Barack Obama has taken a shameful turn

Senator Barack Obama's campaign was based on the fact that we need a new politics, that he was the candidate that would unify America and that he was not the black candidate but rather a candidate who happened to be black.

His refusal to impute racial prejudice to his opponents was one of his strongest selling points, signalling that he would not play the weak game of victimization and resentment that has so long defined Jesse Jackson and his ilk. He would be different, the post-racial candidate.

But yesterday he contradicted that central premise; he suggested, not once but three times, that his opponents would try to scare voters because he was black. He said "they" after talking about John McCain and did not specify who "they" was, thereby indicting Republicans in general.

Senator Obama used to be defined by his optimism and hopefulness about America and the future. It is hard to picture that candidate when looking at the Senator today. He has become increasingly grim, angry, resentful, and petty. It is beneath a candidate running for president of the United States to play the race card and it is doubly so for a candidate who made being post-racial such a central tenet of his campaign. His tone used to be that the Republican Party wasn't his opponent, but rather that cynicism was.

How far we are from that time. There is nothing more angry, nothing more cynical, than to suggest that Republicans in general would try to scare voters because Obama is black. That is simply victimization and it is, as John McCain's campaign said, shameful. If Senator Obama meant that fringe groups would try to play the race card, he could have said so and no one would dispute that. He did not. He said "they" about John McCain and did not specify.

Senator Obama risks the idea that beneath the placid and polite politician lies an angry and resentful man. This contradicts everything most Americans now think about Senator Obama. This is simply an inexplicable turn for him, and it is hard to see how he could explain his statements yesterday. Though I oppose Senator Obama, when he was campaigning in January and February he truly was the hopeful and optimistic candidate. It is sad to see him devolve from that to an increasingly dour and resentful man. Every week he does more damage to his campaign and while that is good for us, it is certainly sad to see. He seems to have completely lost all perspective, and control of his ego.

I believe that Senator Obama will lose. Perhaps by then he will have regained some semblance of dignity and honor, both of which he has abandoned to a very large degree in his quest to be the most powerful man on earth. What good does it do a man to gain the whole world and lose his own soul.

McCain needs new advisors

Marc Ambinder has some good analysis about what's going on here.

Senator John McCain needs to clean out the advisors who have pursued this negative strategy and replace them with people who know what they are doing. The American people aren't going to let McCain off for dishonesty and craveness because he was a heroic POW 30 years ago. What matters is NOW; these advisors' failure to realize that will damage McCain. They have consistently attributed false and craven motives to Senator Obama without evidence; they jumped to the most favorable conclusion for themselves about Obama's cancellation of a troop visit and used wounded soldiers as political props in the process. This action alone is worth absolute rejection and disgust.

Rather than wait and get the facts, they sent out statement after statement and released a false ad for their own political benefit. The craveness of this is beyond words. They also accused Obama of preferring to lose a war in order to win a political campaign. This charge is beyond belief; yet, rather than retract, they doubled down and have repeated it. This will play with rabid supporters; the rest of the electorate will wonder what has gone wrong with Senator McCain. To say that Senator Obama does not care about the lives or honor of soldiers as much as he cares about winning a campaign is a charge apt to Harry Reid and Nanci Pelosi, not Obama, who has voted for war funding in all but one instance, despite his opposition to the Iraq war for more than five years.

These advisors have brought a mocking and angry air to Senator McCain's campaign. I haven't mentioned Obama's efforts to tarnish his own character in this post; that's a whole other story I won't get into here. This is about McCain. These advisors don't have a clue about what they are doing and will damage McCain if they are not replaced. McCain hasn't just gone negative; he has made accusations about Obama that will simply not hold true to the American people. Now that the truth about the troop visit cancellation has come out, McCain's campaign will just look more foolish and sickeningly opportunistic.

There is plenty about Obama's record and views to illuminate and so make people think twice about voting for him; this is what the campaign should be doing. Instead, they are taking an implausable road with these accusations of lack of care for soldiers and the military and moral depravity concerning the Iraq war. Senator McCain should replace these advisors before his campaign becomes a snarky operation utterly without credibilty.

