“That One” in ’08!

It’s nearly impossible to describe last night’s presidential debate as “thrilling” or “exciting” in any way. After a rather large dinner, I found myself often struggling to even stay awake during certain aspects of the tedious and uninspiring performances from both candidates. I’ll say that in hindsight Senator Obama did pull out the victory, but not because of his usual eloquence or flair… but because John McCain appeared flat and uninterested. However, there was one moment of the debate that caused me to take notice. As I sat on my couch, nodding off from a combination of too much dinner and a large gulp of NyQuil, I heard two words that shocked me back into life.

“There was an energy bill on the floor of the Senate loaded down with goodies, billions for the oil companies, and it was sponsored by Bush and Cheney. You know who voted for it? You might never know. That one!”

Did I just hear that correctly? Did John McCain just call Barack Obama “That One” on a nationally televised debate? I snatched up the remote, rewound the broadcast and sure enough, there it was. Senator Barack Obama, a man just footsteps away from becoming the leader of the free world, had been referred to as “That One” by his senate colleague on a national stage. In a body that prides itself on rules, courtesy and respect through differing opinions, this type of language is completely foreign to our political process, not to mention quite unbecoming of a United States Senator. While we may fiercely disagree, we still commend our opponents and unwaveringly refer to them as “the gentleman from (insert state)” at every turn. So yes, this was jarring.

During the hunger strikes in the north of Ireland, I saw – in the midst of some chaos – a young man ( a kid, really) shout out “murdering bastards” at some British soldiers. The one soldier screamed, “WHO SAID IT? WHO?” and another pointed at the kid and said, in a voice that was utterly like McCain’s – dead and with inhuman contempt – “THAT one”, pointing to this kid.

They beat the kid bloody. When McCain spoke those words, it was like a weird post traumatic moment for me. I’d not forgotten about the incident but it had faded. However, those words were absolutely burned into my memory; I could hear them clearly as though the man was in my room.

– KibbutzAmiad

More disturbing than the actual phrase is the reaction that such language can cause in an already hyper-charged electorate. I don’t personally believe that Senator McCain intended to convey any sort of racist overtone with his choice of words, I believe that they were quite simply poorly chosen words shot straight from the hip. Senator McCain is angry. He is watching his presidential aspirations slip away, his reputation now bogged down in the mire of brutally negative campaigning and his future as leader of the Republican Party wilting on the vine. In one moment, for one second, those frustrations slipped past his lips… and frankly if that’s the worst he has to say then we’re probably very fortunate.

However, it is this desperation and anger that has molded the McCain campaign into something I never saw coming. A man that once promised a mud-free campaign that sought only answers to questions and solutions to problems has now devolved into a firebombing slander machine, backed up by what might be the most vicious attack dog politician we’ve seen in our lifetime. McCain and Palin have worked to change the conversation in the last week, attempting to take our collective eyes off of the larger economic and military issues that face our nation, and refocus them on petty and often silly accusations of radicalism and terrorism within Obama’s camp. We’re all big boys and girls here. We all know that politics makes strange bedfellows. For every Reverend Wright or William Ayers that the McCain campaign tries to foist on the public at large, Obama could respond with the Alaskan Independence Party, Joel’s Army, John Hagee or the US Council for World Freedom. However, since Obama has chosen not to make issues of these associations (nor has the media that we’re told is “in the tank” for Obama), McCain’s barbs flounder around on the ground, occasionally striking a chord with a voter.

In a recent rally in Clearwater, Florida, Governor Palin’s rhetoric reached such a frenzy that an entire audience was whipped into a psychotic panic at the mere thought of a President Obama. To his name they replied, “KILL HIM!” To his mention they shouted “TERRORIST!” To the minority camera and boom operators, the real Joe Six Packs of the media, they shouted racial epithets… telling one African-American laborer to “Sit down, boy!” What is this? What have we become? Are we a nation of frothing, screaming racists? We pat ourselves on the back, applauding the “achievements” we’ve made as a society and laud our “progress” in race relations to the entire world… but did it simply take one legitimate African-American candidate to blow the wheels off of dormant racism in our nation and bring it all back to the surface?

I didn’t think of the remark as being ‘racist’. No, it was just inappropriately disrespectful of a colleague and the man that all signs indicate will soon be the leader of the country. It’s a term that belittles Obama, the office he holds, and the office he seeks. McCain’s open disdain for Obama is, in short, yet another sign that McCain’s temperament is poor

– RobBob

Now, we’re not supposed to inject race into the debate. We’re told that if we mention race then we’re playing the part of “the victim” and suggesting that all Republican voters are racist. Trust me, you could count the Republicans on one hand in the state of West Virginia… those 30% of the wild, wonderful state that openly admitted their prejudice were most likely Democrats. It seems that for several months, Barack Obama was a bit of a novelty to many white Americans. He was fun to watch, he was interesting, he was a great speaker… he was the Bill Cosby of our political system. Non-threatening, family friendly entertainment. However, as the possibility of our nation’s first black president begins to seem more and more real every day, the novelty is wearing thin.

