Call me Harold

robert gibbs' explanation is total bullshit. sorry. just say it for what it is. i mean the whole fucking media has been saying it for a year now. "IS HE ONE OF US?? HE'S EXOTIC! SO FOREIGN!! AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH"

The dollar bill line sounds like it could be an allusion to race, but Obama has said similar stuff before,

What similar stuff has he said?

First of all, please stop using words like "cry" in reference to Obama. It feeds into the dandy, wimp narrative that is going around the right wing circles.

Second, Jake Tapper is a fucking idiot. I read that post last night and it's like he fell off of a turnip truck or something. If calling someone on their bullshit tactics is racist, then I guess there are A LOT of racists here at TPM.

Tell Tapper to pull his head out of his ass.

Based on Obama's track record, I have to believe he would know the trouble this comment would cause.

Strategically, I think the comment will cause short-term damage, but might have a strong long-term benefit:

http://tpmcafe.talkingpointsmemo.com/talk/2008/07/preemptive-strike.php

So this is Obama's response? I have to say, I'm not terribly impressed...

Now, I didn't really agree with the "let's-just-ignore-it-all" strategy that the Obama camp has seemed to be employing the last several weeks with regards to McCain's attacks, but at least it had it's own logic.

What does emphasizing/reframing the attacks as "risk"-mongering accomplish?

Were he going to respond, some of the responses put up here yesterday (e.g., "childish," "immature," "desperate," "tired") seemed much more effective to me.

i don't think he is crying racism....but let's be real here--obama is considered risky mainly because he is black and more so than a non-traditional name, he has a muslim sounding name!...the "experience" mumbo jumbo floating around is just that, a flimsy cover up...

if any other young buck came around and did what obama has managed to do and continue to be dead on with avant-guard thinking, we would be thanking the good lord for his probable candidacy...

we are not comfortable with obama's look and their-in lies the fundamental difference in treatment...

the good news, he has enough of us to think like him behind to possibly tip the scale in a new direction!!! who would have ever thought that when we were teaching our kids to treat everyone as an equal, they would have listened huh?

The GOP is doing exactly what the Obama campaign and Barack are saying..planting race into this election and trying to scare voters....remember the Harold ford ad in 2006?

I'm all for calling these sleaze masters out and I hope Obama will keep this tactic out. Let the GOP explain how what they are doing is not about race and fear over and over again. They have no platform to convince the voters they can solve our issues and bring positive change ....I know they will only keep this up and in fact we haven't seen anything yet! This election will be all about the GOP ads and we haven't even scratch the surface with their sleaze and fear! wait until Sept and Oct when they have nothing to lose...they have no shame!

I don't think that Obama is talking about race but that the Republicans are trying to paint Obama as "unAmerican", someone who is NOT that "one of us".

It doesn't have anything to do with race.

However, I personally think that there is subtle racism here. The GOP (and the media too) is trying to portray Obama as an "Uppity Negro" who doesn't know his place.

John McCain does weekly radio addresses as if he is President and no one calls him "presumptuous". John McCain created 2 TV ads in which he called himself "President McCain" and no one called him "arrogant". John McCain did a major speech in which he talked about how the world would be after his first term as president and no one said "who does he think he is".

This is a subtle form of racism going on on both the media's and the GOP's side.

They are trying to say that Obama is an "Uppity Negro" who doesn't know his place.

Team Obama are masters of race-baiting. White-Guilt ridden Democrats fell for it in the primaries, actually blaming the race-baiting on the Clintons. Well, the Clinton's are gone, yet the race-baiting continues. Sadly Obama brand of race-baiting won't work as well in the General Election.

Maritza hit the nail on the head. McCain, the GOP and now the Washington-based press corps are calling Obama an "Uppity Negro" in every term but the one they really mean.

That said, I love the way Rachel Maddow smacked down Pat Buchanan on Wednesday, telling him on "Road to the White House" that his insistence on citing Dana Milbank's dishonest piece of crap column as proof positive, even after it was soundly debunked, said more about Buchanan than it did about Obama. Throw this back in their faces. They're bullies who squeal like stuck pigs when anyone stands up to them. Let them squeal.

The headline of this post, and its content, should be questioning McCain's use of race. To focus the post on Obama and whether he did/ didn't say anything about racism is to play into the right-wing project of painting Obama as overly sensitive and different (a ridiculous portrait, by the way.) We need to stop de-coding Obama's responses and start clearly naming McCain's offensive attacks.

