Grand Dragon John McCain

There is no question but that the "funny" ad that ran this week put forth by the McCain campaign is nothing short of a 21st century version of a Ku Klux Klan cross burning on Obama's front lawn. To link Mr. Obama with two white female pseudo-celebrities who have a penchant for appearing on camera without underwear is to inject vile racist mysogyny into the presidential campaign and is nothing short of a way to tell the public that they had better watch out for this uppity black guy who clearly does not know his "place".

The McCain campaign is clearly sending the signal that this "boy" don't know his "place". And when Obama addresses the elephant in the room, race, to try to make people more comfortable with him as the first Black presidential candidate, he is accused of playing the race card. When he responds to the racist ad featuring Paris Hilton and Britney Spears, he is also accused of playing the race card. It belies the racism in America that apparently still has a place in public discourse, even while our country is swirling around in the water of the world's toilet bowl.

Let's not talk about the economy. Let's not talk about foriegn affairs. Let's not talk about the national security issue that is energy. Let's not talk about health care. Let's not talk about anything other than that uppity, skinny black guy. That will solve all of our issues.

Some observers, including myself, remember the 2006 mid-term campaign in Tennessee, when Harold Ford, a young black man running for Senator, was the victim of a racist attack advertisement in that state in which a white woman was heard saying in a very sultry voice "call me". The implication was too clear: "Hide your daughters! There's a black guy on the loose coming after your women! Protect their chastity!" McCain's ad is no less disgusting.

While John McCain (or his new campaign chief, Steve Schmidt) is not going to come out and call Mr. Obama an uppity "n****r", he's covering the same territory with that C. Montgomery Burns grin, passing it all off as "humor". Yes, I suppose that if you are C. Montgomery Burns, the linking of your opponent with two slinky white female pseudocelebrities might be funny. But not in a country where less than 60 years ago, Black people in this country were lynched just for holding hands with a white woman. Where Black men in the South could not walk on the same sidewalk as a white woman, or pass a white man without saying "yassah". Or where domestics in the North that knew their "place" knew to enter a white-owned home not through the front door, but from the rear so no-one could see them.

McCain is not exactly renowned for his sense of humor, wouldn't you agree? And now he pretends that he is Judd Apatow? "Knocked Up" anyone? The pretense of this man is disgusting and is redolent of the putrification that is undoubtedly occurring within the McCain campaign itself. They are clearly panicked. It is rotting from the inside out, beginning with McCain himself. They do not have a single substantive issue to discuss, so they play bigot, and do it very well. We all knew it was coming. Here it is.

The sad part of all of this is that the McCain campaign is, at least according to some daily tracking polls, accomplishing what it is setting out to do: scare the hell out of some elements of our society regardless of the fact that Obama has been and will continue to run rings around McCain on the great issues of our day and in the forthcoming debates. Presumptuous? You bet. This guy is running for the leader of the free world. I want excellence. I want talent. I want elite. I want shmarts. I want a leader. I do not want a fat slob couch potato. I do not want McCain or anyone like him anywhere near the levers of power in this country. He and his campaign represents the worst of the low traditions of American politics and the leadership abilities that got this country into the stewpot we presently find ourselves in. McCain represents the middling, intellectually average, divisive, racist, special-interest controlled government we have now. No more.

If I could advise the Obama campaign, I would tell them to call Mr. McCain out. Tell what is the obvious truth: that McCain has no vision for America. That McCain is making the campaign solely about Barack Obama; translated, that means that they are going after Obama's person: he's black, uppity and too skinny to lead. To have to write these words is just an absurd adjustment on my part to try to observe the alternate reality that America has become. Obama took McCain's dare to go to Iraq. Obama should show McCain what "uppity" really is. I hope he'll have the chance in the coming weeks to show the American public - racists included - just what an uppity Columbia and Harvard educated black guy can do for this country and all of its citizens. Racism is dead. Excellence knows no time limits. Obama: show your excellence. And break out some of the political razors that you picked up during your time in the mosh pit of Chicago politics. It's time to put a stop to the racist trash coming out of the Republican attack machine that has absolutely nothing worthwhile to tell the American people.