Introducing the charge of racism in this campaign is a
dangerous tactic--but it certainly suits the interest of Senator Obama. Nothing
could be calculated to offend black voters more than the idea that one campaign
is appealing to white racism. And nothing, perhaps, is more likely to offend
young liberal voters, especially in college and university towns. That is
precisely what the Obama campaign has been doing, tentatively since before the
primaries began, and with a vengeance since Clinton’s
surprising win in New Hampshire.
It has helped to build and then reinforce its two main pillars of support.
As my original essay shows, the Obama campaign (most
conspicuously national co-chair, Jesse Jackson Jr.) has not been above charging
purely and simply that Hillary
Clinton is a racist. But more often, as my essay also shows, Obama’s
strategists and followers have played what I call the “race-baiter” card--ginning
up false claims that Hillary Clinton and her campaign (as well as Bill Clinton)
have devilishly tried to turn Obama’s color against him and appeal to white
prejudice.
That the press has been unable to see through this ruse--a
brand new deployment of racial paranoia in our national politics--is not
surprising, given that it is so new. But it is surprising that a distinguished
scholar such as Orlando Patterson should so badly misread what I wrote. In any
event, his account completely misrepresents what I have said--and thereby mocks
the really important issues.