I’m sure most of you by now have seen Sarah Palin (and by extension McCain) accuse Obama of “palling around with terrorists.” If not, here it is:
Though Palin incorrectly cited the NYT article that actually debunked her scurrilous argument, there are three more important things going on, I think:
1. Note the less-than-subtle race-baiting – “Now this is not a man who sees America as how you and I see America.” While overt racism won’t work in this election, the McCain-Palin campaign (like the Clinton campaign before it) is not above plumbing the depths of politico-racial discourse to win an election. Even for this campaign – in the words of the infamous Clay Davis - “this some shameful shit.” If patriotism is the last refuge of the scoundrel (the ‘Country First’ campaign motif?), I’d be interested to see what type of person has race-baiting as their last refuge.
2. With the tanking economy pushing more and more battleground states into Obama’s column, and McCain scampering away from Michigan to try and hold serve in a few Republican strongholds (Virginia, even North Carolina), McCain’s going right for the throats of the still-undecided voters. Judging from this WSJ article, it looks as if some of these undecided voters could still be swayed by character assassination – note the repeated worries about Obama’s former pastor, Jeremiah Wright. And while McCain once said that Wright was going to be off limits, I would bet the house that he’ll get dragged out again as the election slips further and further out of McCain’s grasp.
3. The McCain’s ‘guilt by association’ campaign has already reaped one unfavorable result – the Obama’s ‘guilt by being guilty’ campaign. Check out the new website from the Obama campaign celebrating McCain’s involvement in the infamous Keating 5 case from over a decade ago.
October 6, 2008 at 3:14 pm |
Okay,
But Obama did have a relationship with Ayers, which is disconcerting. In the waning days of the primaries the Ayers connection had already popped up. Race-bating? Really? I doubt it.
October 6, 2008 at 3:24 pm |
But the relationship had little to nothing to do with Ayers as a ‘domestic terrorist’ – his relationship, which from what I understand (and the NYT understands) involved little else other than slight neighborly relations and having served on a couple of boards together. And this is what Chicago’s Mayor Richard Daley (granted, a Democrat), had to say about it:
I also know Bill Ayers. He worked with me in shaping our now nationally-renowned school reform program. He is a nationally-recognized distinguished professor of education at the University of Illinois/Chicago and a valued member of the Chicago community.
I don’t condone what he did 40 years ago but I remember that period well. It was a difficult time, but those days are long over. I believe we have too many challenges in Chicago and our country to keep re-fighting 40 year old battles.
I think that hits the nail on the head for two reasons. One, he has since reformed himself, more or less, and Obama loosely knew him during his reformed years (he was 8 when he was involved with the Weather Underground). And two, these are the same tired battles that people are trying to move past, now – Andrew Sullivan hit the nail on the head with that, as far as Obama being post-60s/70s and not rehashing the same arguments that have polarized American politics for decades now (arguments that McCain is all too happy to wade in).
And as far as race-baiting, I really do think that trying to portray Obama as outside mainstream America – seeing the country differently – is covert race-baiting. Even the AP said that it was “racially tinged” – http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/10/05/ap-palins-ayers-attack-ra_n_132008.html. I don’t think there is much racially tinged or race-baiting about ‘just’ pointing out the Ayers-Obama connection, as it were. But I do think there is something racially tinged about ‘palling around with terrorists’ and ‘Now this is not a man who sees America as you and I see America.’
Thanks for commenting!
October 6, 2008 at 3:59 pm |
mavericks work in mysterious ways.