Posted by
Andrews on Tuesday, June 24, 2008 12:15:46 PM
For a long time, Obama's supporters have claimed he is "post racial" and is "keeping race out of the election", implying that he was too high minded and wise to fall into the trap of running a campaign based on his race. And he did a lot to keep this impression going, including crafting
his, admittedly vague, platform to appear to have little emphasis on civil rights.
On the other hand, he also did what he could to keep race an issue, while not officially mentioning it. His web site had letters from supporters prominently displayed talking of
"racial healing", though, of course, Obama himself said nothing about the topic. Likewise, his supporters were not shy in calling
Clinton backers among the black superdelegates "Uncle Toms". I even made
some jokes about the way that Obama didn't mention race yet allowed it to play a large role in his campaign.
But now it appears that Obama has changed his mind on yet another topic, and has started leveling charges of racism against Republicans. Well, not exactly racism, but charges that the Republicans
WILL use racism some time in the future. It is both effective and silly in equal measures, as it raises a charge Republicans cannot dispute, as the crime has yet to happen. But for that reason it is also silly, as it is charging a group with something they have yet to do, and may never do.
But the pointlessness of the charge is not my subject. What is interesting is that Obama has decided to not only start mentioning race, but doing it in such an inflammatory way. In the past, part of Obama's appeal was that eh was a black candidate who was not a racial agitator like Jackson or Sharpton. He was a black who whites could support. It gave those suffering from racial guilt a sense of
doing the right thing.
Now, he has come out not only as a "black candidate" but as one railing against racism. And I think it will hurt him.
In the past I argued that if Obama lost the Democrats would blame racism for the next four years. Now, it seems, they might be right, though for different reasons. It is not white racism that will lose the race for Obama, but his charges of white racism which may turn off white voters who would otherwise have been much more sympathetic.
By accusing the Republicans of using race, Obama may have managed to introduce the question of race himself, and in a way that will work to his detriment.