David Gergen Points Out the Obvious
That the McCain Camp is using coded language about Obama in the long tradition of repubs using coded language to demonize black people and fire up their low-information voters:
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VfXvK84MPqQ[/youtube]
And his last point is very true — everyone knows Obama is black, why can’t he talk about that? None of these folks pushed back on Hillary when she was off touting the newness, the history of a woman running for President. Nor did these folks find much problem in the fact that HRC spent a some effort at strenuously pushing back at the “women can’t do whatever”.
I hate negative campaigning, but John McCain is certainly not going to run a civil campaign and certainly is not interested in a discussion of the issues. Time for Obama to go negative, I’m thinking.
h/t TPM
EDIT: I’d forgotten that Gergen was on Here and Now on Friday making this argument at some greater length. The first 6 minutes or so of this recording are germane and need Real Player to listen to.
Tags: 2008 Presidential
I watched this today and couldn’t believe how direct Gergen was. He was really quite impressive, and refused to back down from the truth of what McCain is doing.
I agree that it’s time to turn up the heat. Lord knows, there’s enough to work with when it comes to McCain!
The reason Obama won’t go negative is the same reason McCain played victim with the race card BS.
The main downside of his dirty campaign is that McCain is destroying his own reputation with journalists which means that they won’t be as keen to protect him when he does one of his infamous gaffes and as we approach the conventions the potential for one of his mistakes to have a serious impact if resentful journalists cover it properly is much more interesting than whatever short-term gain Obama would get from attacking now.
HOWEVER if Obama returns the fire and turns nasty, he loses the high ground and suddenly McCain can justify his behavior to journalists by saying “See, we both do it”. And within a month everyone will have forgotten HE started it and people will put a equivalency between the two and it will be for naught
That is also why McCain played the race card card. Because that way, he could try to make it sound as if Obama was being as nasty as he was and he could try to draw a moral equivalency between the campaigns in the mind of journalists. Remember how they claim that Obama aired the first negative ad which was actually a response to a negative RNC ad but journalists repeat the lie because it was like so long ago (two weeks).
Same thing here. McCain wants their memory to be muddled in two or three weeks so that the damage to his own image is limited.
Let Obama get the high ground and keep talking substance. He responds to the nastiness but he focuses on talking about the economy. He may take a hit short-term but I am sure that over the long-term this will be the winning strategy.
McCain’s main asset is that he looks like a President and Obama does not.
But for the past two week Obama is the one acting Presidential and dignified. It may seem stupid but it does have an impact on people’s minds even if not on the short-term.
It is not like the current attacks make any sense anyway. At least the Swift Boat narrative was coherent. Can you tell me right now what all these negative ads are saying about Obama in a short sentence ? No. They attack from all directions but long-term they still have not found one single narrative that could be damaging.
Dear god. Isn’t there any way to promote Obama’s substance without having to cry racism when there is none?
You know what’s going to hurt Obama more than anything? Falsely accusing people of racism. That sort of slimy bullshit might be gobbled up by the far left, but it doesn’t sit well with the middle or the right. It sickens me. It’s a sign of desperation and confirms that he is bringing absolutely nothing of substance to the table.
First, the pundits set the discussions. McCain handed them the script. And Obama hasn’t called McCain a racist – he called him cynical.
Dear Dominique,
Obama did not call anyone racist. Obama did not accuse anyone of racism. He suggested there might be a cynical attempt at using his race against him in a subterranean manner.
It is not only obvious and true but it was extremely subtle.
What is slimy is the brazen way the mcCain people jumped on that comment to introduce race into the conversation. You know why I know it was cynical ? Because Obama has been saying the same thing for MONTHS. If McCain was genuinely outraged, one would think he would have said something before.
Obama’s June comments speak for themselves, amplified and expounded adequately by last week’s comments.
He knows he has no chance running on his empty record. He’s going for the “they”-don’t-like-me-because-I’m-black. It’s the white guilty sympathy vote.
VP = Al Sharpton!!!!
Why not?
Quick question, Jal Poe. Were you a Hillary supporter ?
Of course!
She would have been easier for John to beat.
OK Then. I get it. Fair enough.
