If Obama wins, the attack begins
By Max
J. Castro Read Spanish Version
majcastro@gmail.com
Barack
Obama has bested Hillary Clinton in eleven contests and seems poised
to deliver a knockout punch in either the Texas or Ohio primaries on
March 4, both of which Clinton must win.
Hillary,
sensing that she must do something dramatic to reverse the tide,
looks increasingly like a boxer punching wildly in the last round,
resorting to both anger and sarcasm in less than 24 hours. “Shame
on you, Barack Obama,” Senator Clinton exclaimed at a campaign
event. It sounded like a desperate tactic that is unlikely to work.
Meanwhile
the Republicans are sharpening their knives in anticipation of a
McCain-Obama contest. The lines of attack against Obama are already
clear. The GOP above-ground assault, in contrast to Hillary
Clinton’s, attacks which centered on experience, will focus on
ideology. Conservative pundits have already brought out their talking
points and are hammering away with them. Obama “has the most
liberal voting record in the U.S. Senate.” “Obama is more liberal
than Ted Kennedy.” “He has a leftist agenda, outside the
mainstream.” This will be the overt line of attack, irrespective
of the fact that the political spectrum in the United States has
shifted so far to the right that being the most liberal senator does
not mean what it once did.
If
Obama wins the nomination, the general charge of extreme leftist
tendencies will be flashed out with chapter and verse, the record
will be distorted, and isolated votes will be singled out as examples
of ideological extremism. Foreign policy stances and statements will
be trotted out as proof that Obama is soft on everything that
threatens the country, from Cuba to Islamic terrorism. His stance in
favor of a speedy withdrawal from Iraq will be interpreted as
surrender and a move that will destabilize the Middle East. It will
be the politics of fear once again, the Republican specialty, and
with a vengeance.
And
that will be the clean part of the campaign. Under the surface, the
smear campaign is already underway. Blogs and internet sites spread
lies which some believe it. “Do you want a president named Barack
Hussein Obama,” asked a young blonde woman sitting at the bar of a
Uno’s Pizza Restaurant in Northern Virginia. “He is a Muslim.”
The woman cannot be persuaded that Obama really is a Christian, never
mind trying the argument that it should not matter if he were a
Muslim. Then the Big Lie comes. “Have you heard of the Trojan
Horse?” In her version Obama is an Islamic infiltrator out to
subvert the United States.
Obama’s
campaign has inspired idealism and is deliberately aimed at bringing
out the American people’s better angels. Ironically, however, if
Obama is nominated, the contest also will bring out the worst
instincts of a sector of the population, including racism and a toxic
mix of right-wing ideology domestically, foreign policy
neoconservatism, and sheer prejudice. It is already happening. An
American expatriate in Costa Rica: “I won’t vote for that sand
nigger.” An elderly white man in Pompano Beach, Florida: “I don’t
know who is going to win but I know I can’t vote for a woman and I
can’t vote for a black.”
The
day after a hypothetical Obama win, the United States and the
American people will look very different to people all over the
world. A victory for McCain, on the other hand, who for all his
maverick views on immigration, taxes, and global warming is an Iraq
and foreign policy hawk, would represent a reaffirmation of Bush’s
arrogant foreign policy and, for much of global public opinion,
confirmation that the United States is beyond redemption. An
Obama-McCain race would provide a stark choice between two Americas.
