That one. Those two words have gotten a lot of attention since John McCain muttered them during last night’s debate about Barack Obama.
Some African Americans, (read Warren Ballentine) say this was a racist affront, akin to a white man saying “you people” when referring to blacks. He’s urging his listeners to call the McCain headquarters and is demanding an apology from McCain in the next 72 hours.
Don’t see that happening.
Some other people aren’t talking about it at all. I’m sure McCain thought he was being “folksy” like his running mate Sarah Palin during her debate.
But if the charge of racism sticks, the McCain campaign has themselves to blame.
After the nomination of Palin, if you sneezed in her direction you were sexist. If you mentioned lipstick, you were making fun of the Alaska governor.
It’s all bullshit, if you ask me.
According to the Associated Press, Obama’s camp had this to say about McCain’s comment:
Obama campaign manager David Plouffe said after the debate, “John McCain was all over the map on the issues, and he is so angry about the state of his campaign that he referred to Barack Obama as ‘that one’ — last time he couldn’t look at Senator Obama; this time he couldn’t say his name.”
This campaign is supposed to be about the issues, but that’s getting lost in the mudslinging and negativity. Some Americans are going to look past that, research where the candidates stand on things like health care, the economy, securing our borders and abortion and make an informed decision on Nov. 4th. Others will just remember the last television or Internet ad they saw and vote for that person.
Obama tried to make the election about the issues. McCain went negative. Then Obama followed suit because you can’t get punched and not fight back.
“That one” could be the nail in McCain’s coffin. Look at what happened to Ross Perot when he actually said, “you people.”
Then again, it may not be the end for McCain. Because if the Obama camp brings up race, McCain’s people will fuss and yell and go on Fox News to say “we’re not racist, we have black friends. But Barack Obama is not ready to lead.”
The role of race in this election has been swept under the rug and pulled out when deemed necessary.
It was a historic moment when Obama delivered his acceptance speech at the Democratic National Convention and the media pulled out every living Civil Rights icon to talk about their feelings.
Race wasn’t even discussed when Geraldine Ferraro went all redneck and said Obama made it to where he is because he’s a black man. Like that has worked for so many in this country.
But if this election hasn’t done anything else, it should jumpstart a serious conversation on sexism and racism in this country and maybe this time come up with some solutions.
This article appears in Oct 7-14, 2008.