I disagree strongly with your above comment (and find the Al Sharpton reference slightly offensive) but at least you are not an hypocrite like some others who are very happy to play identity politics with gender but act outraged when people point out there is racism too
Before anyone drinks the Kool-Aid:
http://www.abcnews.go.com/GMA/Politics/story?id=5495348&page=1
Whatever, benjamin. I don’t doubt there’s racism, but it’s not coming from the McCain camp or the media. Not as far as I can see. I know that doesn’t fit in the Axelrove playbook, though, so it’s going to take some digging and imagination to make it stick this time.
Gergen pretty much nails the current coded language — which I note no one yet defends. The fact that the McCain camp got their dudgeon up for a piece of rhetoric that Obama has been uncontroversially using up until now just so that could go on the offensive is not just cynical.
but it doesn’t sit well with the middle or the right
Oh yes it does — with the same Reagan voters who were tuned into and swayed by his dog whistle racial politics too.
To miscreant.
Yeah, he was referring to his race. So what ? He was saying Republicans are going to try to scare people off of him using his race among other things.
Whats your point ? How is that using the race card rather than POINTING OUT THE OBVIOUS.
Is Obama supposed to deny he is half-black so that he is never accused of using the race card ? Is he supposed to pretend Republicans aren’t already using that against him ? Hell, is he supposed to pretend the only reason so many people are willing to believe he is a Muslim BASED ON AN EMAIL is because he is black ? Would an email sent around on a white politician saying he is a Muslim who does not pledge allegiance get any traction ?
Are we supposed to pretend otherwise ? Are we supposed to pretend it is just a coincidence so many ads from mccain somehow tap into a racial stereotype ? Are Republicans just unlucky ?
Who are these people commenting on a liberal blog with such baloney ? Seriously ?
but at least you are not an hypocrite like some others who are very happy to play identity politics with gender but act outraged when people point out there is racism too
Thank you Benjamin. This nails exactly the hypocrisy I was getting at, and very much key to the arguments of some of McCain’s defenders here.
Benjamin — we apparently threaten a fair number of right wing trolls these days. Mostly folks who have no names and not much to contribute other than stinking up the joint. Feel free to ignore them.
To Dominique
1) It is not coming from mcCain or the media so it is going to be harder to stick this time. Are you saying it was easier for it to stick for the Clintons because there was some race-baiting from them ?
2) If you had taken the time to listen to what Gergen had to say, you would know that THERE IS SOME RACE-BAITING coming from the mcCain camp. It is subtle alright but that does not mean it is not there. Thats what Gergen is saying here and God knows he is not an Obama fan.
Noone is saying McCain is a racist. Obama was saying he thinks some Republicans are cynical enough they would use racial stereotypes to appeal to the worst instincts of the electorate.
And he was right.
Now you dont see it. Allow those who have been victims of it to be able to perceive better. I will actually tell you something. I didn’t see sexism in a lot of things some Hillary supporters got angry about. But even in my worse frustrated moments with them, I always said there were some things I just could not see as a man and I never denied the right of people to fight as HARD as they could against any form of sexism.
That somehow Obama is not allowed to tell a white audience that they should not let themselves be scared off by the subtle racial baiting sure to come from republicans we have known to do far worse (like lie about John Kerry’s war record or making up stories about the Clintons murdering people) is beyond me.
What did I miss? I haven’t seen any racism coming from the McCain camp, but then I’m not black nor do I carry ‘white guilt’ (that’s not to say that I don’t think slavery was atrocious, but I’m a first-gen American – my people had nothing to do with it), so I’m admittedly not as sensitive to it as I am to sexism.
I watched the clip and heard Gergen make some kind of comment about Charlton Heston, but he tends to swallow his words (not great in the enunciation department), so I couldn’t make out what he was saying. Was he referring to something that the McCain camp said or did?
Yes. He was saying that as someone from the South, he knows quite clearly what the reference to “The One” and Charlton Helston are supposed to dog-whistle to part of the population. That Obama is “uppity”. He is saying that the whole subtext of the presumptuous storyline is that Obama “does not know his place” which is something that reverbates in some places.
Just the same way it is no coincidence Of all the celebrities in the world McCain chose two oversexed white girls to associate Obama with (remember Karl Rove quipping about Obama hanging out with the hot girl at the country club) which plays into old stereotypes about black men and white girls. It is not a coincidence that Mccain’s slogan is “The American President America has been waiting for” as if Obama was not American. And why do you think a nARRative trying to paint Obama as “foreign” would work ? Because Chicago is a different country maybe ? Right.
