Academic

Waiting for Election Results and Looking Back: 2008

By Sylvia Lazos

As we go about our daily business, anxiously anticipating the results of this election, let?s take a moment to look back on this historical campaign.  I am going to point to three key events that will set the tone for how we deal with racial divisions after this election is over.

1.  What may be one of the most pleasant surprises of this season?s electioneering is the relatively low volume of sleazy race-baiting ads.  Yes there have been quite a few of sleazy ads, but not as many as we might have anticipated given that Barack Obama posed a ready target.  In 2004.  ?Swiftboating? became part of the lexicon because  of how effect a 527 group, known as Swift Boat Veterans for Truth, financed by T. Boone Pickens were very effective at destroying John Kerry?s veteran and war heroes credentials.

In the state of Nevada, a battleground state, where I now live, Nevadans have seen ugly ads from 527s and the Republican party.  One states that Obama advocates for licenses for illegal immigrants.  This is true.  In the primaries, Obama did not back down from the position he held as a state legislator that driver?s licenses should be available for unauthorized immigrants, reasoning that from a public health perspective it is better that all drivers be licensed rather than having a sizeable hidden population driving without licenses.  The ad, however, intimates that Obama?s support on this issue can be equated to supporting massive illegal immigration and supporting terrorist.   The ad runs a picture of a drivers license with Mohammed Atta on the face, one the leaders of the 9/11 terrorist attacks.  Thankfully this ad has not run frequently.  Why is that?

In great part, this is due to John McCain himself.  He was a key architect, along with Russ Feingold, of the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act of 2002.  This reform clarified that federal campaign finance laws applied to 527 organizations.  Contributions are now limited, must be reported, and they are to register with the FEC as political committee.  In December 2006, the FEC fined three 527 groups, including the Swiftboat Veterans and MOVEON.org., finding that they had violated federal law by failing to register  and abide by contribution limits.

In sum, campaign finance reform, although not perfect, has, by and large, worked.   In 2008, the threat of FEC oversight dampened the appetite for 527 activities.  Most notably, T. Boone Pickens declined to finance any more 527 groups this election cycle, and instead opted to promote his own ideas, on how to free American from oil dependence.  This was a positive effort.

2.  John McCain faced down angry and race-baiting supporters at a town hall in mid-October drawing a line as to what he considered to be ?fair game? in the public discourse.   Sarah Palin?s addition to the ticket made it possible for the McCain campaign to go after Obama with subtle personal attacks that depicted Obama as ?too risky? and lacking judgment; for example his past association with Ayres, and his willingness to talk to ?terrorist regimes,? like Iran and Venezuela,  ?without preconditions?.  These subtle attacks encouraged overt angry attacks tinged with racial overtones.   In a scary moment at a Palin town hall meeting,  someone yelled ?Kill him? referring to Obama.   At a McCain rally, cries of “liar” and “terrorist” referring to Obama, were heard.  Finally, a woman in Minnesota said she was ?scared? of the prospect of an Obama presidency, and as justification said that Obama was an Arab.  McCain responded by forcefully taking back the microphone and saying,  ”I have to tell you. Sen. Obama is a decent person and a person you don?t have to be scared of as president of the United States.”   He continued, “No, ma’am. He’s a decent family man [and] citizen that I just happen to have disagreements with on fundamental issues and that’s what this campaign’s all about. He’s not [an Arab].”

Win or lose, John McCain needs to be given a lot of credit for his decency.  He could have chosen to continue to allow ugly angry supporters to become angrier and to fall back on accusations and cries that were racially tinged.  Instead, McCain did what was honorable, and drew a line as to what he thought was civil in attacking those with which we disagree.    ”We want to fight, and I will fight,” McCain said. “But I will be respectful. I admire Sen. Obama and his accomplishments, and I will respect him.”   Makes you wonder what the 2004 election would have been like if George W. Bush had shared some of this DNA with Mc Cain.

3.  Obama?s race speech in the wake of Jeremiah Wright controversy in Philadelphia.  The most remarkable moment of this campaign was the speech on race in July when Obama addressed the issue of Jeremiah Wright?s comments commonly viewed as racist in sermons that he gave in his Chicago church.  America has never heard a politician address the conundrum of racism in America in such a subtle, complex and sympathetic manner.   Obama depicted racial injustice and racial division a problem that ?WE the people? had inherited.  The Constitution was a contradictory documented in that celebrated freedom but allowed slavery.  Obama appealed for togetherness, and rejected the view that racism was endemic to America.  He made it clear that Americans could overcome racism as well as other social and economics that we have as a country.  If we came together, Obama invited us to think, we could ?overcome.?

The speech was also deeply personal.  He described both Jeremiah Wright (who he said was ?like family to me?) and his grandmother, who recently passed away, as complex people who had both done great things for their communities and for him personally. But he also described within them both ?contradictions? and flaws.  He told us that, in spite of flaws and statements that showed unconscious and overt ?inexcusable? racially tinged statements, he loved and admired both of them.  (Obama would later break with Wright after his more racialized display at the press club.)   Through this personal story, and explained why he belonged ,? starting with ?,? and moving on to ?his own complex heritage.? He encouraged all Americans to think about race and racism in more complex ways, and with more sympathy and love.   ?Racism and discrimination are real and we must deal with it.?  ?We cannot afford not to think about race right now. .. we have not really worked through the complexities of race? we should not retreat ..  we need to come together.?

This may be the most lasting legacy of the Obama.  Win or lose, he gave the American people an opportunity to talk about the racial division in American society openlyand with hope, but yet with realism.  We know that working through our differences and divisions will take time.   ?Working together we can move beyond our old racial wounds, ? but we must have a full measure of justice?.? concluded Obama.

Soon this election season will be over.  We will have a new President. But we have been also been given the gift.  Both candidates have shown us that Americans can have a better and more civil conversation about things that draw us apart, such as our past legacy of racial injustice.  In the here and now, we must have patience with each other, but at the same time, we must have the courage in drawing the lines of decency.  These are simple lessons.  But never have we seen them acted out in such a personal fashion as we have this election season.  Because of this I look forward to the work that must be done the day after elections, bringing us back together and moving forward with the ?audacity of hope.?

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Full post as published by BlackProf on November 04, 2008 (boomark / email).