HAVING FAILED to convince voters that they represent a break from the tragic Bush presidency, Republican presidential candidate John McCain and vice presidential running mate Sarah Palin are careening into George Wallace territory to destroy the nation's first African-American nominee, Democrat Barack Obama.
We know that. It probably did not take John Lewis to inform us of that fact. But it is useful when someone says it bluntly, as Derrick Jackson does in this the opening paragraph of his Boston Globe column, entitled as is this diary, McCain plays the race card.
Jackson is a superb and insightful writer, about whose work I often find myself writing because I want to ensure that those who do not regular check the Globe see his work. This morning's column is yet another example of it. This will be a brief exploration of his column, which you should read, and a few additional observations of my own.
Jackson's column provides a useful summary of recent events, from the shouts of "kill him" at a recent rally (investigated but not further pursued by the Secret Service), through Frank Keating's attempting to make an issue of the youthful cocaine use which Obama acknowledged in his book to Joe McCain morphing into Joe McCarthy and calling parts of Northern Virginia, including Arlington from which I write this, "communist country." Jackson then offers this paragraph:
It has not yet dawned on the McCain forces that Hillary Clinton's supporters tried the Obama Cokehead Strategy and the Obama Half-American Strategy a half year ago, only to sour many voters on her. Yet here comes Palin, fronting fear for McCain by saying, "I am just so fearful that this is not a man who sees America the way that you and I see America."
Please allow me a slight diversion. When Palin says that Obama is not a man who sees America the way she does, I cannot help but shout THANK GOD!!! Tha might be the highest praise she can give him. Obama has an inclusive vision of America, which does not include having hands laid on him by an African clergyman who demonizes his enemies as witches, demeans the Catholic church, and injects his warped religion into our politics. Obama does not think it necessary to take an "us versus them" approach and try to drive people away from political participation in the vain hope that the electorate will shrink sufficiently that one can win a base only election. And he certainly does not tolerate demeaning political opponents - he chastises those at his rally who boo or yell demeaning remarks about McCain or Palin. He at least is seeking to bring us all together, so that he can e President of all Americans, even those who vote against him.
Let me now return to Jackson. The paragraph just quoted is key. It is clear that McCain did NOT learn from the failed efforts of the Clinton attacks on Obama. And Jackson rightly points out that
The encouraging thing is that it appears that with every inflammatory utterance, McCain and Palin take a battleground state off the board - for Obama.
He runs through some battlegrounds, giving Real Clear Politics averages for NH, WI, NM, PA and VA, and then writes
Of the eight states still listed as toss-ups, McCain has leads in only three - Missouri, Indiana, and West Virginia. None of his leads is greater than 4 percentage points.
Of course, the RCP averages are probably too low, and in fact one could assert that Obama is doing even better than Jackson contends.
No matter. Jackson also provides some further context to evaluate the McCain-Palin campaign, reminding us both of Nixon's 1968 law and order campaign and the infamous ad run by Jesse Helms against Harvey Gantt, with white hands crumpling a rejection notice received because the job was given to a minority ostensibly because of a job quota. That was an advertisement that directly played on racial fears. It was racist. As is saying Obama is not like us, allowing introductory speakers to emphasize his middle name, and so many other things we now see from the other side.
But Jackson, like me, is clearly not worried about a racist approach having a meaningful effect on the outcome of the election, although I am sure both of us worry about the damage to the polity such attacks do. I would argue we should identify racist actions for what they are, even s we do not call the candidate a racist - a person is not necessarily the actions done on his behalf, even if we hear "I"m John McCain, and I authorized this advertisement." In that I think the Obama campaign's response to the brouhaha over the words of John Lewis struck just the right tone.
So let me end by being positive: the attacks won't work. And let me give Jackson the final word on that:
Appeals to race can definitely work when people have too much time on their hands. But America now faces an all-hands-on-deck crisis where huge issues appear to be trumping race. Willie Horton cannot compete with a tanking economy and plummeting 401(k) plans. McCarthyism is a game next to the carnage of a failed $10-billion-a-month war. Americans no longer laugh at Palin's lipstick difference between a hockey mom and a pit bull. The hockey mom is slinging mud from the pits. The lipstick is fading into the fangs of Wallace. A critical percentage of white Americans are saying, "No more."
Peace.