Campaign Desk
African-American Bloggers Discuss the “Race Card” Story
And many ignore it altogether
By Megan Garber Fri 1 Aug 2008 02:52 PMAs the media have been talking, today, about the “race card” being officially “played” in the presidential campaign, we’ve heard a lot of back-and-forth bickering: Obama said this, McCain said that. Obama Spokesperson X said this, McCain Spokesperson Y said that. Reporter A said this, Reporter B said that. Et cetera. There have been a lot of accusations (or, as Liz put it yesterday, a lot of schoolyard-esque did not!s and did so!s), with very few conclusions. And, at this point, we’re hurting for some non-MSM perspective on the whole thing.
Below, then, are some selections from African-American group blogs discussing the “race card” story. Some of the bigger sites, it’s worth noting—The Root, Colorlines’s Racewire, Richard Prince’s Journal-isms—have thus far kept mum on the issue.
Faye Anderson, Anderson@Large: “Race and the Presidential Race v.6.0”
The deck is stacked against voters who hoped the general election campaign would not degenerate into a race about race.
The latest racial dust-up was triggered by comments Barack Obama made during a campaign stop in Missouri….
Sadly, the promised “respectful campaign” is now stuck on race….
The race card is on the table and up both candidates’ sleeve. So, it’s time to crank up Etta James’ “Stacked Deck.” As Etta reminds us, “If you’re going to play cards, baby, you know you got to deal sometime.”
Jack and Jill Politics: “McCain Loses His Mind to PlayaHate”
A mind is a terrible thing to waste. Especially on playahatin’. McCain released this ad comparing Obama to Paris Hilton and Britney Spears. Um, is it just me or is this a weird attempt to do a more subtle “Harold, Call Me” blond girl thing to Obama? I don’t think it’s working since even Paris Hilton is dissing McCain over it.
And Obama — playing the race card? Um, guess that’s going to be the McCain response to everything. Iraq War, healthcare, education, foreclosures, foreign relations — just Obama playing the race card again! Is this a sign of desperation from the GOP or part of an ongoing strategy? What do you think?
Black Spin: “The McCain Card - Blame Race In The Presidential Race”
The race for the White House has degenerated into a race about race. The latest racial flare-up was triggered by comments Barack Obama made during a campaign stop in Missouri….
Sure, McCain is using Obama’s celebrity status against him and mocking his alleged “fame without portfolio.” But by linking Obama with young white women, albeit celebutards, the ad subliminally evokes racial stereotypes of black men lusting after white women.
McCain is scheduled to give a keynote address today at the National Urban League’s annual conference. It will be interesting to see whether he tells a ballroom full of black folks that he’s “proud of that commercial” comparing Obama to two skanks.
The Vanel Journal: “Kerry Destroys Kyl and Confronts the ‘Race Card’”
Perhaps Senator Kerry is still smarting from his 2004 loss and feels that it is his duty to make sure that another Democrat does not get swiftboated. Had he shown the same fervor back then, who knows?…Ah those reveries.
The MSM isn’t helping, instead of taking McCain to task for the audacity to accuse Obama of playing the race card, they are promoting this narrative. The internal polling must be terrible for them to go negative this early. The Olympics games will start next week and the conventional wisdom is that the news cycle will be dominated by the games during the month of August. The McCain camp figured that they could not allow Obama to coast through the month without taking some shots at him to bring up his negatives, unfortunately it appears to be working, new Gallup polls show the race tightening. The Obama camp needs an aggressive response to these scurrilous attacks and Kerry appears to be leading this charge. Yes, the swiftboating of Obama has begun and I noticed it over a month ago when I wrote this letter to Washington Times editor, Tara Wall. That was the trial ballon and Dems should have had the same reaction when Gen. Wes Clark challenged McCain’s leadership cred. Remember the over the top hyperventilating?
African American Political Pundit: “John McCain, Barack Obama and the white male supremacy syndrome”
Is it not fact that Barack Obama has been addressing this issue of white male supremacy syndrome? The fact of the matter is John McCain is the one playing the race card, he is the one being divisive, negative, shameful and wrong for those ads. Get this folks, John McCain is proud of the ad comparing Obama to Britney Spears. As reported by the Washington Post and The Wall Street Journal Sen. John McCain defended his campaign’s TV ad comparing Sen. Barack Obama to Britney Spears and Paris Hilton, all celebrities who are not fit to lead, in the ad’s telling.
I’m in agreement with Francis L. Holland when he wrote: ‘Barack Obama runs not just against a man, John McCain, but also and much more importantly, against the white male supremacy paradigm.” Barack Obama has to show NOT ONLY that he will be a better president than John McCain, but also and more importantly, that John McCain is not inherently superior to Obama by virtue of John McCain’s white skin.
CJR
Jonathan
Mon 4 Aug 2008 11:03 AMThanks for this.
Check out Victor Corral's piece on the race card on Colorlines blog, RaceWire: http://www.racewire.org/archives/2008/08/mccain_plays_the_race_card_by.html#comments
Megan Garber
Mon 4 Aug 2008 12:03 PMThank you, Jonathan. That's a good one.
TDC
Mon 4 Aug 2008 12:38 PMRight you are again Megan! That bastard McCain and his Rethuglican cabal have once again sunk to a new low in this race.
But maybe theres something to Obama using his race against McCain?
Sen. Barack Obama's chief strategist conceded that the Democratic presidential candidate was referring to his race when he said Republicans were trying to scare voters by suggesting Obama "doesn't look like all those other presidents on the dollar bills." http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/Politics/story?id=5495348&page=1
So I guess its not just McCain who seems to agree that Obama was playing the race card.
Guess you all must have skimmed over the ABC story. After all, there’s no stone left unturned when defending Obama.
Evan Woodward
Mon 4 Aug 2008 02:23 PMIt seems like all of this overheated discussion of the "race card" could do with a calmer analysis of what exactly the race card is. As I recall, the phrase has been used in past campaigns to refer to moments of unnecessary racializing of an issue where race does not play a major role, or where coded references to race are used to color an understanding of a specific issue. Willie Horton and Sister Souljah are prominent examples, used on both sides of the aisle.
In this case, Obama refers to his blackness as it pertains to his own biography, which McCain has attempted to assail with this latest commercial. He does not do so to distract from some other specific argument that McCain is making. After all, he IS a black man, and one would imagine he has just as much a right to mention his blackness as McCain does his being a POW.
If you read the full speech that this allegedly inappropriate phrase comes in, it seems pretty innocuous and yes, non-newsworthy. However, its not hard to imagine the "he played the race card" arrow was first in the McCain camps quiver. They've undoubtedly had the press release dummied up since Obama was confirmed to be the nominee, just waiting for a few key details and the exact date to be penciled in.
What then, is the basis for the supposed offense taken by McCain at the comment? Does he believe it to be an irrelevant fact about Obama? Do black people find it offensive that he might occasionally mention his race? Has he at any point relied on his being black as some necessary condition of voting for him?
America has a problem talking about race and it probably always will. Folks like John McCain and his campaigners do us all a disservice by pandering to some people's basic fear of discussing it at all. It shouldn't be controversial for Obama to refer to his own race, but thanks to our sensational media it likely will be for the months to come.