We all know that the right-wing in this country is given to histrionics, hypocritical, and puerile attacks against those they perceive to be enemies. Such attacks always seem to begin and end with some vituperative remark about "liberalism."
Thus it is especially enjoyable to see the fruits of their labors coming back to bite them on the ass, even if it's taken "liberals" a good 30 years to finally "get it."
In particular, there are two recent events in the general campaign that have Republicans and right-wingers everywhere frothing at the mouth with rage. The first is Obama's wise decision to refuse to enter the public financing system for elections, and the second is the Obama campaign's decision to push back on "Swift Boat" style attacks forcefully and in a timely manner.
Including this last weekend, last week marked some key points in the general election campaign.
Campaign Finance
The Obama campaign announced that it would forgo the use of public funds during the general election campaign. This is quite shrewd and, in my opinion, necessary for obvious reasons. The right-wing attackers are trying their hardest to brand Obama as a flip-flopper and a promise-breaker, of course. The media, always looking for sensationalistic pap, isn't doing it's job to point out that Obama didn't break his word, and that the attackers are distorting what Obama's position is and has been. (I can't blame the media entirely; anybody who saw Biden's "defense" of Obama's campaign finance position on "Meet the Press" should realize that ineptness in politics still pervades Democratic circles.)
This has the right-wing in hysterics. Rightfully so, because McCain's potent $21.5M May is going to look like peanuts as Obama's general campaign kicks into gear, especially once Hillary's donors start contributing along with Obama's. They're trying anything they can to undermine Obama's credibility on this matter. It could be said to be working, except that Obama's campaign itself has been fairly effective at articulating his position (even if some incompetent surrogates haven't been, and in spite of the media's wink-and-nod complicity with the right-wing attacks on this line).
Of course, McCain has essentially hamstrung himself on this matter. He can't really refuse to use the public system without exposing himself for the hypocrite he is on the matter of public financing of elections. He also can't refuse to use it because of his successful branding of himself as a "maverick" (once again, the media are failing to do their damn jobs here--McCain is so much like every other neocon, Bush-league Republican that I can hardly refrain from laughing when I hear "maverick" mentioned next to his name). He's managed to fool the mentally deficient cretins on the right who would otherwise donate to him just as easily as he's fooled the "journalists" in the media, so he is going to have a lot of trouble raising money to any significant degree. He's been hoist by his own petard, you might say. And that makes me quite happy.
Racism
This weekend, Obama and his campaign made some remarks that indicate they are expecting attacks based in some way on Obama's race. Of course this is just sensible. Roughly 3 in 10 Americans admit to racial bias, and it's highly unlikely most of these are educated or Democratic. The sad fact is that racial bigotry isn't a single-party issue (we saw this in the primary contest), but to pretend that it's even close to equally a problem on the left as it is on the right is to be willfully ignorant.
The Obama campaign's push-back remarks have raised the ire of the right easily as much as his shrewd decision to not opt-in to McCain's broken public finance system, if not more. It's a definite sore spot with them. For years those on the right (and some who should know better) have had an over-reaction to perceived abuses in the Affirmative Action program and other programs intended to address this country's shameful treatment of certain groups. Instead of looking to visit these programs' implementations in light of the fact that we are a relatively less racist society, they'd rather whine and complain about "reverse discrimination" and other laughably trivial things that cast white males in victim roles.
This issue isn't any different. Obama and his campaign recognize two important things about Republicans: 1) they are vicious, unscrupulous hypocrites who will use any attack they can (even while whining and complaining that their opponents who aren't using such attacks are using them); 2) a large portion of their support, especially in states the Obama campaign intends to contest vigorously (i.e. parts of the south and mid-west), consists of people with mild to severe racial bias issues.
Of course the right-wing have brought this all on themselves. Their use of vituperative, Rove-style politics is a sad testament to the deplorable state of our public discourse over the last 30 years. Push hard enough and long enough, and the guy you bully is going to wise-up and fight back. Hence, Obama. And this scares the right-wing beyond all expectations. The best part is the exhortations from gas-bags like the Big Fat Idiot that Republicans "are always on the defensive" and have to fight back. It's almost like they don't even see the trap Obama is laying for them. He knows what they're up to, they know what they're up to, but they're so out of touch with reality that they can't help it. When they finally do go overboard, the Obama campaign is going to jump all over it.
Hopefully by then the media will have fallen out of love with McCain enough to pick up on it and report the facts as "journalists" should.