ugly stuff on the campaign trail

Kevin Merida has stories from Obama volunteers about some of the nasty stuff they have heard on the campaign trail. It is depressing to know that somebody can say about Obama, "He's a half-breed and he's a Muslim. How can you trust that?" And that person was a Clinton volunteer.

Or to read in the newspaper, "Barack Hussein Obama and all of his talk will do nothing for our country. There is so much that people don't know about his upbringing in the Muslim world. His stepfather was a radical Muslim and the ranting of his minister against the white America, you can't convince me that some of that didn't rub off on him. No, I want a president that will salute our flag, and put their hand on the Bible when they take the oath of office." That particular gem, its racist hatred exceeded only by the sheer inaccuracy of his accusations, coming from the mayor of Tunkhannock Borough, a narrow-minded non-entity called Norm Ball.

I just hope that it really is the case that those are the sorts who (the Clinton volunteer excepted) would probably not vote for a Democrat anyway. But I must admit that early in the Democratic primary process, as attractive as I find Barack Obama, that I supported John Edwards. Partly because he looked more committed to working class Americans than Obama or Clinton. And partly because I admit that Obama's race is a wild card.

I fervently hope that Obama is elected. I think he would be a great President. And I think he CAN be elected. But in my more uncertain moments, I fear the party of Rove, Reagan, and Helms will return to the Nixonian strategy of Republican Racism and peel off enough electoral votes to win in the fall.