Just the same way it is tremendously offensive to dismiss Hillary’s 18 million voters as “just voting for her coz she is a woman” it is incredibly offensive to dismiss Obama voters as suffering from “white guilt”. None of us care about his skin color. We don’t support him because of it – or in spite of it. We support him regardless because we support him.
And some people who always claim they feel slighted and feel their legitimate support of Hillary is being dissed would do well not to make the same mistake and treat genuine Obama supporters with race-colored contempt. The last person to do that was Mark Penn. And we know how that story ended.
There is absolutely no need to deny racism to be a good fighter against sexism and there is no need to deny sexism in order to be a good Obama supporter. We are all in this together and pointing out the variety of prejudices our candidates have to face is only fair and legitimate. And calling out Republicans when they subtly try to use this as an advantage is not only legitimate but it is necessary.
Nicely said, Benjamin. I’m beginning to think all the troll activity is due to panic. They show up, call names, and then disappear.
Look, McCain went negative first, thus – imo- giving Obama a huge advantage. Self-defense is always more defendable than a… preemptive strike. And I have no doubt that the Obama camp will fire back. On their terms and on their timeline. They rarely disappoint.
Panic? nah.
Meanness? yeah.
I just like f…in with DV.
I actually got a “grrrr” out of him before he blocked one of my wandering IPs.
benjamin –
There were quotes made directly by Bill and Clinton surrogates that were picked apart by the Obama camp and the media and blown into full-scale racism. All I’m asking is what, if anything, has McCain or any surrogate said that was deemed racist? I could have missed something – what was it?
Everything I’ve seen about race since Hillary dropped out has been initiated by Obama. His nonsense prediction of racist ads was an attempt to make race an issue. It worked well for him during the primaries, why wouldn’t he want to try it again in the general? Why don’t you honestly tell me what you would have thought if Hillary had made an appearance, say, last summer and predicted what her opponents would use against her and said ‘…oh, and did I mention I have ovaries’? You would think she was out of line (and she would have been).
It’s a desperate, bullshit argument that Obama is trying to make because being the victim is kind of his thing. It worked like a charm in the primaries, after all. Let’s face it, though, the Republican party is much more likely to use a mushroom cloud and pictures of Osama bin Laden to shine a light on Obama’s lack of foreign policy experience than anything race related.
To Pandora:
Actually I hope Obama stays focused on the substance.
If he goes negative too, then journalists will think “Oh so they both do it” and within two weeks they will have forgotten Mccain is the one who went nasty first.
Better to let McCain become this slimy slumbag the repulses even his fanboys in the media. Obama will take a hit short-term but over the course of the campaign the fact McCain will have been shown to be a typical Republican will be MUCH more important.
If the attacks get muddled by a response, the reflexive defense of MCcain by journalists will kick back in. Let their disappointment sink in to the point they never forget so that next time McCain mixes up Shiites and Sunnis it becomes the huge media story it should have been months ago when he first started making shocking gaffes.
Age-ism!!!!!
I don’t know what he means by “The One” and Charlton Heston. I must have missed an ad or something. I will tell you, however, that it’s a really huge stretch to see racism in the Paris/Britney ad. They’re poster children for celebrities who lack substance. If you don’t see that parallel, you’re desperately looking for a reason to call them racist. That tactic will backfire. You may believe that there’s no such thing as a false charge of racism, but, trust me, there is and it doesn’t sit well with most people.
First of all the quotes from Bill Clinton were ambiguous. It is not the Obama camp who played them up. It is the black community and the media. Was it fair ? I don’t know. I saw it sometimes and sometimes I didnt (I never quite understood why they were so shocked by the fairy tale thing). Obama never ever said anything on the subject. Ever. And neither did his campaign.
Nonsense prediction of racist ads ? I mean … HELLO ? How is that nonsense ? Have you been living in this country for the past eight years ?
And you obviously did not read my long list of racial innuendos the McCain campaign has been playing on. I dont understand how your resentment over the primaries can result in such stubborn refusal to defend Obama when he is disgustingly attacked by our common enemies.
