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Thu Jul 31, 2008 at 12:47:56 PM EDT
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OK, my ability to wrap my brain around this thing has completely failed me. Barack Obama's campaign spokesperson Robert Gibbs just told me that Barack Obama wasn't referring to race when he said he "doesn't look like those all those other presidents on those dollar bills".
Link to AP story
...Obama argued while stumping in Missouri on Wednesday that President Bush and McCain will resort to scare tactics to maintain their hold on the White House because they have little else to offer voters.
"Nobody thinks that Bush and McCain have a real answer to the challenges we face. So what they're going to try to do is make you scared of me," Obama said. "You know, `he's not patriotic enough, he's got a funny name,' you know, `he doesn't look like all those other presidents on the dollar bills.'"
Obama himself didn't make clear what distinctions he thinks McCain is likely to raise regarding the presidents on U.S. currency - white men who for the most part were much older than Obama when elected. McCain has not raised Obama's race as an issue in the campaign; he has said Obama lacks experience.
On Thursday, Gibbs said the senator was not referring to race.
"What Barack Obama was talking about was that he didn't get here after spending decades in Washington," Gibbs said. "There is nothing more to this than the fact that he was describing that he was new to the political scene. He was referring to the fact that he didn't come into the race with the history of others. It is not about race."
Look - I'm having a hard time with the impossible double standard here. Despite overwhelming evidence that Obama has exploited racial themes in South Carolina and elsewhere to falsely accuse Bill and Hillary of racism, his campaign spokespeople are searching high and low for any sign that Obama's statements, and those of his surrogates, have any relation to the topic of race... and they can't find any evidence. Not a bit. Nope, they looked everywhere, and it's just not there.
Flip over to the other side, and you'll find a different standard entirely - every time a political opponent sneezes, it's racist. Whoever kidnapped Josh Marshall is claiming that the mere fact that John McCain's commercials have Brittney Spears and Paris Hilton in them means McCain is appealing to fears that Obama's after all the white women. Atrios has a similar disgustingly disengenuous argument up yesterday. Obama's apologists see race where it isn't there in political opponents' statements, yet the Obama campaign's own blatantly obvious appeals to racial arguments are somehow magically not even remotely related to race.
Please, Obama campaign, make up your mind. The American people aren't as stupid as you think they are.
Update below the fold... |
| campskunk :: This is Laughable. |
| U P D A T E :
Ok, now my head officially exploded. Obama's campaign just issued a statement which is diametrically opposed to the candidate's statement. Is Barack going to throw himself under the bus???
Obama camp says they don't think McCain is playing race card
And they don't respond to the accusation by McCain chief Rick Davis that they are doing the same.
"This is a race about big challenges-a slumping economy, a broken foreign policy, and an energy crisis for everyone but the oil companies," said press secretary Bill Burton. "Barack Obama in no way believes that the McCain campaign is using race as an issue, but he does believe they're using the same old low-road politics to distract voters from the real issues in this campaign, and those are the issues he'll continue to talk about."
U P D A T E #2:
Jake Tapper says Obama seems to be making charges of racism where none exist. All that's out there is the charge - with ZERO evidence to support it. Obama campaign is probably thinking, "that's funny - it worked fine in South Carolina..."
There's a lot of racist xenophobic crap out there. But not only has McCain not peddled any of it, he's condemned it.
Back in February, McCain apologized for some questionable comments made by a local radio host. In April, he condemned the North Carolina Republican Party's ad featuring images of the Rev. Jeremiah Wright.
With one possible exception, I've never seen McCain or those under his control playing the race card or making fun of Obama's name -- or even mentioning Obama's full name, for that matter!
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"Always aim high, work hard, and care deeply about what you believe in. When you stumble, keep faith. When you?re knocked down, get right back up. And NEVER listen to anyone who says you can't or shouldn't go on."
Hillary Clinton - June 7, 2008
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