Tricky Dick Cheney Plays the Race(-ism) Card Again

Question:
Apparently Tricky Dick Cheney has gone on national TV (Sean Hannity, of course) and brought back the Rev. Jeremiah Wright into the campaign discussion:

http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/[…]/

I thought Obama had dispensed with this issue a few weeks ago with his famous speech (which was recently praised by Colin Powell):

http://www.nytimes.com/[…]/11campaign.html

So what could possibly be going on here?

I have a theory. Cheney didn't actually comment on Obama's position at all. He only commented on Wright. So, this isn't about Obama's policies or positions. It's about playing to subconscious fear.

Cheney left the dots unconnected (to be connected reflexively by the viewer), because if he had connected them explicitly the ugliness would have been too grotesque even for Fox programming. Here's how Cheney's message (indeed, the message to be expected from the Republican campaign both above and under the radar, both inside and outside the McBush campaign per se) goes:

Wright is an inflammatory black man, speaking about radical empowerment for African-Americans. He has all of the characteristics that invoke latent (and not so latent) fear and loathing in many American white people, even in many people who otherwise might be quite progressive, and especially certain kinds of biconceptuals that are so important in this election (and in particular in the pending Pennsylvania primary). White people know that whites enslaved blacks in America from before the Union itself, and we failed to deal with this immoral policy until the Civil War (and that was engaged primarily on the basis of "preserving the union" and only later got around to emancipation as a direct mission). Whites know that blacks feel violated and abused by this, and all of the lasting socio-economic and cultural ramifications, and that there is a general sense that "justice has not yet been done to right the wrongs" even now. They fear that, if blacks were to gain political power, they would punish whites, especially whites that still view blacks with fear and condescension.

Once you recognize the Wright is a "black man to be feared" in the reactionary sense above, you immediately associate him with Obama (because of the personal/religious connection, because of the events of last month, and most of all because Obama is a black man himself). All of those emotional reflexes come to bear on Obama without Cheney having to utter a word directly about Obama (except the "dealt with it, or didn't deal with it" which further cements the association in the mind).

So even those people who would otherwise agree with Obama on most policy, and feel that he is honorable, authentic, and genuinely cares about the nation as a whole (especially the disenfranchised among us) might still feel uncomfortable about voting for him. Partly because their gut is contradicting their rational mind, and partly because they feel that others' guts would be doing the same thing, and thus they distrust others to support Obama even if they personally might do so.

In short, Cheney is saying: "He's a black man! Fear him! He will punish you for slavery! You don't want to take orders from a black man! They are beneath you!"

When brought into explicit light like this, it seems preposterous and absurd. No one could possibly say anything like that outright and escape broad public outrage and condemnation. But this is what Cheney wants you to do for him, so he doesn't have to do it himself. And if you let him, you might just do that.

As Tricky Dick Nixon liked to say, "make no mistake about it" this is a Dirty Trick. And not one that is secret behind closed doors or in the dead of night. It is out there in the plain daylight for all to see, if they can just get past the misdirection in the implied framing.

This is all about Racism, plain and simple. Cheney himself may not be a bigot personally (he seems to get on well enough with Condoleeza Rice, and I'm sure he loves his lesbian daughter), but he (and the Republican party, you can be sure) is certainly betting that there is enough racial bigotry still at large in America that he can point the the way and let the people walk there themselves.

He is like a hooker appealing to a man's baser desires instead of inspiring us to activate our more noble human potentials. His seduction toward activating our racist underbelly is cynical, morally demeaning, manipulative and debases our entire society.

This is the legacy of Lee Atwater and Karl Rove, and if our country is to heal itself and finally rid itself of the demons that still haunt us, we must purge ourselves of this disease and reject it once and for all.

And god help us if the Clinton campaign embraces any such tactics itself. There is no more surefire way to shoot ourselves in the foot. After all, the Republicans will most certainly try similar tactics on Clinton, replacing race with gender. The Democrats absolutely must not stoop to these depths in the primary campaign. This is what separates progressives from conservatives, and we must not let this critical distinction evaporate.

It is the foundation of progressive moral weight, and thus it is critical for this election and all others moving forward.