The Associations Shouldn’t Matter, But They Do
Posted on October 7, 2008 at 11:48 amAs loathe as I am to weigh in on the side of Glen Dean, the simple fact is that he is right in a backwards kind of way.
Bob Krumm says that Barack Obama’s associations with a 60’s radical and the like are of no import to the modern political reality we find ourselves in and that John McCain’s campaign is embarking on a fool’s errand by highlighting the fact.
He is wrong. Yes, the Vietnam era and the politics associated with it are far removed from the current political situation. But that is not the point of highlighting these associations. Politics is about identity. We can talk about the policy proposals and we should. But the fact of the matter is that there are two things that will drive the results of this election, the economy and identity.
The economy is in tatters. By all rights John McCain should lose this election. With an economy this bad, the incumbent party should lose and lose badly. There is very little McCain can do on this front. Rightly or wrongly, he is saddled with the economy Bush shepherded in. The fact that he does and always has had differences with the administration helps, but it can’t save him.
As impolitic as it was to say, McCain does have to turn the page from the economy to other issues. People want change in this election.
After the recession of the first Bush Administration, Bill Clinton came to power because he fashioned a political image of responsible change. Obama is going about replicating this scenario. He just about sealed the deal in the first debate. That debate for Obama was not about winning or losing or laying a glove on McCain. It was about appearing Presidential.
All Obama has to do is convince those who want change, which is a strong majority at this point that he is an acceptable vehicle for that change. Who Obama is complicates this. Stated plainly his name and his race matter. They shouldn’t, but they do.
Therefore, whatever McCain can do to paint Obama as dangerous or “the other” he has to do. He cannot point to Obama’s race or name directly because the American public is no longer consciously racist.
Many, however, do have subconscious misgivings about handing over the reigns of the federal government to someone unlike them. McCain has to feed this fear. It is, in the final analysis, his only hope.
In a normal political environment, McCain could simply run on his image as a war hero and on reform. That is not enough, not with this economy. McCain must attack Obama’s image.
Through a death of a thousand cuts, he must slowly chip away at Obama. It is a dangerous game, because as much as some Americans may possess a degree of subconscious racism, they will react poorly to overt appeals they believe are race-based.
Are, ultimately, the associations of Obama all that important? Probably not. The left wing has their fringe elements and the right has theirs. To survive as a politician on either side you have to deal with and often embrace some of those unsavory elements.
McCain has his associations as well but his are less likely to stick because of who he is. On Barack Obama, these associations have at least the potential to stick.
McCain has to do anything to paint Barack Obama as something other than a solid patriotic American. It may be unfair. It may be unsavory. But, it is what it is.
It’s what McCain has to do if he has any hope of snatching victory from the jaws of defeat.
Comments
8 Responses to “The Associations Shouldn’t Matter, But They Do”
That is funny! AC, seriously, I like this shit out of you. I love disagreeing with you though. You’re a good sport, and normally don’t take this stuff too personally.
The problem is, the right wing has been talking about this ad naseum for the past year. I think most voters have at least heard some of the details about Ayers from either their friends or the radio or if they happened to stop in at Fox News for more than 15 minutes during the past 8 months.
And yet, Obama still has higher favorability numbers than McCain. He’s still viewed as caring more about people like them. In many polls, he is viewed to share their values as much if not more than McCain.
The idea that Obama is unknown to the public at large might have been true back in January of 2007, but nearly all voters have been paying some attention to the election over the past 2 years, and have gotten some sense (positive or negative) of who they think Obama is. He’s been the most investigated, most talked about, most reported on candidate in Presidential history. I don’t think they can redefine him in the last month of a campaign absent some new piece of damning evidence which directly ties him to some “un-American” activities.
I agree, this might be the last best hope for McCain to change the dynamics of the race, but I don’t think it will work. The American people, via their response to the debates, have shown they prefer serious solutions to cheap gimmicks this time around.
The bigger issue for McCain is his inability to give voters a reason to vote for him. If he turns nasty and negative it looks less and less like he has a vision for the country, and more and more that he is angry and unbalanced. I agree with Sean and ACK, that this may be his last best resort, but it is a high risk, moderate reward strategy that has as much likelihood of resulting in an Obama blowout as a narrow McCain win.
The problem is, the right wing has been talking about this ad naseum for the past year. I think most voters have at least heard some of the details about Ayers from either their friends or the radio or if they happened to stop in at Fox News for more than 15 minutes during the past 8 months.
I think that’s really the key thing. Whatever damage was going to be done by Ayers and/or Wright has already been done. If McCain wants an effective attack, he needs to bring something NEW to the table.
Dolphin, Sean, yes the right (Hannity and others) have been talking about it. But Anderson Cooper hasn’t. Don’t you think Cooper and CNN reaches more swing voters than Hannity?
Glen,
Yes, he probably does, but just about everyone has that rightwing asshole relative who feels the need to impress upon us the dangerous nature of X Democrat. While Anderson Cooper investigating (and in the process debunking some of the more radical claims by Hannity and others), you aren’t going to see a significant number of people shocked into supporting Bush III.
McCain already wins hands down on the “who’s a bigger patriot” question, the problem is, voters are more concerned about who is going to be better for their economic interests. They have trouble connecting what Ayers did in the 70s to what Obama/McCain are going to do as Presidents in regards to the economy. Does the right think this is a big elaborate plan so that Obama can get into the White House to set a pipe bomb?
All of the above misses what is the vilest part of ACK’s analysis:
“Stated plainly his name and his race matter. They shouldn’t, but they do.
Therefore, whatever McCain can do to paint Obama as dangerous or “the other” he has to do. He cannot point to Obama’s race or name directly because the American public is no longer consciously racist.”
This is an endorsement of the racism implicit in this line of attack. It is no different than Nixon’s Southern Strategy of 1968. “Oh, we really aren’t racist, but we can and McCain should use codewords of ‘other’ as his only hope of winning” is another almost literal translation of what you are saying. The politics of racism and division are justified if it is the only thing left open to you to try to rise above (below?) the swamping of the McCain campaign by the economy?
You have no honor. Disgusting.
Julius, thats just wrong. Klanheider doesn’t endorse racism.
Sean, you may be right. We’ll see, I guess. Being a right wing nut ball, its hard to see how anybody can not be appalled by Obama’s associations.