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Saturday, October 11, 2008

McCain finally says don't fear Obama

MSNBC Countdown reported today that McCain was forced to confront supporters' rage at, and fear of, Obama, feelings that McCain himself has incited in these already anxious times. Sadly, these tactics appear to trouble no one more than they trouble McCain, who clearly appears troubled in these next clips.





Rachel Maddow talked about the attacks from McCain and his supporters, and wondered if he will bring up Jeremiah Wright at the next presidential debate. One one hand, McCain has said he won't go that route, and even asked fellow Republicans to pull ads doing just that. Laurence O'Donnell notes, however, that since McCain said it would happen, "it's a toss up" as to if he really will mention Wright next week.


I hope McCain sticks with his conscience on this question of the legitimacy of these rabid attacks. McCain should apologize publicly to Obama for the hatred hurled by McCain, Palin, and GOP members and supporters. No matter who one supports for the presidency, hate filled speech is unacceptable in the public arena. This is more than smearing. This is offensive fear mongering, and it must stop.
Posted at 1:12 AM
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2 comments:

  1. It's too bad that in response to the "accusation" by an audience member in the first clip that Obama is an Arab, McCain said, "no, ma'am, he's a decent family man."

    So, either you're an Arab, or you're a decent family man?

    McCain may be backpedaling a bit on the fear mongering, but it would seem to be for purely political purposes, not out of any concern for justice.
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  2. McCain's not that great at thinking on is feet, especially under stress. Like the "that one" remark, he poorly chose his words. Certainly he knows that Arab people people are just as able to nurture a family well. That doesn't let him off the hook, however. Subconscious racism that goes unquestioned is just as dangerous as explicit prejudice.

    On the other hand, racism alienates the other by implying that "they aren't like us" (or saying it outright as in Palin's case this week). When the audience member said Obama was an Arab, she was speaking from fear of the unknown, whether it was racially or ideologically motivated, or both. McCain's response was to explain that Obama's not really that different from you and me, that he's a human being worthy of respect. I don't think it would have helped much if McCain had said "No, ma'am, he's actually half African and half Caucasian American." Still, the fact that he didn't address the woman's racism is troubling.

    I'm not sure if backing away from the fear mongering is purely political or not. I think McCain really does not want to follow this route, but, at least partially, has his hands tied by his campaign staff and poll numbers. The attacks may be more politically motivated than the backing off. But whatever the reason, and no matter who anyone votes for, we'll all be better off when these attacks stop.
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