The Herald
June 27, 2008 02:08 pm
—
Here are some thoughts from a guy who is truly concerned that we have big-time scumbags living in our area.
I’m talking about the racist idiot who planted a sign about presidential candidate Barack Obama in the Brookfield town center recently. The sign referred to Obama’s attempt to become the first African-American president as a “conquest for the planet of the apes.”
The sign, removed by police and destroyed, also had a drawing of a monkey and called television personality Oprah Winfrey an “ape” as well.
It’s hard to believe that in the 21st century there are still such bigoted degenerates out there. Unfortunately, there are. Lots of them.
For some reason, however, it has become racist to refer to blacks as apes.
The person who made the sign isn’t smart enough to realize it, but all humans evolved from ape-like creatures. Some people, like the moron that planted the sign, just haven’t evolved beyond the intelligence level of Neanderthals.
In a way, this is the kind of thing Obama is going to face in his run for the White House. Race will be a huge factor in this election.
Currently Obama is leading in polls over John McCain, but polls don’t always tell the truth. Some people will lie, just so they don’t seem bigoted. On top of that, many people won’t turn out to vote in the election.
It’s a sad commentary on society, but I know of people who have said they wouldn’t vote for an African-American or a woman.
One of the biggest swings for Obama will be the middle-aged white woman vote, as former backers of Hillary begin to push Obama for president. Some people say that many of these women won’t vote for Obama because he beat out their candidate.
That in itself is denigrating to women. People who think like that don’t give women much credit as being able to vote on issues rather than personalities. And even though Obama beat their candidate for the Democratic nomination, women have to realize that over the years the Republican Party certainly has been no friend of theirs.
Racial issues can swing an election, without a doubt. For example, it seemed like the Obama campaign wasn’t sure whether to feature the fact that he had a black father and a white mother. Just recently, after he apparently won the Democratic nomination, was the first time I can remember an ad pointing out that he was raised by his white mother and grandparents.
The ad stresses that he was raised on their midwestern values.
But the best thing about this election is that the Republican Party has to be careful in how it will play the race card. Both sides are walking a fine line. Offending people because of race would destroy any hope McCain might have.
I can’t wait until Don Imus comes out backing McCain!
The Herald’s Lynn Saternow writes this column each Saturday for the Opinion page.
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Lynn Saternow The Herald