Forcing the Race Card

This week, trying to make the point that John McCain doesn't have anything to say about himself, Barry Obama said

"But, since they don’t have any new ideas the only strategy they’ve got in this election is to try to scare you about me. They’re going to try to say that I’m a risky guy, they’re going to try to say, 'Well, you know, he’s got a funny name and he doesn’t look like all the presidents on the dollar bills and the five dollar bills and, and they’re going to send out nasty emails."

So, Obama is making predictions that John McCain is going to play the race card, the xenophobe card and that he's going to send out nasty emails. Beautiful. Who's playing the race card, Barry? John McCain has never done such a thing (he fired a staffer who once got close). Let's see. Who, although he is half white, called his own grandmother "a typical white woman"? Implying that she couldn't help but be racist even though her own grandson is half black... that wasn't McCain (can you imagine if McCain had ever referred to anyone as a "typical black person"? whoo boy!)

Worse, in an earlier version the same day of these "he doesn't look like" comments, he actually said

"You know, he’s new, he’s... doesn’t look like the other presidents on the currency, you know, he’s got a, he’s got a funny name."

The OTHER presidents? What arrogance. Note to Obama: You're not a president yet. You don't get to lump yourself in with "the other presidents". And this guy is supposed to be the sublime speaker.

On the same subject, I just happened to catch a talk radio host named Leo Terrell actually try to pull a racist slant out of the McCain campaign's recent stupid ad featuring Paris Hilton, Britney Spears, and Barry O. If you haven't seen it, it was making the point (sloppily) that the fascination with Obama is based on fluff, not substance, as it is with Hilton & Spears. But what did Mr. Terrell see? Nothing less than an insidious plot to turn white voters against Obama by subliminally linking a black man with white women "which is a big no-no". HUH? Moron. IF there is anyone dumb enough to hold that view and at the same time shrewd enough to catch this subtle, diabolical subterfuge, well... they weren't ever gonna vote for Barry anyway.

People say and do racist things in fairly obvious ways -- and when they do, they get called on the carpet. You've got to have a lot of time on your hands (and a pretty big chip on your shoulder) to ferret out fantasies of a "Birth of a Nation" contingent running around this country... and the ludicrous idea that McCain would be pandering to them.

By the way, since Obama said this stuff, and the McCain camp responded by saying "He played the race card, and he played it from the bottom of the deck" (that'll become a cliche someday), he has responded by saying something along the lines of "What I meant was, I don't look like I came from Central Casting for presidential candidates. Race had nothing to do with it..." wha? What is it about you that makes you look so different from previous presidents, B.O.? Your ears? Check Lincoln. Your youth? Check Clinton. Your elitist ways? Check Bush 41, FDR, JFK, et al. Face it. You meant your skin color. There's nothing else you could have meant.

For a guy who is supposed to "transcend race"... he sure seems to make sure we're painfully aware of it.

I'm not thrilled about the idea of McCain as president, but I'll be pulling the "R" lever this go round.