Joe Lieberman stumping for McCain:
For his part, Lieberman focused on a statement by Obama last week that caused a stir. The Illinois senator said in Missouri that his opponents are going to try to instill worries in voters by emphasizing Obama is an unfamiliar figure who “doesn’t look like all those other presidents on the dollar bills.”
The McCain campaign quickly accused Obama of playing the race card.
“You’re making a personal insult to John McCain,” Lieberman said. “This man does not have a bigoted bone in his body,” he added, noting that the Arizona senator and his wife have adopted a child from Bangladesh.
Did Jay Smooth call it or what?
One of more frustrating things about Obama’s allegedly “playing the race card” is that it’s clearly not in his best interests to have race be a central theme in his campaign.
For one, it prevents any actual discussion of race in the campaign (and beyond). I mean, we never really talk about it anyway, other than to confirm such brave controversial positions as “segregation bad,” and “civil rights good.” But we need to move beyond a world where Bull Connor is the only enemy — we need to address our more complex world where the structural legacies of racism are arguably a bigger problem than actual racism proper. But crap like this chills any discussion of race — do you think that Barack Obama is going to touch race with a ten-foot pole this fall? No way. Can’t risk offending the delicate sensibilities of all the delicate flowers out there.
