Thursday, November 27, 2008

How Obama Won - Excerpt from Chapter 10

10.

How Obama Snatched the Race Card off The Presidential Table

A handful of top advisors in the McCain camp were perplexed at their boss’s flat refusal to again slam Democratic rival Barack Obama on his ties to his former pastor Jeremiah Wright. Instead they picked the race neutral target of former Weather Underground terrorist Bill Ayers, and tried to tie Obama to him. That ploy had no public or media legs.

A GOP official explained that McCain did dredge up the Wright-Obama connection because he did not want to be seen as a racist. That’s probably true. But in a close to the wire election, a candidate will grab at any weapon to get an edge, and the GOP has never flinched at using race as a weapon when it suited its purpose. And indeed McCain’s running mate Sarah Palin chomped at the bit to snatch at the Wright issue. But the word was hands off.

There are several reasons suggested why Palin and the GOP did not go for the racial jugular with Obama. One reason offered is that the GOP is smitten with racial guilt too. The idea that Obama benefits unduly from that was much talked about, and probably much overblown during the campaign.

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