I was looking at FoxNews.com, and noticed an article I haven't seen discussed yet today on DailyKos.
In a piece debating whether Obama's infomercial was a success or failure, we get the following opinions of infomercial expert Bill Thompson:
"I'm not convinced he reached undecided voters," he said, adding that he believes a majority of them won't vote for a black candidate.
"He needed to make himself look totally white," he said, adding Obama should have acknowledged that even though his skin is slightly darker, he's still a regular human being.
"It's going to come down to whether the average Joe or Jane accepts Barack Obama as an African-American or a human being," he said.
How are the above comments justified in the modern era, even at Fox? The infomercial didn't work because Obama didn't "make himself look totally white"? I'm floored by this.
Worse, the ugly suggestion that voters see "African-American" and "human being" as mutually exclusive... well, that makes McCain's own recent "He's an Arab!"/"No, he's a decent family man!" response seem like the teachings of Mahatma Gandhi.
Now, it's not like I expected "fair and balanced" coverage or anything. Take a look at the current snapshot of above-the-fold news:
Seriously. Clinton suggests Obama is totally dependent on advisers? Obama's Aunt found in a slum? Obama's lead has collapsed six points? Obama should have condemned Palin Effigy? Good Lord. The only potential surprise is an article discussing how Sarah Palin shares the oil wealth, and initially implying that weakens her "socialist" changes against Obama... but the article's conclusion negates that, since Alaska's policy "is not redistribution in the sense of you take money away from one guy who's working real hard, and give it away to someone who's not working at all." Which, of course, is exactly what Obama wants to do, that Marxist bastard.
I will (hopefully) assume that Bill Thompson was trying to say something to the effect that people need to think of Obama not as a "black man", but just "a man". But, damn sir, even if that's what you wanted to say, I'd have picked a better way of saying it. I like to think, even with our nation's problems, Obama shouldn't have to put on whiteface in order to win the undecided voters. (Besides, if Thompson's theory seems to be that undecided voters are hopelessly racist, why would they be "undecided" at this point at all?)