October 17, 2008 By Paul Street
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Recently a radio talk-show host asked me if the John McCain-Sarah Palin campaign is being racist.
To some extent it is, sure. But we should be careful how we use the R (racism) word. A lot of liberals tend to identify racism under every rock of opposition to Barack Obama. Sometimes they're right to see it; sometimes not.
At the same time, I think that the Palin and McCain phenomenon and expressing something that is bigger than just a presidential campaign and bigger than racism.
Some ugly racial sentiments have plainly emerged in connection with the epically nasty operation being conducted by the Republicans.
When Palin tells a 95-percent white rally in the Deep South that Barack Obama "does not see America like you and I do," it's hard not detect a not-so subtle current of white nationalism.
When people at a McCain rally say that Obama is an "Arab" and crowd members at a Palin rally in Florida shout racial epithets at a black television camera man, the racial prejudice is clear as day.
And then there's the guy who took an Obama sock monkey to one of Palin's Weimar-like rallies.
Did considerable numbers of people scream and chant "Kill him!" or "Off with his head!" in regard to Al Gore or John Kerry at George W. Bush rallies in 2000 and 2004? The fact that this has happened in regard to Obama in 2008 is certainly related to the fact that he is black. How could it not be in a majority Caucasian nation that is still plagued by white-supremacist beliefs, structures, and values? [1]
Not good.
Still, five contextual comments are in order.
OBAMAIST RACE PROBLEMS
First, Obama supporters have exhibited an over-the-top eagerness to see racism in almost every criticism of their candidate. I'm sure that many white voters who say Obama is "arrogant," "elitist," and "know-it-all" really mean that they think he's an "uppity nigger."
Fine, but there are plenty of non- and anti-racist white voters and even some black voters who find Obama elitist. With good reason: the Harvard-educated Obama is very close to concentrated wealth and power. He's "a ruling class candidate" (as an antiwar activist noted in Denver prior to being arrested at the Democratic National Convention last August) supported by powerful elites who appreciate his distinctly non-populist corporate-imperial commitments and politics.
