comment #1

Mgmax says ...

Shockingly, I fear you may be right. When McCain says he's against affirmative action, he's really signaling his opposition to affirmative action.

Seriously, I'm not going to volunteer to stick my face straight into the fan here, but I have to wonder from a purely practical political point of view if complaining about being race-baited every time anyone says anything about you is really a winning electoral strategy. It may work in the only kind of competitive race Obama has ever been in, for the Illinois State Senate, where being blacker than thou helps with both blacks and Hyde Park guilty white liberals, but his national appeal, such as it was, was built on being the post-racial candidate. If he's now going to be the post-post-racial candidate, I just think that's a position with limited appeal across the electorate-- how many people honestly feel that the most important thing in 2008 is to solve our racial dilemma? Not nearly as many as think it's either the economy or national security combined, I'm sure.

It's a losing proposition to be the answer to what most people don't think is the burning question of the day. Especially if it starts to make people think your economic policies will be rooted in helping your tribe over the others. He's still got a chance to overcome that, maybe 2 or 3, but it won't take many mistakes like his recent flirtation with slavery reparations to let him be pigeonholed as purely an ethnic candidate.

comment #2

BNick says ...

"As a native of the south, I can tell you when you see the big Charlton Heston ad, 'the one'...that is code for 'he's uppity, he oughta stay in the place.'"

I don't follow this at all. I'm familiar with the idea of racial coding, including subtle hints in your advertising to stoke anti-Black sentiment. But I don't think you can accuse this McCain ad of doing that. I think they've made a judgment that Obama doesn't actually respond very well to mockery, so they're just using a little sarcasm to try to get under his skin. Hey, nothing else has worked.

Can someone with a backwards sense of things look at an ad featuring Obama, Paris Hilton, and Britney Spears and become angry about the insinuation that Obama, a black man, might be associating himself with these blond white women? Maybe, but I don't see how this is their target audience.

comment #3

Doug Pratt says ...

I hate to tell all of you guys, but absolutely nothing in a presidential campaign matters until after Labor Day, not polls, not ads, not flubs, not anything. There may be a little jockeying for poll position, so to speak, but that's it.

comment #4

SmilingPolitely says ...

Hmm... I thought it meant that Obama was the anti-Christ.

comment #5

nelson37 says ...

Forget Gergen. I'm more interested in what the most articulate and intellegent person on the panel (George Will) had to say on the subject

comment #6

Walter Sobchak says ...

When McCain says, "I believe I would make a better president than Obama", what he's REALLY saying is "now looky here, Obama ought not be such an uppity (N-word), or else me and some good ol' boys will have to teach him a lesson in manners."

It's as clear as day.

comment #7

Mgmax says ...

"absolutely nothing in a presidential campaign matters until after Labor Day"

I wouldn't necessarily disagree, Doug, but Dick Morris does:

"Are the McCain people waiting for September to get serious? If so, they are making a big mistake and missing an important opportunity. History indicates that the best time to beat a new candidate is in the summer. August to be precise.

"Dukakis, Mondale, and Kerry all were destroyed in the summer, long before the fall campaign began. In 1984, the offensive against Geraldine Ferraro crippled Mondale well before Labor Day. In 1988, the pledge of allegiance, revolving door, and Willie Horton ads all ran in the summer. Dukakis was dead by September. And the swift boat attack on Kerry defeated him well before the summer was over."

http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2008/08/august_is_the_time_to_ta.html

comment #8

Walter Sobchak says ...

Anyone catch the first half of the show? Nancy Pelosi did a real bang-up job, there. As Democrats, I'll bet many of you just well up with pride when you see that dingbat try to bumper-sticker her way through difficult questions.

comment #9

bb says ...

Do you mean "somebody else says it."? Christ Jeff, you've been making such claims since the primaries. This hasn't been some elephant in the room that nobody has dared mention. It's been crammed down our throats ever since people realized that Obama is, gasp, a black man.

I defended Gergen when he was being trashed by Republicans for going to work for Clinton but as another person originally from the south, I didn't get the codebook that evidently clues him in on the uppity message that everybody down there evidently knows all about.

I agree that the presidential race doesn't really get going until after the convention, to a degree, but the lengths that people are taking to try to freeze any criticism of Obama has already reached hysterical heights. It is setting a tone that is going to last through November.

