Saturday, June 21, 2008

"Did I Mention He's Black?"

Barack Obama started out running as a race-neutral candidate, but Jeremiah Wright and the "white working class demographic" made the issue inescapable, and the presidential campaign will benefit from having it out in the open.

At a fund-raiser last night, he previewed the underbelly of the Republican attacks to come:

“We know what kind of campaign they’re going to run,” Obama told supporters. “They’re going to try to make you afraid. They’re going to try to make you afraid of me. He’s young and inexperienced and he’s got a funny name. And did I mention he’s black?”

And to cap it all: “He’s got a feisty wife.”

It takes rare confidence and courage to anticipate and drag out into the light the kind of prejudice that thrives on darkness, to do what John Kerry, to his regret, failed to do in 2004--confront the 527 slime machine that John McCain deplored back then but has yet to disavow fully and forcefully now.

What Obama is doing is not only challenging the decency of fair-minded voters who might be influenced by such attacks veiled in darkness and silence but would be shamed to tolerate openly--but his opponent's as well.

They, and John McCain, have a decision to make.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Obama's smart. He's three steps ahead all the time. The irony of the Republicans blasting him for refusing public financing - do they really want to run on that issue?

Anonymous said...

McCain wants town hall meetings. He needs the crowds that Obama can draw.

The Assisted Living centers that provide a forum for McCain do not get much media coverage and he doesn't have the money to buy air time.

Mike said...

The attacks on Michelle Obama have been especially appalling.