Over the weekend David Gergen said,
“There has been a very intentional effort to paint him as somebody outside the mainstream, other, ‘he’s not one of us,'” said Gergen, who has worked with White Houses, both Republican and Democrat, from Nixon to Clinton. “I think the McCain campaign has been scrupulous about not directly saying it, but it’s the subtext of this campaign. Everybody knows that. There are certain kinds of signals. As a native of the south, I can tell you, when you see this Charlton Heston ad, ‘The One,’ that’s code for, ‘he’s uppity, he ought to stay in his place.’ Everybody gets that who is from a southern background. We all understand that. When McCain comes out and starts talking about affirmative action, ‘I’m against quotas,’ we get what that’s about.”
Exactly what I said last week:
Since the old angry black man stereotype wouldn’t work, the GOP has reached even deeper into white America’s racial memory and brought forth — the uppity black man stereotype.
A lot of bloggers and pundits jumped on the subliminal message of putting Paris Hilton and Britney Spears into the “celebrity” ad, but not so many caught the more dangerous (IMO) subtext of uppity-ness. Maybe you have to be a certain age or have a southern background to see it. But this is what really needs to be pushed back, hard. And now. And Obama can’t do it himself, because he doesn’t want to be “the black candidate.” Others must do this for him.
Regarding the “Praise the One” ad — I’m not sure the Right is acting out of jealousy. There’s a lot of resentment there, of course, but I think they fear Obama’s popularity more than they are jealous of it. I also want to remind everyone that it was the Hillary Clinton campaign that began the meme of Obama the Messiah and his supporters as brainless cult followers. Thanks loads.
Update: Read also “Obama’s crime? Acting too presidential.”
What I find extremely telling is the lack of outrage over McCain’s manifest “presumptuousness.” The McCain camp slams Obama for his “premature victory lap” in Europe, and yet McCain runs ads referring to himself as “President McCain.”
The McCain campaign mocks the “messianic” quality of the quote, “We are the ones we’ve been waiting for.” Yet McCain’s ads say, “John McCain: the American president Americans have been waiting for.”
The McCain camp claims that McCain puts “country first,” implying that Obama is all about personal ambition while McCain is a humble servant of the US. Yet in one of his books, McCain (or his ghostwriter) matter of factly states that McCain decided to quit the Navy and go into politics when it became clear he’d never make admiral and thus fulfill his personal ambition to equal or eclipse his father’s and grandfather’s achievements if he remained in the service.
The wingnuts can sputter and deny all they want to, but there’s a reason truly presumptuous and self-aggrandizing statements by a white dude go by the board whereas a black candidate’s quotes are parsed and twisted for evidence of pride.
I find the condemnation of Obama for presumptuousness particularly ridiculous in the context of the things that were said about W during his campaigns. I don’t have time at the moment to find it, but don’t I remember W himself saying, in almost just so many words, that he was chosen by God?
But of course, he was a white man.
I’ve never been a big fan of David Gergen, but he earned a lot of points with me for calling out the subtext of “uppity” black man. It was funny to see the reaction of the other panelists to seeing him violate the unwritten rules and start talking like an adult.
Ms Cracker – my sentiments exactly.
Maha, I, probably a majority of one, got from Hillary’s ads aimed at smearing Obama and more recent McCain’s ads with the same aim that Obama was and is being depicted as the predatory black male, a long-ago depiction created and nurtured by white racists, mainly in the South.
Whether lurking outside the house in the dark of night waiting to overwhelm the white homeowner, steal his little white children from their beds and cart them off never to be seen again – Hillary’s ‘message’ – or the predatory black man ready to defile the white bodies of young white females – McCain’s ‘message’ – the not so subtle point is that any black man in a position of power is a threat to the white man and most importantly his family.
Here’s a fun bit about the McCain ad featuring Paris Hilton from, of all places, OMG Yahoo. (Click my name or copypaste http://omg.yahoo.com/news/paris-hiltons-mom-takes-offense-at-mccains-humor/11554?nc)
Kathy Hilton, however, was unpersuaded, calling the ad “a complete waste of the money John McCain’s contributors have donated to his campaign.”
Kathy Hilton and her husband donated a total of $4,600 to McCain’s campaign earlier this year.
I love the taste of schadenfreude pie in the morning. I’ve always suspected the Hiltons to be the sort of assholes that votes Republican, but its always nice to see them piss on their own base.
I also want to remind everyone that it was the Hillary Clinton campaign that began the meme of Obama the Messiah and his supporters as brainless cult followers. Thanks loads.
It was also Clinton supporters who embraced the Republican meme that any accusation of appealing to racism, made about any white person, is presumptively bogus–that, in fact, raising the issue of racism at all is far worse than racism itself. Thank you Lambert, Riverdaughter, Taylor Marsh, Jeralyn Merritt, and all the other special people who helped to broaden acceptance of the talking points McCain is using today.
I think from now until the election, I’m going to privately nominate a “hero of the week” on the national political scene. This week the title goes to Gergen, for this sentence: As a native of the south, I can tell you… that’s code for, ‘he’s uppity, he ought to stay in his place.’
Saying that out loud, on television no less, took guts.
I don’t think it’s right or useful to hang McCain’s tactics on Hillary Clinton. The vulnerability was there; Republicans were prepared to attack it long before Obama won the nomination.
