Nobody really thinks that Bush or McCain have a real answer for the challenges we face. So what they're going to try to do is make you scared of me. You know, he's not patriotic enough. He's got a funny name. You know, he doesn't look like all those other presidents on those dollar bills, you know. He's risky. That's essentially the argument they're making."
"Barack Obama has played the race card, and he played it from the bottom of the deck. It's divisive, negative, shameful and wrong."
It is hard to see a clearer indication that the McCain campaign is itching to play the race card. First, they released an ad that compares the way Obama looks to past presidents and national leaders and then, when Obama claims that the McCain campaign is comparing the way he looks to past presidents and national leaders, the McCain campaign claims that Obama is playing "the race card." In fact, they did so with language that directly references one of the most racially divisive moments in recent American history, the OJ Simpson trial.
Just as they are itching for an age-based backlash on Obama, the McCain campaign is also targeting a race-based backlash. Really, just about the entire McCain campaign at this point is about trying to create an identity-politics backlash against Obama, on multiple fronts. Age, race, military service, Hollywood, consumer goods-anything it can possibly find is being thrown into the mix. McCain doesn't want to talk about issues--he only wants to talk about identity.
STATE BLOGS
