By Walter Fields
Courtesy of North Star News
With the McCain campaign growing desperate by the day as polls show Senator Barack Obama making significant progress in key battleground states, the presidential election is now turning on John McCain’s not so subtle “white appeal.” Over the last ten days we have watched McCain and his running mate, Alaska Governor Sarah Palin, unleash a torrent of racially coded attacks that has given their followers license to resurrect hate that we had hoped had been buried with Jim Crow. Apparently the crow flies.
With the active encouragement of both Senator McCain and Governor Palin, speakers and supporters at their rallies have been motivated to shout “kill him” and “off with his head,” in reference to Senator Obama. Thought Senator McCain eventually tried to calm his bloodthirsty brood, it is apparent that the genie is out of the bottle. For almost two years running, the specter of race has hung over this presidential campaign and, up until now, every time it surfaced well meaning individuals in political circles and the media worked feverishly to temper the rhetoric. Now, with less than a month to go, the issue of race and racism has come back with a vengeance as a desperate campaign throws one last “Hail Mary” pass hoping to sow seeds of doubt about Senator Obama in the minds of white voters.
Congressman John Lewis is absolutely right. What we are witnessing is straight from the George Wallace-Lester Maddox playbook. When all else fails, remind working class white voters of the need for racial solidarity; despite the fact that it could work against their vested interest. Senator McCain’s contemptuous reference to Senator Obama as “that one” was his call to arms to those paranoid white voters whose guilt would have them to believe that a Black president will turn history’s table back on white America. The McCain team’s spiteful invocation of “Who is Barack Obama?” attempts to portray “that one” as a covert, anti-American, Black Muslim Arab sympathizer who is an undercover agent for terrorists abroad. It is conspiracy theory run amok and only capable of taking root when the appeal is made in the context of an anti-intellectual framework. The McCain campaign is hoping that a hate filled, sound bite driven volley as the campaign winds down will give their ticket the boost it needs among those white voters still burdened by race.
It has been sobering to watch Governor Sarah Palin, the poster girl for cut and paste politics, attack someone far more educated, accomplished and qualified to serve than she could ever hope to be. And it has been revealing to see Senator McCain hide behind his running mate as she makes baseless accusations that are an affront to the American public. If there ever was a time for Senator McCain to demonstrate real courage, it would be now. But he can’t because he has awakened the beast and history teaches us that once the lynch mob gathers, someone has to get lynched. He can’t play the voice of reason now with his angry mob because they have been promised a lynching and will now turn on him if their thirst for blood cannot be satisfied.
Walter Fields is the CEO and Executive Editor of North Star News. Mr. Fields has been an award-winning journalist who has written extensively on matters of race and public policy as a columnist for the New Jersey Reporter, MSNBC.com, The City News and the Record (Bergen County, N.J.).
This post is a great example of dog whistle racism in today's politics. And there are so many more!
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Hope to see you at StopDog!
Posted by: yb | Monday, October 13, 2008 at 02:17 PM