Republicans, since Nixon at least, have always always always always attacked the Democratic nominee’s character. He is weak, he is disloyal, he is not ‘one of us,’ he is an elitist, he is not a ‘real’ American, he ‘snubbed the troops,’ he is dangerous, and so on and so on and so on and so on.
In every election, including Clinton vs. Bush, the patriotism and character of the Democratic nominee were attacked. The difference in Clinton vs. Bush is that, if I recall correctly, Clinton called out Bush on it during a debate. He addressed the point head on.
I do not know why the Democrats do not attack the character and fitness to serve of the Republican candidates. They just don’t.
Not to bring up an old worn chestnut, but if he had been a Democratic candidate, Bush’s failure to complete his National Guard service would have eliminated him very early in the nomination process. It would have been blanket coverage and the lack of documents to back up his version of events would have been taken as proof of his guilt. Cf. Kerry and the Swift-Boaters.
Obama and the Democrats are in a position to dramatically alter the make-up of the national government. They have many advantages in their favor and the Republicans have many weaknesses.
But for some reason they are not exploiting these with the vigor necessary to punch the message through the haze of the corporate press/media’s flacking for McCain, and into the minds of the voters.
I do not understand it and I know I am not alone in this. If there is an explanation that makes sense, I’d sure like to hear it.
I do not understand it and I know I am not alone in this. If there is an explanation that makes sense, I’d sure like to hear it.
My thoughts are why expend the energy trying to do what McCain is doing to himself. His “Maverick” veneer has eroded to the point where he’s now viewed by many as a befuddled old man in need of direction.His straight talking express has bottomed out as a meaningless marketing ploy. And now he’s scraping the bottom of the barrel with negative ads because his substance is depleted( if he ever had any).
The more exposure McCain gets the worse he looks, and people are seeing it. I’m surprised that McCain didn’t try to distance himself from the celebrity ads..McCain tried to cover his smear of Obama under the guise of humor when it’s obvious to thinking people that desperation has engulfed his campaign.
I also think that the McCain =Bush equation has so permeated the minds of the voting public to such a degree that it won’t be overcome. It’s the equivalent of being bitten by a gila monster..it’s the infection that it conveys that brings you down, and not the bite itself. That equation doesn’t even need elaboration..it’s self evident.
I guess the bottom line is that McCain is stale, crusty, brittle, dried-up old man who’s running on the fumes of his glory days. And no amount of marketing is gonna put him in the White House, so why try to alter the inevitable?
Mr. Powell, they’re not really attacking Obama’s character, are they? Rather, they are attacking the cartoon character that they have created for him. They say he’s presumptuous and they attack that. They say he’s unpatriotic and they attack that. They say he’s a Muslim and they attack that. The fact that he’s none of these things doesn’t factor into their smear campaign.
So do we lower ourselves to their level, make up lies about McCain and then attack him for it? The campaign would devolve into a mud fight, where the guys with the most mud win. And the Repugs can make an awful lot of mud.
I don’t think you take on the school-yard bully by becoming one. Something Bush should have thought of before he tossed out half our laws to go after “the terrorists.”
I’m more a fan of this model for an “attack” campaign:
“They are lying about because they have nothing useful to say about . Our position on this real issue is . Why not ask McCain to take time out from politics as usual and tell you what HE thinks we should do?”
Keep pushing them to talk about their policies, where they are weak. Maybe the electorate will pick up the fact that they have no program other than “Obama bad, McCain good” while our side is addressing issues important to Americans. It appears that some of the MSM is starting to figure this out. We can only hope.
Sorry about that last post. I had stuff in angle brackets and the web took it out. Rats.
Meant to say:
“They are lying about (name the current attack issue) because they have nothing useful to say about (name a real issue important to Americans). Our position on this real issue is (state reasonable position). Why not ask McCain to take time out from politics as usual and tell you what HE thinks we should do?â€
Swami, all of what you say makes perfect sense. However, “…no amount of marketing is gonna put him in the WH so why try to alter the inevitable” is, I’m afraid, wishful thinking – good thinking but wishful.
Mr. Bush, a Karl Rove construct, was elected in ’04 by the American people – an event that may go down in history as a case of a total screw-up, a miscreant, a delusional thinker – all information available to voters – being re-seated by the same ‘informed’ voters to apparently be given the opportunity to ‘finish’ the job of taking the country from the brink of ruin to total ruin?
Mr. Rove’s surrogates are now running the McCain campagne. If Obama doesn’t come up with some extremely powerful defense/offense to combat the poison they’re feeding the electorate on an almost daily basis, McCain will probably be sitting in the Oval Office come ’09.
I don’t think it’s right or useful to hang McCain’s tactics on Hillary Clinton. The vulnerability was there; Republicans were prepared to attack it long before Obama won the nomination.
The Republicans would have used these attacks with or without the help of the Clinton supporters. The difference is that the attacks from Clinton/Clinton surrogates/Clinton supporters significantly broaden the receptive audience for McCain’s virtually identical attacks.
while this kinda language is about race, it’s not just about race. it is religious code language. the words and phrases of the commercial and others used by McCain are lifted from the “Left Behind” book series, a fundamentalist mystery series that promotes fear and distrust of people concerned about the common good.
it is an attempt to paint Obama as the Anti-Christ, pure and simple.