More from the Not-So-Straight-Talk-Express

During my midday news headline check I came across this headline from MSNBC that made me laugh: "McCain: Racism will barely affect election."

Of course racism will not affect the election very much **end of sarcasm** - which is why it was made into such a big deal. For those Republicans out there who will shout at me otherwise: watch videos of the mobs screaming that there is no difference between Barack Obama and Osama bin Laden. Notice how half-heartedly the McCain camp counters these cries. Now try to convince the rest of us that the candidates themselves did not contribute to the racist frenzy in this election and that it will not affect the outcome. You can't.

Perhaps McCain should have been more specific. Racism against blacks did not play a large role in his election campaign. That kind of racism is sadly reliant with a small percentage of Americans. The GOP did not need to play on that racist aspect, as that small percentage will categorically not vote for somebody black.

Aside from that, "classic" racism against blacks has become something of a political taboo and, if mentioned out loud, is most likely a political suicide mission. The majority of Americans are no longer afraid of black people, per se. This fear has been replaced with an irrational fear of anything Arabic by association. Note how important it is to McCain's campaign to link Obama to terrorism - unfortunately viewed as an Arabic prerogative in the current, collective American conscience. Hence racism, in that sense, plays a central role in the GOP's campaign.

It is apparent that McCain's statement is really the GOP stepping back from the milk they helped to spill, so that it does not question the legitimacy of their potential election victory.

What I think Americans need to ask themselves as election day nears is whether they want a President who has platitudinal experience but has been divisive from the start, or a President who has very atypical qualifications but fought as inclusively as possible.

(bottom image from perrspectives.com)