Race

Racism is still rampant in America. The latest Rasmussen polls say 53% of Americans think Obama’s “dollar bill” remarks were racist while 22% think McCain’s Paris Hilton ad is racist. What a travesty! This disgusts me! It really should be the other way around. Clearly McCain’s ad comparing Obama to Paris Hilton and Britney Spears has the subtext message, “Watch out! This uppity Negro is gonna steal our white women.” Good old middle of the road David Gergen really hit the nail on the head today with this statement: ““When McCain’s camp calls Obama “The Messiah” and “The One”, he’s really calling him “upitty.” I’m from the South, and we understand what that means. That’s code.” Here’s the video, thanks to Talking Points Memo:

So, is McCain going to become our next president by playing the race card? That’s what he’s doing and it may work.

UPDATE: Bob Herbert in the NYT on Saturday explains why the Paris Hilton and Britney Spears ad is racist: Running While Black.

Juan Cole gives an impassioned discussion of this speech and what it means in America, with the city of Detroit as an example. Well worth a read. Here’s the first paragraph:

Barack Obama was talking about something very personal to him, about being rooted in family and community. He recognizes that race had shaped both and had wounded both. He refuses to give up on the communities in which he is rooted even if they sometimes act out on issues of race. He cannot, he says, afford to give up, and neither can we. No matter what happens in electoral politics, on March 18, 2008, Barack Obama entered the American history books with his brilliant, searingly honest speech on race.