Dirty Politics And Racism

The campaign being run by John McCain is floundering. He is losing by a significant margin in many critical states, and political websites such as CNN.com, MSNBC.com, and 270towin.com estimate that, if the election was held today, Barack Obama could count on at least 264 electoral votes, while McCain could only feel assured that he would win 163. That means that, with 270 being the magic number, McCain has to win virtually every single “swing state” up for grabs.

These swing states include Virginia (12 point lead for Obama), Nevada (7 point lead for Obama), and Florida (5 point lead for Obama). Not even the fact that George W. Bush won each of these states in both 2000 and 2004 can provide Republicans with much faith that McCain can do the same next month in the face of the current trend in the polls. Clearly, the momentum is behind the concept of change and behind the Obama campaign. And while much of that momentum can be attributed to the stain of the Bush Legacy on the Republican image, it is also a byproduct of something much more surprising: just how poorly run the McCain campaign has been.

Admittedly, I am no political mastermind. I am not thoroughly versed in political tactics or strategies. However, I am something that might be considered equally important when weighing a campaign’s effectiveness. I am a voter, and from my armchair, Monday-morning-quarterback-perspective, the McCain campaign has been a disaster.

It is unorganized and altogether beneath the man that it represents. From its choice of a completely unqualified running mate (See Sarah Palin, Katie Couric interviews part 1 through what seemed like 100), to its inconsistent choice of message and core identity (think: what is Obama’s campaign slogan? What is McCain’s? Have trouble with the second?), or to its sporadic attempts at drawing attention to itself (what exactly did suspending his campaign to “help” with the financial crisis really do?), McCain’s campaign has done little to reverse to anti-GOP tidal wave. But, the most alarming evolution of the campaign has been its recent flirtation with downright dirty politics and racial innuendos.

In a recent article for the New York Times, Adam Nagourney wrote that, “Crowds in Wisconsin and Pennsylvania have repeatedly booed Mr. Obama and yelled ‘off with his head,’ and at a rally in Florida…The Washington Post reported that a man yelled out ‘kill him’. At the same rally, a racial insult was hurled at an African-American television cameraman.”

Really? Is this honestly where and how the McCain campaign wants its supporters to be directing their energies? True, McCain has periodically pushed back against such a negative tone. When a woman at an event in Minneapolis claimed she could not trust Obama because he was an “Arab”, McCain responded, “No ma’am, he’s a decent family man”. But, as Mr. Nagourney pointed out in his article, McCain made no effort to correct her false assertion that Obama was an Arab.

Additionally, there were also two instances this past week during which an introductory speaker at a McCain campaign event referred to Barack Obama by his middle name “Hussein”, an obvious means of trying to persuade voters to believe he is Muslim (if you think that it was just a simple, kind-hearted use of his middle name, then think of the last time you heard McCain referred to as John Sidney McCain…no one uses middle names unless they serve a purpose). McCain condemned these two speakers’ actions, but his campaign has done nothing to encourage speakers to not do the same in the future.

Look, not everything can be blamed on the candidate himself. As the campaign’s intensity continues to increase, emotions will run high and surrogates are bound to say more stupid things on both sides of the aisle. However, it is important that a candidate take a firm leadership role in condemning such slips of the tongue, and in ensuring that they do not continue to happen.

Being President of the United States is to be a role model. It is to be the example that we all aspire to follow. It is to be a leader. So, while John McCain cannot be blamed for the negative tone that has begun to seed itself within this campaign, he should be expected to do a better job of discouraging it.

John McCain should follow the example of Barack Obama when his followers began to exploit the pregnancy of Sarah Palin’s daughter for political gain. He held a press conference in which he declared families “completely off limits” from the political arena, threatened to fire anyone from his campaign who negatively discussed Palin’s daughter, and stated that he did not want the vote of any person who would think that dragging family issues through the public eye was acceptable.

This country is hungry for that kind of leadership. It is in need of a candidate who will set that kind of an example.

The current political climate is not ideal for any Republican, and the numbers suggest that McCain may lose this election regardless of what he does. However, as parents often remind their children, there is a right way and a wrong way to lose. And who knows, maybe if McCain chose the right way to begin with he might not be watching this election slip out of reach.