Time to start following the lead of your candidate:
When an elderly woman at the town hall meeting said nervously, "I can't trust Obama ... I have read about him and he's, uh ... he's an Arab," McCain shook his head somewhat sadly, took the microphone back and corrected her. "No, ma'am," he said, Obama is a "decent family man, citizen, that I just happen to have disagreements with on fundamental issues."
McCain similarly reassured a man who said he was "scared" of an Obama presidency. "I have to tell you that that he is a decent person that you do not have to be scared (of) as president," McCain said.
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McCain's Campaign Against Himself
By Clarence Page
It is a great paradox of American democracy that our presidents might well be chosen, after all these months, by simple state-by-state majorities of the least-informed voters.
That helps to explanation the shocking outbursts of anger, fear, resentment and suspicion that have exploded at some of Sen. John McCain's recent rallies against his Democratic opponent, Sen. Barack Obama.
It makes sense that Republican rage has risen as McCain's polling numbers have tanked. Democrats would be similarly outraged, I'm sure, if the numbers were reversed.
That makes me downright proud to see the old familiar principled side of McCain rise to the challenge of tamping down some of the uglier sentiments that have erupted in his supporters' ranks.
Rising to the occasion, John McCain's maverick side is showing itself again. At his recent Minnesota rally he offered a more heartfelt endorsement of Barack Obama's character than he had expressed during either of their first two televised debates.
When an elderly woman at the town hall meeting said nervously, "I can't trust Obama ... I have read about him and he's, uh ... he's an Arab," McCain shook his head somewhat sadly, took the microphone back and corrected her. "No, ma'am," he said, Obama is a "decent family man, citizen, that I just happen to have disagreements with on fundamental issues."
McCain similarly reassured a man who said he was "scared" of an Obama presidency. "I have to tell you that that he is a decent person that you do not have to be scared (of) as president," McCain said. He was interrupted by loud boos, but he persisted: "Now, look," he said, "If I didn't think I wouldn't be a heck of a lot better president, I wouldn't be running, OK?" That brought applause that was louder than the boos. The moment was saved, along with a sense of civility.
That's what McCain promised at the beginning of the campaign. It was a pleasure and a relief to watch that decency return as the campaign's final days heat up. Some of audience shout-outs at recent McCain and Palin rallies have taken a ferocious tone, including the infamous "Kill him" heard at a Florida rally.
It is as if a large number of Americans, who had not been paying that much attention to the contest, suddenly woke up one recent morning to a shocking discovery: A guy who did not share their politics or physical appearance or European name might be elected president.
Don't get me wrong: I don't think that's a how most Republicans think any more than I think "Abort Sarah Palin" bumper stickers, which I find loathsome, are approved by most Democrats.
But, as much as the possibility of a President Obama fills many Americans with joy over the hard-won progress this nation has made since the civil rights revolution of the 1960s, it also fills some others with dread.
Many of them, according to polls, are what Palin calls small-town working class "Joe Sixpack" social conservatives. Most were not all that excited by McCain's campaign before he took her as his running mate.
Leading the charge as McCain's attack puppy, Palin boldly asked, "Who is Barack Obama?" Then she answered her own question: "This is not a man who sees America as you see it and how I see America."
Sure, one might just as easily ask, "Who is Sarah Palin?" Obama's been campaigning and submitting to interviews for almost two years. Palin's been around for a month, during which she usually has treated reporters as if they were carrying the Ebola virus.
Yet she smiles, winks and scapegoats the "liberal media establishment" for trying to make her look bad. Her supporters say they know her well enough after only a month in the national spotlight to be comfortable with her sitting only a heartbeat away from the presidency. She's "one of us," they say. That "Hussein" guy? Who's he?
McCain, to his everlasting credit, has not turned a blind eye to the politics of raw ignorance and xenophobia. Maybe he's remembering the way gutter tactics were used against him in 2000. That was when a whisper campaign claimed falsely that he had fathered a black baby. The lie led to his losing the South Carolina Republican primary to then-Texas Gov. George W. Bush.
Politics ain't for sissies, but campaigns are a good test of character. It's hard to believe candidate' promises to unify the country after they win if they turn a blind eye to divisions while they're campaigning.
Page is a Pulitzer Prize-winning syndicated columnist specializing in urban issues. He is based in Washington, D.C. E-mail: cptime@aol.com
Copyright 2008, Tribune Media Services Inc.
Page Printed from: realclearpolitics.com at October 15, 2008 - 09:12:20 AM EDT |
