There's a stark contrast between what you see in these debates and what you're seeing at a McCain or Palin campaign event. In a debate you won't hear John McCain refer to Barack Hussein Obama. In a debate you won't hear people in the crowd yelling "kill him" or "terrorist." But this is what you're hearing at McCain/Palin campaign events. More than once recently someone who was introducing one of the Republican nominees has revved up the red meat-eating crowd by referring to Barack Obama's middle name in an attempt to stoke this ridiculous idea that Obama is secretly a Muslim. People in these crowds are starting to yell racial epithets and threats (being investigated, as I understand it, by the Secret Service). And what does McCain or Palin do about it when this happens? Do they tell the crowd in no uncertain terms that that kind of behavior will not be tolerated? No. Because God forbid they lose the racist vote.
What must people in other countries watching this be thinking of us? Isn't America supposed to be the country of opportunity and equality for everyone, regardless of race or ethnicity? And what does it tell people in the Muslim world about how people at a campaign event for the nominees of a major party, a current Senator and a current Governor, view them? Is that helpful to our diplomatic efforts to get Middle Eastern countries to trust us?
McCain can't even hide his disgust of Obama in a debate or treat him as though he belongs on the same stage with him. Yet Obama went through 20-some debates and more than 50 primary contests to get where he is. He fought Hillary Clinton, no lightweight there, tooth and nail to get the nomination. And he won it fair and square, despite the obvious obstacles he had to overcome in the eyes of some voters and the view that Clinton was a shoo-in. Obama knows his stuff and deserves to be treated with respect, and yet McCain can't even look the guy in the eye.
The polls show that there are about 30% of white voters who say they can't vote for Obama either because he's (half) black or because they think he's secretly a Muslim. These are the folks whose racial intolerance McCain and Palin are stoking in their ads and at their campaign events. I'm not sure why McCain thinks this is a winning strategy, it's not like these people were going to vote for Obama! Fortunately, I think what it is doing instead is turning off the other 70%, as Obama continues to put distance between himself and McCain in the polls.
Obama should win this contest by a larger margin than he will, due to that 30%. But I think there's little doubt now that he will win, and that will be a victory for this country, for tolerance, and for common sense.