Others have mentioned this but I have the feeling that the more voters are told that their criticism of Obama is racism, the more legitimate criticisms are going to be whispered rather than openly discussed and the more resentment is going to build because people don't like it when they don't feel free to speak their minds. And if any of what I am suggesting is true, it won't matter what these polls say, news alert, people vote by secret ballot.

The dems have a knack of blowing every great national opportunity for power through hubris and a complete ignorance of human nature. They are doing it again this year.

comment #10

dre says ...

Bumper-stickering has been the Republican's strategy for decades, Walter. And it's worked.

comment #11

Mgmax says ...

I had no idea you could fit Milton Friedman's Capitalism and Freedom onto a bumpersticker!

comment #12

Walter Sobchak says ...

You Can't Hug A Hollywood-Elsewhere Blogger With Nuclear Arms

comment #13

corey3rd says ...

They tried nail Obama with a version Harold Ford ad. Notice that the two "celebrities" that McCain picked were Paris and Britney. Two white women with blond hair. They could have picked Beyonce and Jay-Z. But nope. McCain wants you to have the "Black Man's going to rape your white daughter" reaction from the faithful. This is just like the white woman who said, "Call me" to Ford in the attack ad.

McCain might have a "black daughter," but that doesn't put him in the clear of attacking with this fear.

The bad part is that the Hiltons gave the max to McCain and this is how he treats them. What a class act.

I'm still waiting for someone to take the footage of McCain looking pissed that the Dalai Lama kept their handshake and dub in Heston's "Take your stinking paws of me you damn dirty ape!"

comment #14

Mgmax says ...

God, that was ugly.

comment #15

quitstaringatme says ...

As everyone that's over 200 pounds knows, every time someone blinks while making a vowel sound, they're really saying "niggerniggerniggernigger!!!" How Jeff found this out, I don't know. There have been some red state security leaks.

Am I the only one that can totally make out the blond chick's nipple in that American Teen ad?

comment #16

BNick says ...

"They could have picked Beyonce and Jay-Z. But nope."

I totally agree. The best way for McCain to have avoided any charges of race-baiting would have been to include Obama's picture next to black rappers and singers.

"The bad part is that the Hiltons gave the max to McCain and this is how he treats them. What a class act."

Hey wow, I saw that on the Daily Show last week! You watch that show, too!?

comment #17

D.Z. says ...

Mgmax: Kerry, Mondale, and Dukakis lost for more reasons than just negative ad campaigning.

comment #18

BNick says ...

Seriously, Dick Morris is almost always wrong. Just ask Senator Rick Lazio.

Kerry lost in August? I thought he lost around 6pm on Election Day when everyone figured out the exit polls were systematically undercounting Bush votes.

Also, wasn't Mondale fairly close to Reagan at least through the first debate when Reagan looked old and lost?

comment #19

D.Z. says ...

BNick: Actually, exit polls are statistically proven to be more reliable than the vote-takers. So it was really Kerry being undercounted by Diebold. As for Mondale, he lost, because Reagan bombed some countries.

comment #20

BNick says ...

"Actually, exit polls are statistically proven to be more reliable than the vote-takers. So it was really Kerry being undercounted by Diebold. As for Mondale, he lost, because Reagan bombed some countries."

It's like an American Civics lesson come to life!

comment #21

Rod32303 says ...

"Especially if it starts to make people think your economic policies will be rooted in helping your tribe over the others."

THIS is my fucking problem with what the conservative Republican party has become. I am an African American man. Who are these OTHERS and, nice choice of words, who is the TRIBE? Are WHITE PEOPLE the (chosen, poor neglected) others? Because that's what some black folk feel when you say things like this. Are these the same OTHERS that have been running this planet for centuries?

This candidate, it appears, is trying to NOT do what Mgmax says, but the fact of the matter is he IS a man of color, he IS different and some folk ARE hesitant just because of that. Off the BAT they are hesitant just because of that. Even some of the good folk here in Tallahasee, when asked what they have against this candidate, can't come up with a specific response, or struggle to have some pc answer, when it's obvious it's because of the things Gergen spoke. And how many times, if I may, do people who are of color have only WHITE MEN to choose from in not only a general election, but even local? Some of these white men have been superior statesmen, some not, but you really really don't hear black folk going around saying, "shit, I'm going to vote for him cause he's white, " or even , "hell no, I' ain't votin' for him cause he's white." In most cases, there hasn't BEEN a choice, and sometimes even when there was, black people didn't necessarily vote that way (Jesse Jackson, Alan Keyes). POST RACIAL candidate? So, when a white candidate runs, what are they, the NO-RACIAL candidate, because that is the "norm"? Cause that's a different reality to most black folk.

