John McCain wants Barack Obama to shut up about the nature of his historic advancement towards the presidency of the United States. He wants Sen. Obama to abandon any reference to his blackness. It offends him to hear any suggestion that there are still remnants and strongholds of individuals in America who openly and subversively oppose the advancement of blacks, in any capacity, much less their pursuit of the highest office in the land. John McCain has begun to speak for that shameful class of Americans who have predicated their own worth on their perception of blacks they compete with as inferior.
It's no secret that racism in politics is expressed in code, often relying on wink and nod attempts to spread doubt about the ability of blacks to assume roles and positions which have been traditionally dominated by whites. On the other side, there's no question about the necessity of upwardly mobile black individuals to defend against nebulous questions about their competence and judgment as they seek to advance, as well as defending themselves against opportunistic attempts to marginalize and belittle any identification blacks may express with their unique, momentous heritage in America.
"We are not going to let anybody paint John McCain, who has fought his entire life for equal rights for everyone, to be able to be painted as racist," McCain's campaign mouthpiece complained Friday.
However, McCain hasn't distinguished himself as any agent for the promotion and enactment of those things the black community has identified as important to their advancement. In fact, he's spent a great deal of energy and effort to oppose many initiatives defended and supported by the majority of blacks.
In 1983, McCain voted in Congress against a federal holiday for Martin Luther King. Then President Reagan supported the holiday and signed the bill making it law. Even Dick Cheney and Newt Gingrich, voted for the holiday. In 1994, McCain voted to prohibit federal funds for the Martin Luther King Jr. Federal Holiday Commission. The Commission was established in 1984 "to encourage the observance of King's birthday." In 1987, McCain supported rescinding an executive order defeated Democratic governor Bruce Babbitt had issued to establish an MLK holiday in his home state of Arizona. He now claims to support the holiday.
In a political reversal from his position in 1998 opposing a 1998 resolution in the Arizona legislature that asked voters to eliminate most preferences based on race, gender or ethnic origin, McCain now says he'll blindly support an attack on affirmative action in his home state by AA killer and demagogue, Ward Connerly, who led the campaign for the destruction of the ladder of opportunity for black Americans in California.
According to the AP, "asked Sunday whether he supported Connerly's efforts in Arizona, McCain said: "Yes, I do," adding that he had not even seen the details of the proposal." The effect of the elimination of the program in California has been a drastic decrease in the number of blacks and other minorities on college campuses, reducing diversity, once more, to nothing but an academic exercise.
Where is this concern and affinity McCain claims he has for the black community expressed in his public efforts as a legislator? Certainly, in this campaign, there hasn't been a bit of restraint from the Arizona protector of national holidays and defender against the onslaught of qualified young black aspirants on his state's colleges and universities in his typically divisive attacks on the inspiring and influential campaign of his black opponent in this presidential race.
It's not out of any genuine concern for the safety of American soldiers overseas that John McCain feels compelled to mock Barack Obama as a traitor and a coward in suggesting the black legislator would rather lose the battle the McCain imagines we're fighting in Iraq. Sacrificing thousands of American defenders, indefinitely, under the guise of waiting for the prevaricating mimics of the last propped-up regime to practice their Iraqi politics isn't the red-blood American glory fight that the Arizona senator pretends.
It's not out of any real concern about the experience of Barack Obama to lead the nation, as the McCain campaign insisted, that their candidate compared the black senator's popularity in this campaign to that of Britney Spears and Paris Hilton. It would be much too similar a portrait of the two seasoned, national legislators for McCain to present if he allowed his opponent respect for his public service that has compelled voters to favor and support his candidacy. Instead, McCain is satisfied to pretend that support is about celebrity, rather than the substance of his politics and positions.
It wasn't surprising to hear John McCain complain that Barack Obama is "playing the race card" as the black senator defended against the republican candidate's coded, bigoted attacks on his qualifications for the presidency. What's fascinating is that John McCain believes he can openly use that transparent, typical disrespect of his black opponent to appeal to enough Americans to leverage himself into the White House.
Ron Fullwood, is an activist from Columbia, Md. and the author of the book 'Power of Mischief' : Military Industry Executives are Making Bush Policy and the Country is Paying the Price
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