McCain Campaign Is Divisive

Sen. John McCain, the presumptive Republican nominee for the presidency is making what could be a costly assumption about the American people. It appears McCain is banking on racial prejudice as an issue that will drive a wedge between presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Sen. Barack Obama. This, obviously, is a historic presidential campaign with Obama as the first black candidate on a major party ticket to be this close to the presidency. McCain, clearly, is threatened by the vision of Obama being so close to the finishing line and being this close to possibly winning. Who knows whether or not Obama will win, but the fact that he is has some people feeling more than a touch nervous these days. McCain's only prayer is to appeal to the people of middle America who have fear of a younger black man as president (something that was illustrated numerous times in exit polling data) of the most powerful nation in the world: the United States of America. If so many people were openly willing to discuss their discomfort with a black man as president then how many others are quietly thinking the exact same thing, but felt unwilling to discuss it with pollsters? This is why many conservatives have worked overtime to try and paint Obama and his wife as black radicals, as haters of America, as elitist (McCain and Repbulicans referring to anyone else as elitist would be laughable if it were not so real), as Muslims (to play on post-9/11, xenophobic fears of Muslim people and immigrants of other kinds) and so on and so forth. Don't be fooled. McCain wants race as a central issue in this campaign ... no matter how much he tries to front like he does not want it that way. He wants to look like he is being attacked by extreme and left wing black radicals. He wants to use that as a way to capitalize on the fears of many people in middle America who fear a black president they feel is Muslim or too heavily sympathizes with Muslim ideals and perspectives. This is the politics of fear and division at its worst. Maybe this is the same John McCain who was so outright once upon a time in his opposition of the Dr. Martin Luther King Holiday, who has opposed many civil rights initiatives in Congress, etc.