didn’t look
much like the pictures of presidents on our money, the McCain camp was
quick to yell “Race card, race card. He’s playing the race card.”
Oh please.
Black
candidates---unless they’re running for office in a predominantly black
city or congressional district---have no advantage in playing the “race
card.” For every person who votes for them because of their race, two or
three will vote against them for the same reason.
If anything,
whenever the McCain campaign says “race card,” it’s playing the race
card, calling attention to the fact that Obama is black without actually
having to say it.
People, most of them,
don’t like to admit their racism. They express it in other ways, largely
by believing ridiculous rumors. Here is a sampling of the things people
say about Obama and what they actually mean:
---“He’s arrogant.”
(He’s black.)
---“He’s not
patriotic.” (He’s black.)
---“Won’t say the
Pledge of Allegiance.” (Black.)
---“He’s a Muslim.”
(Way black.)
McCain’s campaign
scratches those itches and will continue to do so because he doesn’t
have much of a campaign without them.
However, more than
the race card the McCain people are playing the dumb card. They think
the American people are dumb enough to take seriously these trivial,
empty “charges” they keep leveling against Obama (including that
Barack’s suggestion that we keep our tires inflated is somehow silly).
The dumb card worked
for George Bush against Al Gore when the Republicans used Gore’s smarts
(“He invented the Internet---ha-ha.”) against him.
Let us, in these dire
times, hope it does not work again.
--
Don Kaul is a
two-time Pulitzer Prize-losing
Washington
correspondent who, by his own account, is right more than he's wrong.
Email:
dkaul2@earthlink.net --
A photo of Donald Kaul is available CLICK
HERE
# #
# # # #
|
