Playing All the Cards
One thing that always puzzled me about Hillary supporters was their propensity to claim that “whenever” they criticized Obama in any way, they were subjected to cries of racism. The thing is, I never saw any of that. (If anyone knows of an example, please point me to it.) Now, if there was some kind of criticism from the Clinton camp that was racially charged, then sure–like when Bill Clinton suggested that Obama’s campaign in South carolina was just like Jesse Jackson’s, for example, or when a Clinton pushed a photo of Obama in Somali garb–items which emphasized race without any real substance backing them. Perhaps the Clinton supporters simply denied to themselves that the Clinton actions were racially charged, and so felt that the Obama camp accusations were an unjust playing of the race card.
So perhaps I am missing what the Obama camp is doing to deserve this criticism:
In a comment sent out by the Arizona Republican’s aides, adviser Carly Fiorina said she was “appalled by the Obama campaign’s attempts to belittle Governor Sarah Palin’s experience. The facts are that Sarah Palin has made more executive decisions as a Mayor and Governor than Barack Obama has made in his life. Because of Hillary Clinton’s historic run for the Presidency and the treatment she received, American women are more highly tuned than ever to recognize and decry sexism in all its forms. They will not tolerate sexist treatment of Governor Palin.”
Unless I’m mistaken, they are simply taking a charge of inexperience–well-deserved at that–and calling it sexist on the idea that of course Palin in eminently qualified to be vice president and therefore president–so the only explanation must be that Obama is denying her experience only because she’s a woman. Um, yeah, right, because nobody could possibly believe that Palin isn’t just oozing presidential authority.
I think we can pretty solidly say that the McCain camp is now officially playing the gender card–and are trying to use it as a shield against any criticism, despite there not being any sexism involved. Not a surprise, as the McCain campaign has tried the same thing–with a great deal of success–with McCain’s POW past. So now any criticism made against their VP choice will be given the “you can’t criticize her because she’s a woman” charge.
Is it my imagination, or is everyone in this election except Obama throwing up some sacred-cow personal attribute–gender, POW status–as a way to deflect genuine and deserved criticism?
One thing that always puzzled me about Hillary supporters was their propensity to claim that “whenever” they criticized Obama in any way, they were subjected to cries of racism. The thing is, I never saw any of that. (If anyone knows of an example, please point me to it.)
Bill Clinton’s “fairy tale” comment. Technically speaking, the idea that was racist was an absurd race card play in and of itself. He wasn’t saying Obama’s candidacy was a fairly tale. He was talking about the idea that his not being in the Senate during the Iraq vote was evidence that he didn’t vote for it.
Obama himself didn’t play the card, but much of his supporters did. And Firorina’s
comments piss me off as much now as it did then, and for the same reason. Criticizing people for their public achievements (or lack thereof) and their political activities is not a comment on their race, gender, or any other biological charatcteristics.
Belittle? It is little. You can’t belittle something that is already little.
The fundies are trying to be-large Palin’s experience. That takes fabrication. There’s nothing belittling about that.
Steve: Right on that one–Clinton’s remarks were nowhere near racist, but Al Sharpton took offense, either as a knowing tactic or as an unknowing reaction to an out-of-context quote (that Obama’s campaign, and not his claims about the Iraq war, were a fairy tale). The Sharpton claim then got blown up in the media.
But, as you point out, Obama’s camp never made the claim, and Googling it, the majority of hits either area about saying how it’s not racist, or touch on the “fairy take” remark while focusing mostly on the Jesse Jackson remark or other elements that did touch on race.
But there was a cry on that, and I did see it, but dismissed it at the time as a silly side show and forgot it. I still hold that that event doesn’t even come close to qualifying the rather common Hillary-supporter claim about every criticism they made being called ‘racist.’
The current McCain claims also still stand apart because it’s not some fringe supporter, but the campaign and its chief surrogates making the claim about sexism here.