David Gergen is the latest to detect hidden racist messages in McCain advertising.
I’d say that there’s two types of voters on this issue. The sort who sighs at an “obvious” effort to invent an artificial racism for McCain, and those who get angry at an “obvious” subterfuge to create a climate of racial fear against Obama. The issue becomes genuinely divisive because neither voter can truly believe the other side is being sincere about their position.
I’m of the former camp. McCain’s advertising is frivolous and trite, but the allegation of racist messaging seems rather plainly to be politically manufactured for defense. Doubly, I find it hard to believe that anyone can take this argument seriously:
…John McCain’s new tactic of associating Barack Obama with oversexed and/or promiscuous young white women.
(TPM via random($foo))
That’s a problem. Because it’s just as “obvious” to the person who sees this racial context as credible, that I can’t possibly be blind to it. This is the environment in which things can get nasty.
I think part of the reason you don’t buy the racism in this ad is because you are not, or possibly do not know any people who are really deeply racist. For people who aren’t racist, this ad is just talking about celebrity and making Obama appear fluffly. However for people who are racist this ad is associating a black men with white women and pointing out that he thinks he is better than white people. But these racist people are already voting for McCain so it is preaching to the choir so to speak. (First hand knowledge, my grandma is a big racist and we discussed this.)
I can’t help but point out that you proved yourself wrong in this post. You acknowledge that some people see racism in this ad as “obvious” and truly believe it is there. If they believe the ad is racist then how are they trying to invent artificial racism?
What’s really going on is that some people believe racism no longer really exists and some people know this is untrue.
The fact is that both of these guys had “mixed” histories as young men dealing with young women. But anyone would be hard pressed to find any overtones or undertones of racism in either man. It is there to be sure as all children experience it clinically as they recognize people that are different from themselves… but I am confidant they both are mature enough to fight against racism in all forms. And McCain has immediately no questions asked fired staffers in the past for appearing to invent artificial racism.
Hmm. Well, that’s a very sophisticated and complex social argument for why I think it’s not racist. My own view on why I think it isn’t racist is much simpler: because it’s not racist.
I still don’t see how one can argue that the claims of racism are artificial if one believes that others can truly see the racism there, as you acknowledged in your post.
If that was true, Obama wouldn’t continually mention his mixed parents while McCain would mention it always, to appeal to that “racist” part of America that is against mixed relations, you know.
Well, because I don’t think that the truth is merely that which is believed. I’m not going to deny that you believe the message to be racist in intent, but that doesn’t make it so just because you believe it. Nor is it a concession by me that racism is present, if I acknowledge that you see it that way. A commonality of sincerity isn’t necessarily a consensus on facts.