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Missing the point on Lewis and Wallace
Yes, John Lewis is black, George Wallace was a racist, and Obama is half Kenyan. But I think there's a serious misreading of Lewis's point. Lewis isn't playing any "race card" at all, despite how we tend to see Lewis and Wallace. He's simply responding, at a gut level, as one who's been there while the flames have been fanned high and terrible violence and assassinations have taken place. There's a lot of hate, anger, and basic misinformation that's permeating the Palin/McCain rallies right now (it was certainly present at the GOP convention, in my opinion as well), and Lewis is making pretty much the same observation that David Gergen (another Southerner) and others have been making: anger is being stoked and something terrible might come of it.
While race plays some part in some people's fear, their sense that Obama's a terrorist, a Muslim, or, as that one very angry man said the other day at the rally, a "socialist." (God Forbid). These guys have all sorts of wierd reasons why they're bent out of shape.
So, I don't think anyone's playing the race card; compared to previous elections (1968, 1988) I think that race is pretty muted, and that's why McCain is laying off (to some extent) of the Wright controversy. Lewis is flagging the vitriolic mood of the events as dangerous, and something that McCain/Palin should take some responsibility for. Period.
Comments (3)
I completely agree. I feel Rep. Lewis had a responsbility to make his comments as one of the three people he would consult for guidance...
Lewis has a unique perspective to understand where the current climate of the McCain/Palin rallies could lead... to innocent people being hurt of killed.
I don't give a damn that McCain was outraged about the comments!! I was outraged from the moment that I observed McCain and Palin witnessing comments like 'terrorist' and 'kill him' and did nothing!!
McCain and Palin deserved to be reprimanded and their reaction was just a ploy to try to take an 'upper hand' in a situation where they were looking pretty bad.
October 12, 2008 4:27 PM | Reply | Permalink
i agree. Everyone, including journalists and McCain surrogates, knows exactly what Lewis meant.
They look absurd trying to reframe this issue, and others. For example, Palin saying that the Alaska Legislature's report showed that she had every right to fire Monegan.
That was never the issue. The issue was whether or not she abused the powers of her office by pressuring Monegan to fire Trooper Wooten because of personal reasons.
In fact, she did abuse her power.
The McCain campaign has no clue how transparent they're being when they try to reframe issues-just watch Nicole Wallace, Nancy Pfotenhaur Rick Davis--they really think they're coming across as believable. And perhaps in past elections it worked but they seem out of touch with the electorate and their bullshit meters this election.
October 12, 2008 5:39 PM | Reply | Permalink
Most importantly, hate and fear don't have to be directed at race to be a problem. I don't understand why either have to be injected into the political discussion. I don't hate McCain or Plain, I just think McCain is a hotheaded warmonger and Palin is woefully unprepared to be a heartbeat away from the Presidency. Plus, they belong to the party that has damaged our country more in 8 years than I can ever remember before, and there is NO Republican I would reward with another 4 years. But, I would never suggest that anyone kill them.
I've never been to an Obama rally (I live in a dark blue state!) but from what I can tell, they are about making people feel proud and hopeful, not scared and hateful.
The last Presidential campaign I worked on was Bobby Kennedy's, when I was in high school. I know what it feels like to have my candidate assassinated. It scares me to death that the "haters" are whipping people up into the types of frenzies that cause irrational behavior and mob mentality.
We ARE better than this...
October 12, 2008 6:15 PM | Reply | Permalink
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