And as far as the ovaries comment go … wasn’t all of March, April and May focused on the fact Hillary was being attacked because she is a woman ? Wasnt that the whole thing about why she stayed in the race for so long ? Isnt that what created that upswell of support that was not that enthusiastic at first ? That anger and sense of frustration because you all felt she was being bullied out of the race because she was a woman ? What was the 18 million crack remark about then ?
You betcha I wished she had said something about it in January. She would be our nominee now if she had instead of trying to act as a man because she wanted to be taken seriously as CiC. If she had run the spectacular and moving race she ran in the second half, we would be talking about sexist McCain ads now.
Whining after the fact is just whining. Being honest enough to confront it beforehand is honest, courageous and shows Obama is willing to handle the issue straight on.
But bottom line is this. If you are willing to pretend there is no race baiting in anything the Republicans say, then I guess there is no point in discussing. You are just intend on hating Obama regardless of the facts. That’s unfortunate.
RESPONSE TO YOUR EDIT:
It is a stretch to see racism in the Paris ad. It is not a stretch to point out the strange coincidence. That’s the definition of dog-whistle. It is like using the word “hysterical” to talk about Clinton. Sure, the word can be used about a man. But it takes someone very naive to deny there is a particular slant to that word when used about a woman.
And McCain released an ad about Obama being “the One” where in particular they use imagery of Chalrton Heston as God. The idea is to “mock” him as the “Messiah” but it sound an awful lot like that offensive attack against some black men as “uppity”
As I said earlier, it may all be innocent. Maybe Republicans are just very unlucky that they keep using racial stereotypes in their ads – innocently. I am sure it all a coincidence. Rolleyes.
Obama is pointing out that we all should be vigilant about them using that kind of tactics. Even if you disagree on whether they have done it already, I don’t see what bothers you about Obama asking us not to be scared off if Republicans try to use racism to fight him.
“Yeah, he was referring to his race. So what ? He was saying Republicans are going to try to scare people off of him using his race among other things. Whats your point ? How is that using the race card rather than POINTING OUT THE OBVIOUS.”
I thought we were talking about speaking in “code”. From the beginning, Obama’s campaign has used it, and has now refined it to an art. It could be perceived as merely a pre-emptive attempt to discourage any discussion on race.
“…we apparently threaten a fair number of right wing trolls these days. Mostly folks who have no names and not much to contribute other than stinking up the joint. ”
“Trolls?” How “90’s” of you to accuse someone who has a dissenting opinion of being a troll. Certainly no threat to me, Cassandra… only pure entertainment. Consider the the possibility that the stink may be you soiling your panties over someone having the nerve to disrupt your collective circle jerk.
“Feel free to ignore them.”
TRANSLATION: Pretend others can’t possibly have other opinions so we like-minded sheep can continue our genuflection of the Messiah unhindered.
Not negative, Benjamin. Obama needs to make substantive attacks on McCain’s policies. I predict a blitz starting in the next week or so that won’t end until the election. The economy is about to become the main focus of this election. The surge has been talked to death, and as far as Iraq… Obama won that argument.
Miscreant –
So true. The McCain campaign has been pretty weak so far, but the charge of playing the race card was pure genius. It was a preemptive strike based on what they saw happen during the primaries.
On a separate note, why is David Gergen allowed to be on television? The man can’t speak clearly. He should stick to print.
P –
It’s going to be hard for him to make substantive attacks McCain’s policies when he’s starting to agree with them. 😉
“The charge of playing the race card was pure genius”
I have heard all I needed to hear. I am going to go throw up and move on. I would cry that a Democrat would say such a thing but I have long ago stopped trying to understand how support of Hillary could turn into such resentment.
PS : The fact Clintonites think injecting race in the campaign is “pure genius” is exactly what got Bill in trouble in the first place.
Ponder.
Easy peasy lemon squeezy – I’ve been called a racist one too many times by the filthy idiots on this very site. It’s enough to make a girl sick and pretty turned off by the candidate and his supporters. I take that shit pretty seriously as should the rest of you. Yet you throw that word around as though it has no real meaning. Obama & Axelrod should be ashamed of themselves for using racism to win a campaign and for essentially teaching their little minions to do the same. It’s absolutely shameless.
Here’s something to ponder – they didn’t inject race, OBAMA did. Are you freaking blind or deaf? All they did was stop him dead in his tracks. That was genius. STOP twisting it up and making it sound like racism!! That was the whole point they were trying to make. Seriously, are you guys that thick?
