McCain Camp: Obama "Played the Race Card from the Bottom of the Deck."

Yesterday at midday, McCain campaign manager Rick Davis sent a mysterious two-line message to reporters:

Barack Obama has played the race card, and he played it from the bottom of the deck. It's divisive, negative, shameful and wrong.

He was referring, as it turns out, to remarks Obama made at a series of speeches in Missouri on Wednesday, one of which I attended.

As I pointed out in my previous post, during Obama's speech at a barbeque in the small town of Union, Missouri, he said:

I mean, you haven't heard a positive thing out of that campaign in a month. All they do is try to run me down. And you know this in your own life, right? If somebody doesn't have anything nice to say about anybody, that means they've got some problems of their own.

So, they know they've got no new ideas. They know they're dredging up all the stale old stuff they've been peddling for the past eight, ten years. 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 gonna try to say that I'm a risky guy. They're gonna 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.

It was that last sentence the McCain campaign took issue with: "And he doesn't look like all the presidents on the dollar bills and the five dollar bills."

Let me tell you how the overwhelmingly white, rural, working-class audience in Union reacted to that statement:

They laughed.

And I don't mean they twittered a little uncomfortably, or laughed politely. I mean, they laughed. From the belly. They guffawed. They applauded. If you don't believe me, watch the video I posted in my last piece. It was one of the best-received lines in Obama's whole speech.

Why?

Because the joke— it was a joke, you see— he delivered the line with a wry grin— succeeded in the way that many of the best jokes do, by sneaking up to the edge of an unspoken, considered-unspeakable controversy, and tearing away its respectable mask.

Anyone with critical thinking ability and a reasonable understanding of racial dynamics in this country who has really been paying attention to the attacks made on Obama by conservatives during the course of this campaign could tell you this: The scurrilous chain emails falsely claiming that Obama was educated in a radical Muslim madrassa; the ridiculous, repeated emphasis by opponents on Obama's middle name, Hussein; the aspersions cast the Senator's patriotism because of his inconstant wearing of a flag pin (Obama was even grilled about the meaning behind his fashion choices by professional television reporters, let us not forget, during a nationally televised debate when his opponent, Hillary Clinton, stood on stage next to him also not wearing a flag pin); the characterization by Fox News of a dap as a "terrorist fist bump"— all of these attempts by the Right and by certain members of the media to characterize Obama as somehow other and foreign— have served as a convenient, socially acceptable stand-in mode of criticism for certain people in this country who would like to say, but cannot for fear of losing all credibility in today's politically correct world:

He's black. We're not. And that scares us.

The genius of Obama's joke about the faces on American money is that it acknowledges this reality— the reality that some people are uneasy about his race, and that others are willing to exploit that uneasiness— without specifically casting blame. There he stands, in front of an audience of salt-of-the-earth, rural white folks, and he self-deprecatingly mocks his "funny name." (Which, incidentally, I've been hearing him do in speeches since, oh, pretty much since he started running for president, actually. So for the McCain campaign to act like that's something new is ridiculous.)

And then he goes one step further. He skewers the elephant in the room.

I don't look like those men on the dollar and five dollar bills, he admits. I look different. And my opponents have tried, and will continue to try, to scare you because of it. But, think about that for a minute. Isn't that silly, that someone would try to scare you about me because of the spelling of my name, or the color of my skin? Come to think of it, that's hilarious! Come on. Let's laugh about it. And after that, let's get to work on the issues we all care about.

That's not "playing the race card from the bottom of the deck." That pulling the race card out of your sleeve, showing it to the room, and calmly ripping it in half.

Whatever the McCain campaign may say about its own involvement in the racially-tinged attacks against Obama throughout the course of this campaign, there is no question in my mind that prominent figures within the GOP have encouraged such attacks and continue to do so.

If the McCain campaign wants Obama to stay silent on the race issue, perhaps McCain should consider telling members of his own party to put away their dog whistles.

Jaelithe also writes at The State of Discontent.

Comments

[Daisy]

The man has a fabulous sense of humor and great way of delivering a joke. His timing is impeccable. If he weren't a leader, he could act or do stand up. But please, Senator, keep your day job! We need you!

[lildb]

This is so perfectly written, I want to frame it and hang it on my wall.

[Donna]

This issue came up again on this morning's Meet the Press face off between John Kerry (surrogate for Obama) and Joe Lieberman (for McCain). I wish Kerry had seen your post -- you explain that remark way better than any of the TV pundits.

[rebecca]

see, that's the difference between you and me. you write out a thoughtful, concise, intelligent, logical, and honest analytical response. i just roll my eyes in irritation and feel my chest tighten in anger. that's why i'm so glad to have you MOMocrats--- you do the grunt work for me and put mature words to my childish responses ;)