By Anthony Asadullah Samad
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If
you had told me that more people would watch John McCain's acceptance
speech than watched Barack Obama's historic acceptance speech, I would
have told you "crack is whack" and stay off the drugs.
Most people would have bet the house on that one. The Republican
"change" platform pales in comparison to what the Democrats are
proposing. Remember, the Republicans are the "status quo" party.
They don't change anything, including their capitalist incentives to
raid government, go to war, give tax incentives to the rich and big
business, and push the middle class below the poverty line. When the
Republicans shouted that "change is here" last week, what they meant in
codified terms is "we picked a woman before the Democrats, so now what
reason to have to stay?"
The play was to divide the woman's vote, pure and simple. With
everything coming out on Sarah Palin that would be any candidate's
nightmare, it is obvious that the Republicans didn't vet her. They
didn't have too. They don't care about her pregnant daughter, or affair
allegations, or abuse of power investigations or her extreme censorship
views.
They just needed to do something drastic, and they pulled a rabbit out
of their hat. A pro-life, pro-gun, creationist party extremist that
appeals to the right wing, appeals to religious fundamentalists, appeals
to the disgruntled Hillary segment and appeals to that segment of
independents/undecideds that just needed a reason, any reason, not to
vote for Barack.
The media and pundits will never mention race. Just that now all of a
sudden, an inexperienced, unimaginative ideologue has invigorated the
Republican Party and McCain is now ahead in the national polls. It has
become known, not as the McCain factor but, as the Palin effect.
Palin's choice is solely responsible for the bump McCain has received in
the polls. It's no reason to panic, because it was present in the
polling against Clinton in the primaries and Obama rose above it. They
even gave it a name, calling it the "Bradley effect" after this infamous
1986 Gubernatorial campaign in which Los Angeles Mayor Tom Bradley lead
in the polls all the way up until election night, yet he went to bed
with his victory speech in his pocket after California voters pulled the
curtains and voted their racial biases. It was the highest voter turnout
in the history of Orange County, and the lowest turnout in South Los
Angeles as Tom Bradley lost the election by the number of registered
voters that stayed home (in his old councilmatic district) because
Bradley took the black vote for granted. Barack is not doing that, but
he has a "credibility" problem with many white voters. Being a breath of
fresh air is not enough. Having integrity in his politics is not enough.
Having new ideas is not enough. Being a great communicator, now his
biggest criticism, is not good enough. Being popular beyond reason (and
the borders of the United States) is not enough.
But it's good enough for Sarah Palin (all but the new ideas
stuff-because she doesn't have any new ideas). The same inexperienced
bat that they're beating Obama across the head with, doesn't apply to
Palin because she's a governor of a state with 700,000 for two years and
a part-time Mayor of a city of 7,000 that she took from surplus to a $22
million deficit. There are 16 American cities with populations larger
than the state of Alaska, which only has four months of daylight a year.
If a big city Mayor had been picked Vice President, the cry would have
been fever pitch. Sarah Palin was picked for one reason, and one reason
only, to exploit the fact the Democrats passed over Hillary, twice. Call
it what it really is, "rubbing it" in the Democrats face. But the
residual benefit was much more the residual cost. Unlike Barack, there
was no fallout over who McCain didn't pick. It really wouldn't have made
a difference to women. It would have just been another (probably) white
male and women voters would have been faced with solely ideological
choices that would have made their racial bias very transparent. Now
they don't need to justify their racial biases, as evident as they are.
They can hide behind the fact that they too, are making history. And the
nation is on the verge of making another inferior ticket President and
Vice President of the United States.
Barack Obama has the same scenario that George W. Bush had in 2000, in
facing a more experienced candidate. George W. wasn't as bright, and he
had no new vision for the country. They put him with experience, and an
administration of experienced braintrusts, and they ran the gamut in
terms of winning the election and running the country. Barack is put
with someone with experience and there's still something missing. There
will always be something, as far as some are concerned with Barack. They
know what it is, and we know what it is. And it has nothing to do with
experience, or being a good speaker. They will never say it. There's
just a whole "winking" going on around the country right now. The
euphoria is for a different reason.
The Republicans will be more of the same. They just made the race
exciting by bringing in a twist, a female ideologue. It may be a trick
that works, but it still pales to what the Democrats are offering.
McCain's own party doesn't like him, but they'll elect him because he
gave them a reason to forestall the Democrats. And for some people,
Palin is enough of a reason to stay this course of destruction and
national collapse.
Anthony Asadullah Samad, Ph.D., is a national columnist, managing
director of the Urban Issues Forum (www.urbanissuesforum.com) and author
of the new book, Saving The Race: Empowerment Through Wisdom. He can be
reached at www.AnthonySamad.com
