Quit Crying Racism, You Idiots!
Last year at this time, I vowed that the only way Obama could win the election was if John McCain chose to forfeit. For all intents and purposes, he did. Most Republican campaigns would have set the bait and invited the mindless wing of the opposition to shriek "RACISM!!!" based on one or more hard-hitting personal attack against the Democrats' African-American candidate for President.
Partially to his credit, McCain refused to stoop to this level of politics and never pulled the trigger against his black opponent in the way that the Tennessee Republican Party did to Harold Ford only two years earlier, effectively taking the wind out of Ford's campaign when the ploy worked and sent the media and many Democratic activists into full-on "you guys are racists!!!" mode. Republicans are wise enough to know that independent voters cringe when they see the race card played loudly and gratuitously, which is why I was very surprised they didn't set the trap last year with so the Presidency at the stake. Of course, the reason I only give McCain partial credit for restraint is because it would have been next to impossible for him to exploit the opposition's willingness to play the "whoa is me" victimhood card when his own trainwreck selection for Vice-President and her supporters couldn't quit whining about how the media meanies were picking on her because she was a girl.
But even with all that going for him, I was still very surprised Obama survived last year's election without an embarrassing fit of race-baiting victimhood outrage by far too many on the left who can't seem to control themselves from crying racism over every slight, real or perceived. But even though they resisted the urge last fall, I knew it wouldn't be long until the race-baiters on the left reared their heads yet again to pour cold water on the "postracial America" fantasy so many invoked following Obama's election.
Janeane Garofalo was the first to wrongly play the race card last spring after the first round of tea bag protests, motivated purely by the fact that President was a black man according to her. Most seemed to dismiss Garofalo's rant at the time, mostly because Obama was still popular and there was no reason to abide empty shrieks of racism, but now that his poll numbers are falling and the opposition has grown, the left is predictably undermining its intellectual integrity by responding with accusations of racism against everybody opposing Obama.
While there was partial grounds for the accusation when it came to the knuckle-draggers demanding Obama's video to students not be shown in the schools, the charge of "racism" still seemed unnecessarily combative. And now that they're on a roll, the left is extending the charges of racism to Southern Congressmen who heckle Obama during his speeches and those who attended this weekend's festival of kooks in Washington, D.C.
There are so many appropriate charges that can be made against Congressman Joe Wilson and the neanderthals in DC carrying signs saying "Bury ObamaCare With Kennedy". Increasingly shrill accusations of racism are not among them, and will quickly prove counterproductive. When the opposition proves itself to be as unhinged as Wilson and the 9-12ers, there is no need to go for the nuclear option and play the race card against them. It will only serve to make sympathetic figures out of Joe Wilson and Glenn Beck, whose actions the majority of Americans will see as unacceptable, but not racist.
Yet the left carries on crying racism, and will likely continue to do so the more frustrated they become with Obama's poll numbers, almost certain to keep sinking at least until the unemployment rate starts falling. And with each unjustified pointed-finger accusation, they're gonna find loud shouts of racism yield diminishing returns....for both their agenda, and for the President they're trying to defend.
Partially to his credit, McCain refused to stoop to this level of politics and never pulled the trigger against his black opponent in the way that the Tennessee Republican Party did to Harold Ford only two years earlier, effectively taking the wind out of Ford's campaign when the ploy worked and sent the media and many Democratic activists into full-on "you guys are racists!!!" mode. Republicans are wise enough to know that independent voters cringe when they see the race card played loudly and gratuitously, which is why I was very surprised they didn't set the trap last year with so the Presidency at the stake. Of course, the reason I only give McCain partial credit for restraint is because it would have been next to impossible for him to exploit the opposition's willingness to play the "whoa is me" victimhood card when his own trainwreck selection for Vice-President and her supporters couldn't quit whining about how the media meanies were picking on her because she was a girl.
But even with all that going for him, I was still very surprised Obama survived last year's election without an embarrassing fit of race-baiting victimhood outrage by far too many on the left who can't seem to control themselves from crying racism over every slight, real or perceived. But even though they resisted the urge last fall, I knew it wouldn't be long until the race-baiters on the left reared their heads yet again to pour cold water on the "postracial America" fantasy so many invoked following Obama's election.
Janeane Garofalo was the first to wrongly play the race card last spring after the first round of tea bag protests, motivated purely by the fact that President was a black man according to her. Most seemed to dismiss Garofalo's rant at the time, mostly because Obama was still popular and there was no reason to abide empty shrieks of racism, but now that his poll numbers are falling and the opposition has grown, the left is predictably undermining its intellectual integrity by responding with accusations of racism against everybody opposing Obama.
While there was partial grounds for the accusation when it came to the knuckle-draggers demanding Obama's video to students not be shown in the schools, the charge of "racism" still seemed unnecessarily combative. And now that they're on a roll, the left is extending the charges of racism to Southern Congressmen who heckle Obama during his speeches and those who attended this weekend's festival of kooks in Washington, D.C.
There are so many appropriate charges that can be made against Congressman Joe Wilson and the neanderthals in DC carrying signs saying "Bury ObamaCare With Kennedy". Increasingly shrill accusations of racism are not among them, and will quickly prove counterproductive. When the opposition proves itself to be as unhinged as Wilson and the 9-12ers, there is no need to go for the nuclear option and play the race card against them. It will only serve to make sympathetic figures out of Joe Wilson and Glenn Beck, whose actions the majority of Americans will see as unacceptable, but not racist.
Yet the left carries on crying racism, and will likely continue to do so the more frustrated they become with Obama's poll numbers, almost certain to keep sinking at least until the unemployment rate starts falling. And with each unjustified pointed-finger accusation, they're gonna find loud shouts of racism yield diminishing returns....for both their agenda, and for the President they're trying to defend.
posted by Mark at 6:10 PM
3 Comments:
The funny thing is, that I've heard a lot about people on the right accusing Obama of being "racist", starting with when he picked Sotomayor for the Supreme Court, and accusing her of "racism" too.
You make a good point that the other side has played the race card plenty and it was just as demagogic if not more so. Still, as I'm watching Olbermann right now gushing on about racism and reading some of the "I fear for my black husband" diaries on Daily Kos, I feel as though they're digging Obama's political grave with independents by playing this card too hard.
Its not like any of this is possibly going to hurt Obama anymore. He's pretty much got nothing to lose at this point.
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