Oh my. A million thanks.

Bulletin from Cedar Rapids,Iowa, July 31 -- Sen. John McCain's campaign accused Sen. Barack Obama of playing the "race card" on Thursday, a day after the Democrat said his opponent and other Republicans would try to scare voters by pointing to Obama's "funny name" and the fact that "he doesn't look like all those other presidents on those dollar bills".

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To quote Ronald Reagan --- "There you go again". Of course they are -- playing the "race-card". "They" meaning Barack Obama and his campaign team. They started with it very successfully (from their perspective) in South Carolina against Hillary Clinton. Since it worked for them then, they thought why not bring it up again.

From RealClearPolitics.com this morning (8/2/2008) we see the RCP National Average of all major polls still languishing for Mr. Obama at a slim + 2.6 points over John McCain. Before Mr. Obama’s triumphant whirlwind tour overseas, including Iraq where he shot some hoops including a three pointer (all net) before a packed gym of soldiers, the RCP National Average was approximately + 6.0. Mr. Obama feels he had to do something to get his Polls numbers back up again.

It won’t work this time. The voters nationwide are weary of all this “race-baiting”. We are worried about jobs, jobs being lost all over this country, putting food on our kitchen table, people losing health care insurance, finishing up in Iraq, etc. etc. For Mr. Obama to bring up the race card again shows he feels desperate, and he wants to change the subject to something that worked for him before. Well this time the American people will not fall for it.

I am reposting the following outstanding article which ran earlier this year. It was appropriate then, it is appropriate now.

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Bill Maxwell's status as one of the country's preeminent black journalists is unquestioned. Mr. Maxwell writes a twice-weekly column for the St. Petersburg Times, and is syndicated by the New York Times News Service and by Scripps-Howard. His columns appear in 200 newspapers worldwide.

Bill Maxwell, "Obama's Dangerous Halo", Scripps Howard News Service, February 27, 2008.

From the article: Quotation: "There are those who suggest, only half-jokingly, that Obamamania has become something of a cult. Of course it is a cult, manifesting what writer James Wolcott refers to as "salvational fervor" and "pure euphoria." Listen to what the Anointed One said in South Carolina at one of his rallies, which he alludes to as tent revivals: "At some point in the evening, a light is going to shine down and you will have an epiphany and you'll say, 'I have to vote for Barack!' Something insidious is happening beneath this rapture. Because of the halo effect, too many people are afraid to sincerely criticize Obama for fear of being attacked and otherwise humiliated. Many white Democrats who do not support Obama are keeping their heads down and their mouths shut. They do not want to be denounced as racists for preferring Hillary Rodham Clinton for reasons that have nothing to do with race".

Continuing in the article; "Even the networks' late night talk-show hosts and MSNBC's prime-time troika of Chris Matthews, Keith Olbermann and Dan Abrams are swooning for Obama. Predictably, the people most negatively affected by Obamamania are blacks who have resisted the new, emerging black monolith by supporting Clinton. These poor souls are being excoriated by other blacks and sometimes labeled as self-loathing Uncle Toms. The irony is that at the beginning of the campaign, conventional wisdom held that Obama was "not black enough." He had to prove his black bona fides. After all, his mother was a white Kansan, his father a Kenyan. He was born too late for the civil rights movement. Now the tables have turned, with the overwhelming majority of blacks zealously supporting him. That support is the new litmus test for being "authentically" black."

"The attacks against ordinary blacks who do not support the Haloed One are nasty enough, but they pale in comparison to the abuse being absorbed by famous blacks, especially members of the Congressional Black Caucus. Many decent, hardworking blacks who have done exemplary public work for a generation are portrayed as villains". End of Quotation.

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Mr. Obama, obviously wanted to bring up the race card again. I suppose that is the only thing he has to say in an attempt to jack up his campaign.

Well, the Voters aren’t going to buy it.

maureen odowell says domini is far too earnest, while you on the other hand, you it seems are far too single mindedly dishonest. For as far as your prescient powers as an in touch with the world political pundit all go, your powers of insightful observation and prognostication, were always obviously bald facedly biased, awkward, and slow. I'm sorry you don't belive in Obama's new Caliphate for change, with sadly all its usual attendant anxieties, and usual few flashes of fear, but I've been offered a new job to become Obama's new future palace grand vizir.

I meant to scribble odonnell, so just call me a damn fool, and my favorite 'o of all, is the always excellant peter 'o toole.

Making references or jokes about yourself isn't playing any kind of "card". If Obama jokes about saving money on sunscreen on the campaign trail, or Clinton jokes that she spends more time putting make-up on in the morning, that's not "Playing the (race/gender) card". That's just talking about themselves. Not every reference to race/gender is inappropriate. The cards are played when a candidate accuses their opponent of being sexist in order to use their race/gender as a weapon against their opponent. I can't think of one instance where Clinton implied that Obama was a sexist and therefore you should vote for her. I can think of specific instances where Obama claimed that people needed to support him because his opponents would try to denigrate him because of his race.

What protected bubble do you live in? Has nobody used the race tactic perchance with an eye to a win?