At the end of the day, your candidate should be able to win on his merits. He shouldn’t have to bring his race into it. So why would he bring it up at all? No one was talking about it except him. Hmmm. That’s odd.
DOM
Come on you are smarter than that the Repuks have been playing the race card against Obama even before he got the nod . Have you forgotten that it was the Repuks who introduced the Obama Monkey Doll. And let us not forget that it was none other than Matthews of MSNBC who first made Race an issue the night of the NH primary.
Dom
Have you forgotten the ad the Repuks ran against H. Ford when he ran for the senate. You know the one where the white bimbo says on the phone call me up Howard . That’s an old scare tactic you know white women black men. Now I know that this may be a streach but the two white gals in the McSame ad is a bit odd after all there are good looking Black actresses in Hollywood who could have been used to make a point whatever that point was supposed to be.
Obama may be the Great Brown Hope (or is it Hype) of guilt-ridden white Liberals but he epitomizes the’Leader’ of the Ionescu play with that name.
There is an agenda of the Black Caucus that reeks of socialism and Obama’s rather pitiful voting record proves it. These people represent the replacement for the old Solid South as the base of the (radicalized) Democrat Party. They can peddle an addictive snake oil that is as harmful as crack in urban jurisdictions where pimps and drug dealers are role models and where ‘Cold Cash’ Jefferson can get re-elected.
Obama’s big legislative move has been the global ‘Poverty Tax’ he would impose on American citizens to transfer money to third world despots. He has an ally in Joe Biden on this one.
Who needs an Obamanation?
I just saw the ad you guys are talking about and all I can say is that none of you have a freaking sense of humor. I thought it was funny. Even Mika B who couldn’t be more in the tank for Obama thought it was hysterical.
And, yes, TT, I remember the Harold Ford ad. It directly addressed his partying at the Playboy mansion and it was reprehensible. The Paris/Britney ad was completely different. This isn’t about Barack being black. It’s about him being full of himself and utterly unqualified.
FTR, to you assholes who like to call me racist, I would happily have supported Harold Ford in the election.
after 8 years of lies and wanton criminality Dom thinks America has lost it’s sense of humor.
Thanks for the insight little lady. Don’t you have some pies to bake?
By the way, the fact that you like Harold Fords cnfirms that you hate black people.
and jews
Off topic
Interesting that David Gergen, a right-winger who worked for Nixon, Ford, Bush and Reagan, has come over from the dark side while alive and still kicking, instead of waiting till he is on his death bed.
“What is slimy is the brazen way the mcCain people jumped on that comment to introduce race into the conversation.”
McCAIN introduced race into the discussion?! OBAMA was the one to 1st bring up race (after saying early on in the campaign that he wouldn’t do so)
He is absolutely accusing McCain of being racist, when McCain has in fact stayed away from mentioning race.
TT – so it’s OK to for the media and everyone else to make fun of Bush looking like a monkey, but if someone does that with Obama it’s racist? Give me a break.
mike w, I agree McCain isn’t a racist, he just thinks that raping women is funny.
and that “they” shouldn’t have a day off for one of thier civil rights martyrs
Of course McCain isn’t a racist. He’s an elitist.
If you think raping women is funny, doesn’t that make you a sexist in some way. It certainly makes you an evil horrible person, but I think it should also make you a sexist.
Actually, DD, it makes you a sick f*#% who needs psychiatric treatment.
… and a sexist!
Chez Whitey likes to take the effect and make it the cause.
If you do not see this, or know of the tactic, then…
YOU HAVE NOT BEEN PAYING ATTENTION….PAYING ATTENTION….PAYING ATTENTION!!!!!!
hey mike they made the doll and are selling it i am surprise by your comments here that you haven’t bought one. bad joke about women getting raped,Bad joke about Clinton’s daughter. And referring to his wife in public as an over made up C@#t .MC SAME EITHER FEELS THIS WAY ABOUT WOMEN OR HES JUST A DUMB ASS WITH NO FILTER
“At the end of the day, your candidate should be able to win on his merits. He shouldn’t have to bring his race into it. So why would he bring it up at all? No one was talking about it except him. Hmmm. That’s odd.”
Dom I agree, but Obama has to play the race card. He needs “white guilt” in order to win the election.
Oh, and for a guy all about unity and transcending race he sure is making a point to be divisive and race baiting.