Americans won't listen to drivel in July

The latest ad from Senator McCain's campaign is absolutely pathetic and is a disgusting use of wounded soldiers for one's own political gain. This is why Americans are disgusted by politicians and this is why so many of them believe it is unimportant to vote. Shame on both of these people. You can take your talk about a more respectful campaign and send it to Mars. Maybe the Martians will actually believe it. No rational human being would.

See you later, Senators. Good riddance to your hypocrisy and dishonesty, which even by political standards is unbelievable. Is there anything you won't use? Is there anything sacred enough to preclude its abuse? If wounded soldiers isn't it, I can't imagine what it could be. I think this sentiment will be shared by many Americans, regardless of their political views. Senator McCain damaged his integrity and honor today. That is a fact. Senator Obama has been engaged in a month-long frontal assault on his own character. And we are witness to the whole pathetic show. Message to Americans: be skeptical of politicians. Always. Not cynical, but skeptical. Senators McCain and Obama have left me wishing for a break from it all. I don't think I'm alone.

See you both in August. I only wish that you would act on your words. Your recent conduct has been craven and disgusting. That's enough to make us tune out. Congratulations.

The new politics didn't last very long

For anyone who was inspired by the primaries, and has been appalled by the pathetic, cheap, petty, inane, and dishonest campaign we've seen so far in the general, I share your disappointment.

I guess all good things come to an end. No one wants politicians to be daisies who have no clue how the world works; but they had a chance, for the first time in maybe a generation, to have a better, more honest, more honorable campaign. I place the blame primarily on the Obama campaign, and not because I support McCain. It is simply a fact. McCain offered 10 historic town halls. Put aside the partisan glasses for a minute. Think about how incredible that would have been: just two countrymen campaigning to lead the greatest nation on earth, meeting face to face in front of ordinary Americans, without all the spin and the media and the junk. Just an honest debate. Think about how revolutionary that would have been, and how refreshing.

Instead, Obama rejected it. And since then, we have been treated to an ever-worsening mixture of spin, trash, pettiness, gaffes, fake outrage, and dishonesty. Obama didn't just change positions on two or three issues; the way he did it was so outrageous and disingenuous. This guy had America in his hand; we liked him, and we trusted him, even if we didn't agree. He has damaged it greatly with a month of fudging and idiocy.

Beyond that, his campaign has taken on a messianic tint, and it seems that the people around him have completely lost all humility. The candidate himself, with his already large ego, has lost control.

McCain has taken to effectively accusing Obama of treason, and an obscene level of cravenesss. As if Obama would rather lose a war, with all the deaths that that would entail, than lose a campaign. The insane and dark quality to this charge will damage McCain. But hey, why should we be surprised by anything these people do anymore?

The madness of 18 months of campaigning has degraded what is best about each man and elevated what is worst. They should take a month off and give everyone a break from the idiocy, and get some perspective. What I wouldn't give for the snowy days of Iowa.

Jesse Jackson shouldn't talk

Jesse Jackson just demonstrated that the ultimate passing away of the old thinking about race will be one of the best things to happen to the African-American community in many a long year. Racism and slavery trapped their physical selves. Victimization and hatred trapped their minds. And Jesse Jackson and others have played no small part in this ugly continuation of slavery in a different form. True freedom results when an individual takes responsibility for his own life. As long as he blames another for his own failings, he can never be free. His body is free, but his mind is not. Victimhood, and cries of racism where none exists, will never advance the cause of freedom in this country. It will never advance King's cause of one day being able to judge an individual not by the color of his skin but by the content of his character.

Senator Obama has his own problems when it comes to race, but his candidacy and his status as one of two possibilities for the next president of the United States is a damning indictment of Jackson's thinking and the thinking of all those like him. I disagree vehemently with many of Senator Obama's policies, but the fact that America is one step from putting in his hands the leadership of the most powerful nation on earth should be proof enough that racism, while it still exists, is rare and declining.

Before he speaks of Senator Obama's manhood, perhaps Mr. Jackson should stop hiding behind the mantle of perceived racism, which relieves the aggrieved from taking responsibility for their own failures and chalks up disappointments to the racism and prejudice of others. At least Senator Obama had the courage to run as a candidate who happens to be black, rather than as a black candidate seeking payment for America's racial sins.