Maritza hit the nail on the head. McCain, the GOP and now the Washington-based press corps are calling Obama an "Uppity Negro" in every term but the one they really mean.

You got it - nail, hammer - that's just exactly it. It's The Obama is Uppity Week with the GOP. What else can they say at this point? He was fucking brilliant last week.

Oh god spare me the gnashing of teeth from the media.

One week ago yesterday, the media - including TPM - was reporting breathlessly on a poll that showed "A solid 55% of registered voters view him as the "riskier" choice for president, compared to only 35% who say McCain is the bigger risk."

So Obama is answering back to that risk question, and the McCain campaign is trying to exploit it.

Shocker, huh.

He's stating the facts. If someone wants to look at the facts and say McCain is using racist tactics, that's up to them, but don't blame Obama for it.

And I'm sure it was a coincidence to have the huge word FOREIGN next to his face in the celeb ad.

He is absolutely right, hell, how many right-wing attacks on Obama so far have been racist? Plenty. He certainly isn't talking about just McCain, or just the RNC, or just the Republicans. He is talking about swiftboaters and Fox News and his opposition in general. Hell yes racism has been, and will continue to be, part of their attacks.

Who cares? Crying racism and xenophobia? He isn't complaining, he is just saying it like it is, they will attack him with everything, and his race will be part of it. The Republican Party is rife with racism. Nothing shocking there. He certainly isn't complaining though.

Everybody already knows that Barack has a funny name (he said so himself) and doesn't look like the guys on paper currency, so those are not focal points for the GOP ads.

As for the Paris Hilton ad I think it is petty and silly. That's not hot.

Dammit, stop playing on McCain's turf. Don't just whine about McCain's tactics; hit back. He's a confused old fool. He wants to stay in Iraq for 100 years. He's George Bush's third term. L'audace, l'audace, toujours l'audace!

If McCain doesnt start pulling ahead in the polls soon, I expect the Willy Horton ad be taken out and dusted off.

How come Obama is being described as Black and not White?

Its wrong, IMO, for Obama to directly attack or even address THIS particular ridiculous, childish, desperate attempt by McCain. Will only cause trouble. Obama should deal with other ones, but something so lame does not dignify a response. He can only get into trouble if he even hints (or it can be perceived as hinting at...) at race. Just say no, Barack!

Obama's telling it like it is -- making people think whether they want to or not. His remarks also diminish and marginalize McCain.

The racists won't change. However, I'm beginning to suspect there are a lot of people out there who are afraid to admit they are coming around to Obama. That's awful to say, but a stark reality, especially here in the south.

I've been sporting an Obama sticker on my car for over a year. There have been times when I've been more than a little nervous about it. Then I think about the courage Obama shows every day putting himself out there. The teensy sliver of courage I have to muster to drive out of my garage is pathetic by comparison.

Obama and his campaign know what they're doing.

i think mcgrumpy is the bigger risk. first of all, his age. the man might drop dead after winning the election (which he won't. win that is). second of all, he is a repub. do we want them back in? they have made a mess of everything

The best comeback is the short jab. I hate to say it but Reagan had a good one: "There you go again!" Remember that one? It worked.

So let's do a little brainstorming shall we?

Obama's jab might be:

(on troop withdrawal) "Get your own campaign"
(on off-shore drilling and the gas tax) "you have a dependency on bad ideas"
(on his geography gaffes) "I said 'map' not 'nap'"
(on 'no child left behind')"no child, just teachers and schools"
(on the environment)"I guess Anwar is not part of environment"
(on more of the same) "You had your chance"
(This can be a tag line to anything as in: "I may not have been around as long as you have . . . (tag) . . . but what happened to your face?" or, does it hurt you as much as it hurts me?

talk amongst yourselves. . .

Seriously, how hard is it to point out that 1) Brit was one of those uneducated Bush supporters who once said we should just trust Bush and shut up about minor issues like the war in Iraq (as did millions of other f-tards) and 2) that Paris would benefit enormously from tax policies of a McCain administration, and would certainly be more likely to frequent to circles of a multimillionaire heiress and the son of successive generations of navy admirals...

It's not that difficult, but I suppose such obvious points are verboten in the breathless media.

Its already happening:

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080731/ap_on_el_pr/obama

What the heck does Obama mean by "I don't look like all the other people on a dollar bill"? Not wearing a wig? Not old? No-he means he's not white. He should have just said that.

LBJ's Brain is a chickenshit who has blocked replies.