The change in tone from the McCain campaign, while not entirely to blame for this issue, is doing what it can to stoke the flames at every turn. No one, not one single person, can tell me with a straight face that the re-invoking of Jeremiah Wright, the constant references to “domestic terrorists” and lines like “he doesn’t see the country the way that you and I do” aren’t loaded statements meant to remind us all that there is something “different” about Barack Obama. People will say, “Oh, it’s just stating facts and opinions, there is nothing racially charged about that!” They will say it, mind you, but they know differently. Even as they say it, they know that they’re covering, they know that they’re viewing the debate cynically and they know what’s going on. Hell, this happens in every election. We have code words for everything from “woman” to “jew” to “old” to “coward.” Artfully constructed terminology that subtly reminds voters that there is something specifically not White Christian Male about a certain candidate. This one just happens to be missing the “white” aspect of that equation.

That is what makes Senator McCain’s “that one” comment so disturbing. It isn’t a gaffe that slipped out early in the campaign in a casual conversation with a voter. It is a punch to the gut delivered on a national stage and now reported by the entire national media ad nauseum. I’m not John McCain… I don’t know if it was a tactical strike, an honest mistake or simply something that slipped out as he lost control. I don’t believe that John McCain is a racist… I will repeat that, I don’t believe that John McCain is a racist. However, over the last week I have come to believe one thing for certain: While he isn’t a racist, he will exploit any means necessary to win this election, even if that means winning on the backs of those who are.

My former mother-in-law was one of those. She gave me hell from the moment I walked into her son’s life until the day we parted ways. After she started drinking her gin in the evenings her liquid courage kicked in and the name calling began. It wasn’t limited to me but I was the only one around who was brown or strong willed. One would think that after ten years of being referred to as “that one” or “that woman” or “that girl” my skin would become so thick that nothing said, like those words, would ever make me feel less about myself or to feel hurt again.

Wrong.

– JaciDee

This kind of language can inflame tensions already boiling over in parts of our nation. This kind of language is divisive. This kind of language can get people hurt. So I close with this statement, realizing that it will never reach John McCain, but wishing that it would:

Senator McCain,

In my words above I included three quotes from members of different ethnic groups in our great nation, each hurt by your poor use of words. While I believe your comments to be accidental and in no way meant to incite violence, hatred or to demean an entire group of citizens, I do ask that you at least clarify your intent with the public at large… if not apologize. Right now your campaign is in a tail spin, and you’re fighting with all that you have to preserve a life-long dream. Believe me, I can understand that. However, if the rhetoric being spewed from your campaign, one that was launched on a platform of integrity and “straight talk,” begins to incite hatred and violence in our nation, is it really worth it?

I’m willing to accept the possibility that Governor Palin didn’t hear the racial epithets being bandied about during her rally in Florida, I’m willing to accept that she didn’t hear the direct threat on the life of your political rival, and I’m even willing to accept that you didn’t hear a member of your own audience call Senator Obama a “terrorist” (although the look on your face when the word is spoken indicates otherwise). I will, Senator McCain, accept that these instances flew under your radar between the roar of the crowd and the adrenaline of the moment. However, days later, I am certain that you have heard these comments repeated and that your campaign has made you aware of the controversy. Why have you not yet taken a stand against these horrific statements and the disgusting turn this race has taken?

Every day that you sit idly by, refusing to admonish your supporters that would threaten the life and well being of another candidate, you passively endorse this type of hatred. Every day that you refuse to call down the bigotry that is slowly becoming associated with your campaign while stumping throughout the nation and feeding the same talking points that inspired that bigotry to your faithful, you directly endorse this type of hatred. And one day, God forbid, should that hatred spew from the rhetorical side and into the physical side… whether it is directed at Senator Obama or one of his supporters… you will have blood on your hands should you choose not to address this issue in its infancy.

Senator McCain, a mad man is a mad man, and I’m aware that no condemnation from you or your staff will stop someone truly bent on violence from carrying out such an act. However, this passive endorsement of these racist attitudes allows those on the fence of madness to feel wholly justified in crossing over into the extreme. None of us are so blind as to assume that the first African-American President of the Unites States doesn’t face an extremely dangerous term in office, but that danger is real enough without passive endorsement from a rival candidate.

You once said “I would rather lose an election than lose a war.” Senator McCain, I ask you this… would you rather lose an election than fuel bitterness and hatred, divide our nation among racial lines and jeopardize the life of an innocent, good man with only the best of intentions for our nation? His views may not line up with yours, but his goal is noble and his intentions are good… and he damn well deserves more respect than to have his life threatened at your rallies and to be cut down as “That One” in your debates.

Voting “That One” in ’08,

Cory Graham

Tags: ayers, barack obama, debate, john mccain, palin, racism, terrorist, that one