There is a pattern of thought and commentary that goes like this:
"I like Barack Obama, and think he's a great guy and would make a great president. Unfortunately, there are too many racists in this country to elect Barack Obama."
(or, TV translation): "Barack Obama can't win working class whites."
There is a name for this: Vouching for the Other Guy's Bad Faith. Vouching for the other guy's racism.
Joe Scarborough is the media poster child for this. Here's how he'll set it up. He'll talk about how he lives on the Upper West Side among liberals, educated people, the elites. (I mean, he's a millionaire, has a TV show and was in Congress, so he can blend in, right?) But then he pivots off of this to deride his strawman, often mentioning Nick Kristof, Harvard, the New York Times, Georgetown, etc. It's too bad, according to Joe, because he personally likes and admires Barack Obama. He, Joe, is smart enough and savvy enough to separate what is a bad faith smear on Obama and the truth. Unfortunately, Joe will say, the working class voters cannot. See, Joe is of them, he talks to them. Scranton voters course through his blood. It saddens Joe, but he is powerless and merely has to a) confess the other guy's bad faith to the nation and b) contemptuously ridicule "elites" who aren't as enlightened as Joe about this dynamic.
In short, he is Vouching for the Other Guy's Bad Faith. The other guy's lack of sophistication, the other guy's lack of education, the other guy's closed mind. He's not arguing the moral rightness of this bad faith, he is arguing the moral superiority of being such a person, which transmutes bad faith into nobility-by-inherency.
Sadly, Joe's not alone. If this were a case limited to Joe Scarborough and the Tweetys of the world [who separates Dems into 1) blacks, 2) educated white liberals, and 3) regular folks - how many layers of horror are there with that window into Matthews's prejudice?], then it wouldn't be worth more than a passing mention.
But the truth is I hear this from my fellow Dems and in random encounters all the time, the vast majority of them with no malice intended. They aren't racists, but they are sure the Other Guy is. And they wimpily fear there are either too many Other Guys for Obama to win in November.
This is some toxic material. It gets repeated as conventional wisdom and then takes on a life of its own. Take a look at the impossibly stupid shit in this letter if you don't believe me. The Other Guy's Bad Faith is the one fallback cynicism we can all pat ourselves on the back about, taking comfort that while we have advanced to the point where race doesn't matter to us, or where the Wright business is not all that complicated to those paying attention, the Other Guy has not grown past that mindset.
What are the best friends of The Other Guy's Bad Faith? Anecdotes. Anecdotes, anecdotes, anecdotes. The white Dem at the door who happens to be a real racist. The conversation you had with a relative over dinner. Five callers in a row on talk radio. A random remark overheard in the line at the supermarket. You can't defeat an anecdote.
Except you can. From now on, I want a concerted pushback effort to name this phenomenon. Vouching for the Other Guy's Bad Faith. Be aware. Listen for it. Immediately name it when you hear it. Some people will realize the trap they're falling into. Some will get defensive. Stand steady if you get dismissed for your comparative naivete to their conventional cynicism. Do they see through the smears? If no, ask them why they are so fraidy cat, so willing to cede ground. Did they reach their point of relative enlightenment to simply discount it and not stand up for its truth?
You know what they'll say, "No, I'm just saying..." That's really the whole counterargument. They don't agree with it, they're just saying Other Guys do. Why? Because they're so experienced, because Everyone Agrees, because Everyone Says It Too.
The reason we have to name it is we have to call it out and stop it. This cynicism-as-wisdom self-perpetuates and spreads. It's not just bad for Obama, it's bad in and of itself. We hear a lot about change, but this is one form of change, willingness to speak up and stop a toxic pattern that hurts America. It's real. Silence on this issue is good people doing nothing.
Look, there are a lot of muttonheads in this great country of ours. But if you are plugged in enough to know that, then you are not one of them.
Let me repeat that: You are not one of them. Muttonheads will beat you if you start out with the self-comforting cynicism that your information edge and non-racist worldview is so rare, so special that while you are fewer in number, you are a better person. No. Eff that luxury. Not being a racist isn't all that special.
Listen, 81% of the country thinks the country is on the wrong track. John McCain, an easily-baitable human gaffe-a-thon, has had to embrace the Bush legacy in order to get the nomination. Not only does he look unprincipled with absurd flip-floppery, but also he tied himself to the least popular president in modern history. All that shit is on tape, and Barack Obama can simply quote him to make him fly into a rage. There is nothing that infuriates McCain more than being quoted accurately.
And if you think the soft touch against Clinton will be a soft touch against McCain, think again. It isn't "working class white men" Obama needs to worry about right now, it's the women in Clinton's hardcore base. He cannot permanently alienate them. He's locked into a win; the supers have agreed not to abandon him if he doesn't hurt party unity by going negative, it's a delicate spot. No worries with that against McCain.
This is a change election. Change beats experience every time during a change cycle, and it damn well beats it when 81% of the country hates what is happening, and only 14% think it's on the right track. Could the Republicans possibly have come up with more of a symbol of non-newness in McCain's 72 year old visage?
Is Obama underfunded or underorganized? The extreme opposite of that. John McCain won 4 freaking percent of Republicans in Iowa, and Dems outdrew Republicans as a whole 2 to 1 in that swing state alone. Obama is going to pressure McCain all over the map, in crazy-ass congressional districts that you never even thought would need to be defended with Republican money and visits and organizers. Obama's organizers are everywhere, because we are the people.
Obama is also going to get a 10% poll bump the moment the nomination is official in June. He's inoculated from the worst, a full six months in advance. I love TPM but I think huge-fonting all these GE polls are an extreme disservice while the primary is still going on, they create freerollingly counterproductive worry. Anyone who's seen even 1 political cycle should know this. (And they call Obama supporters new to politics.)
Are Republicans going to attack Obama for the next six months? Let me pose a counter-question: if you fret about this, what caused you to lose your poise? That was a given, and an openly acknowledged truth. Guess what, 81% of the country still hates where this country is going. Do you think anything magic is going to happen in the big macro issues (Iraq, health care, the economy, the environment) over the next six months to change that number?
This is a recipe for a landslide if I've ever seen one. The Emperor has no clothes - between Clinton spin, media self-interest in promoting a dramatic race, and media friendliness with McCain, there is a concerted effort to make this look like Obama-McCain will be a real nailbiter, and maybe Obama could lose. Pfft. No.
All of these are the macro and micro reasons why this Other Guy's Racism is Too Powerful stuff is almost a self-parody of unpoised, inexperienced analysis.
Look, low information and bad-faith Americans exist. But there are far fewer true racists than there are people willing to swell their ranks with a self-satisfied conventional cynicism.
So the next time you catch someone Vouching for The Other Guy's Bad Faith (anecdote-based or intuition-based or both) make a stand and question their conclusions, and especially name the phenomenon. "Ah, Vouching for The Other Guy's Bad Faith." If they ask you what you mean, ask them what they personally believe about the racism issue. Of course they don't think the way The Other Guy thinks, but The Other Guy is the big bad all-powerful electoral boogeyman.
There are at least as many anecdotes saying the nation IS ready. Remind them of that. Hell, tell them a few.
It's time for Other Guys to say to each other in their own cynicism, "Gee, I hate black people, but the rest of the country, it's made too much progress to avoid electing Obama."
It's time The Other Guy started worrying about your good faith and my good faith.