We really should be talking more - celebrating or at least trying to listen to each other more. I always hated the term "color blind" - shit, we should see and try to embrace ALL colors. I love hearing about the histories of the Irish, the English, the Portuguese, and I would hope some would love to hear the stories of my ancestors...which didn't start on a plantation in Alabama. But the reality is, people know what they know, and don't want to hear another point of view. All black folk KNOW in this country is the other point of view. It's partially ours, too, but I like that, pun intended, Gergen calls a spade a spade. I live in Tallahassee, Florida. I love this little southern town. I am lucky that I teach at an awesome high school, and young people, for the most part, haven't gotten like...this...not yet. But the race dilemma still exists...more than people like to acknowledge.

comment #22

Ogami Itto says ...

Am I the only one that can totally make out the blond chick's nipple in that American Teen ad?

Nope.

comment #23

Mgmax says ...

Rod, it may not be fair, but it's reality.

So much of our politics is based on getting what I can for who's mine, that anybody who comes out of that world-- and believe me, a Chicago pol is definitely coming out of that world-- has to demonstrate that he can think about everybody, not just grab the spoils. It may be an ugly fact, but it was an ugly fact when JFK had to confront it, it was an ugly fact when Anton Cermak built the Chicago machine as a coalition of bohunks, it was an ugly fact when the first Jew got elected in New York at the turn of the century, it was an ugly fact when the Irish got power in Boston in the 1870s.

Obama started out transcending that kind of politics, which suits a senator but is deadly for a presidential candidate. Now he's slipped a bit back into it, and if he loses it'll be because white people fear not his race per se, but the effect of his racial identification on their wallets.

comment #24

Rod32303 says ...

Sucks for all of us who ain't white, I guess, since people of color have no choice? It is his race, then. If he were white, would they fear his identification on their wallets? Because black people pay taxes, we eat in restaurants, we give to charities, we shop at WAL-MART, we work a couple jobs too, and in presidential elections, we vote. Until now, no candidate has ever looked like us, but we vote, still. I know you are right when we "vote for what's ours" but that has looked like everyone from John Kennedy to Lyndon Johnson to Jimmy Carter to (even) the first George Bush and Bill Clinton. All white men. Sucks that the first man of color gets pigeonholed BECAUSE of his color. He talks of wanting to get past that, wanting to represent the masses, but he gets "put in his place" by the bullshitters. For something that just...is. Like Kennedy was a Catholic, and Reagan was an actor...but I guess it's a new ball game when it's, you know, the color of the skin.

Sucks.

But I appreciate your candor, Mgmax, and know much of what you say is true. Even us having a discussion here is, I think, a good thing.

comment #25

MovieBob says ...

You want ugly truth? If McCain's ad people AREN'T making a subtle, nigh-subliminal "issue" of Obama's race they aren't doing their jobs - just as Obama's people aren't doing THEIR jobs if they aren't making the same kind of "issue" of McCain's AGE.

This is the basic, core mechanics of all modern political campaigning: You have to turn your opponent's biggest strength and/or central "reason for running" into a weakness and/or negative trait. Obama's whole (political) existance is being "the change guy," "new ideas," "he's different!" What's the negative version of that? "the risky guy," "untested ideas," "HE'S DIFFERENT." There you go, there's the McCain campaign in a nutshell... oh, and BOTH versions are "wink-wink-nudge-nudge-oh-yeah-he's-black-too."

Same goes for McCain: He says "I've got more experience," "I've been down this road before." And Obama counters: "Insider who's too dug-in," "HE'S INCREDIBLY OLD!"

The pitfall for Obama is, he CANNOT under any circumstances be seen as accusing McCain or ANYONE ELSE of racial persecution toward him - EVEN if it's true. If he does, he will lose. Simple as that. Remember those people who were still supporting Hillary toward the end? The people he NEEDS to vote for him to win? Many of them white middle to upper-middle class white suburbanites? Yeah... the one thing they (privately) hate MORE than anything is being "accused" of racism by black people. Justified or not, when these folks hear ANY black public figure talk about racism, all they hear is Johnny Cochran and Obama loses votes. You don't have to like that, but it's a fact.

comment #26

Carl LaFong says ...

