IF you think way back to the start of this marathon campaign, back when it seemed preposterous that any black man could be a serious presidential contender, then you remember the biggest fear about Barack Obama: a crazy person might take a shot at him.... "I've got the best protection in the world, so stop worrying," Obama reassured his supporters. Eventually the country got conditioned to his appearing in large arenas without incident (though I confess that the first loud burst of fireworks at the end of his convention stadium speech gave me a start). In America, nothing does succeed like success. The fear receded. Until now. At McCain-Palin rallies, the raucous and insistent cries of "Treason!" and "Terrorist!" and "Kill him!" and "Off with his head!" as well as the uninhibited slinging of racial epithets, are actually something new in a campaign that has seen almost every conceivable twist. They are alarms. Doing nothing is not an option.
I came of age during the tail end of the Civil Rights era, a time when this country struggled to lose it's attachment to hatred and divisiveness on skin color. Lest you begin thinking that we've somehow entered a new age of Enlightenment, all you have to do is to pay attention to the seeds being sown by John McCain and Sarah Palin. Having discovered that they simply cannot compete with Barack Obama and Joe Biden on the issues, they've launched one of the most coordinated, despicable, racially-tinged personal assaults in the history of this country. The manner in which they've conducted themselves is beyond reprehensible, but apparently very much in character.
WE DESERVE BETTER.
Good and decent people can and do disagree on matters of principle. No one expects Democrats and Republicans to link arms and sing "Kum Ba Ya" as the s'mores cook over a camp fire. Neither could any reasonable person expect the torrent of racially-tinged smears that have emerged from McCain and Palin...nor how little has been done to reign in the more aggressively ignorant and unhinged elements on the far Right.
Yes, John McCain finally had to contradict a two-legged intellectual vacuum when she accused Obama of being an "Arab". I suppose some ignorance is so far beyond the pale that not even McCain could justify tolerating it. Outside of that instance, little has been done to talk down those at tallies who loudly and angrily advocate violence against Obama or who merely spout the vilest sort of ignorance imaginable.
I don't think it at all unreasonable to expect that at this point in our history we should be able to tolerate philosophical and political differences without resorting to the advocation of violence or trafficking in vile personal insults. After all, isn't the very essence of politics what the late Tip O'Neill called "the art of the possible"? Since when is violence, or the threat of violence, a solution to some of the very serious problems this nation faces today? Ignorance, however, is still the American Sheeple's stock in trade. Same as it ever was.
This sorry scenario should tell you all you need to know about why John McCain and Sarah Palin are completely out of their element. Not only are they completely unprepared to rationally discuss issues, they've decided that the only way to victory now is to employ the soft bigotry of anger, alienation, and character assassination. Yes, the economy's in the toilet, and Iraq has turned into this nation's Vietnam...but don't count on hearing a rational, lucid discussion of these and other issues from the McCain-Palin campaign. They're too busy talking about something that happened when Barack Obama was eight years old.
John McCain's gonna have his @$$ handed to him on Election Day...and deservedly so. Sowing the seeds of hatred, bigotry, and ignorance is no way to demonstrate that you're ready, willing, and able to lead. My both he and Mooselini rot in the Hell they so richly deserve.
WE DESERVE BETTER.