I think Big Chuck would have found the McCain ad stomach turning, at least at one time. Check it out: http://tinyurl.com/2lrcsj

comment #27

BNick says ...

Moviebob: It's fair to point out that Obama is walking on a bit of a tightrope when it comes to race as long as you acknowledge that McCain is as well.

Someone brought up the idea of McCain saying he's against affirmative action. If, say, Hillary were his opponent, coming out against affirmative action would merely be seen as a way to rally his base. But with Obama as his opponent, he has to tread MUCH more carefully on that issue, if he can even tread at all. There are plenty of decent people who are probably going to end up going for McCain who will change their minds if he's perceived as even using a whiff of racial coding in this campaign. His critics, therefore, will detect such coding even where it does not exist.

comment #28

Mgmax says ...

I guess the upside is, Rod, there's a lot of white people who WANT Obama to be the post-racial black politician. Post-racial doesn't mean he doesn't ever think about or do anything for black people, it means he's more than just the kind of ethnicity-based politician that black America has produced to date, like Sharpton or Jackson Sr., who really aren't much different than the machine types like Alderman William Dawson in Chicago, who've always settled for spoils from the white guys in charge. It means he's a president for everybody deeply informed by his ethnic experience, as a Catholic president, a Jewish president, an Asian-American president would be. I think (white) people are ready for that-- God knows Illinoisians have been for a while, and have watched far too many promising black pols flame out (Carol Moseley Braun, Mel Reynolds, etc.) on the way.

It's the difference between someone who uses their ethnicity as a springboard for their view of the American experience, and someone who's defined by it in total. This has been a promising moment for the former over the latter, which is why I'm sorry to see Obama slip back into an ethnic based candidacy as he seems to be doing-- and which, again speaking brutally practically, seems unlikely to win an election in a mostly white country.

comment #29

Rod32303 says ...

I hear you, Mgmax...and I think some of his "slipping" isn't entirely his fault - I know he doesn't want to make the mistake that Kerry and Dukakis and almost every other Democrat has - thinking people will be rational and leaving the opposition to decimate them without responding until it's too late. So sometimes his responses seem a little sensitive ("they want to scare you") but at least he's tit for tatting them. He speaks of economic issues, he has a successful European trip (remember McCain did his stint with bodyguards...not so effective), he tries to stay on message - he is branded a "celebrity" and "the one" and then has to defend against that shit...

And I will tell you, Mgmas, that a lot of BLACK people, especially my generation (early40's) and younger, want him to be the post-racial candidate. Sharpton and Jackson, god bless 'em, worked hard and did their thing in their day...but this is a NEW day, and they don't speak for all of Black America, no more than Robertson or Limbaugh or Lott represent all of what White America has produced. Alcee Hastings, Henry Ford, Kendrick Meek and Yvette Clark are all trailblazers that the, you know, "liberal media" don't report on, but they fight the good fight and are far more representative of today's African-American views than some of the legends of the past.
I swear to God, though, if I have to deal with another obviously Rove wielded campaign...

comment #30

palmreader says ...

For David Gergen, having worked under Presidents Nixon, Ford, Reagan & Clinton to say this is absolutely huge.

Donna Brazille made another good point about how th Republicans have branded the minority candidate as the elite uppercrust.

Bottom line, Gergen said it and I hope other continue to point this out: the McCain campaign's hidden subtext is "know your role."

I don't think John McCain himself is a racist, but its clear that his campaign knows how to appeal to the people that are.

comment #31

Josh says ...

Gergen right of center? Whats your definition of right of center???

everyone knew the dems would accuse anyone not voting or questioning obama as racist. surprising it came so soon.

comment #32

Rod32303 says ...

A year ago he wasn't on anyone's radar - THIRD, behind Clinton and Edwards and barfely above Richardson. Who are those "dems" you speak of? When you have people of the Republican party loving phrases like "OBAMA BIN LADEN", well, yeah, race comes seriously into play, and he isn't your average bear candidate (i.e. white, older, established).

Question and don't vote all you want - millions will anyway, but the bullshit of these ads ("the One"; pitting him with Britney and Paris) are the things that should be questioned.

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