With two weeks left in the election, race is once again popping up in the campaigns. While the McCain campaign itself has done a good job of trying to avoid the race aspect of the campaign, his supporters as well as the supporters of the Obama campaign keep finding ways of injecting the hot topic into the conversation. The latest guilty parties include Colin Powell, Rush Limbaugh, Alcee Hastings, John Murtha, and Michelle Obama herself.

Colin Powell made his most anticipated declaration of endorsement this past Sunday on Meet The Press. After months of playing coy with the media, it was expected that he would throw his support behind Barack Obama, even though he is a member of the Republican Party. When asked if the endorsement would be a sign of racial favoritism, Powell said:

I can’t deny that it will be a historic event when an African-American becomes president. And should that happen, all Americans should be proud — not just African-American, but all Americans — that we have reached this point in our national history where such a thing could happen. It would also not only electrify the country, but electrify the world.

This comment drew criticism from talk radio personality Rush Limbaugh. While he is not a big supporter of John McCain, he is a conservative and highly critical of Obama. After listening to Powell’s endorsement of Obama, Limbaugh drafted an e-mail asking:

Secretary Powell says his endorsement is not about race. OK, fine. I am now researching his past endorsements to see if I can find all the inexperienced, very liberal, white candidates he has endorsed. I’ll let you know what I come up with.

While Limbaugh’s comment isn’t racist, it does inject racism. Powell carefully crafted his endorsement to justify his endorsement without discussing race, discussing how Obama is the best candidate that can lead the nation during hard times while avoiding how much they differ on political ideology. Catching this, Limbaugh called Powell on his omission. His challenge stirred controversy across the wed and in the news, but not as much as John Murtha.

Growing more and more controversial over the past few years, Murtha made a statement that not only insulted his own constituents in Pennsylvania, but also turned race as an issue against Obama. In discussing why he believes some in his state won’t vote for Obama, Murtha stated:

There is no question that western Pennsylvania is a racist area.

This isn’t the first time that a high-profile supporter of Obama has accused people of being racists since they fail to support Obama. In many areas of Western Pennsylvania, Bush carried the districts by more than 20%, even though he lost the state overall in 2004 by just 2%. With current polls showing Obama leading in the state by 8-15%, it is curious as to why Murtha might make this comment so close to the election.

Similar to the case of “closet racism” that Murtha is implying, the concept of the Bradley effect has also arisen lately. The Bradley effect is the hypothesis for the discrepancy between opinion polls showing a black candidate leading but loses the election to a white candidate. Even though there are numerous examples of white candidates leading in opinion polls losing in the end, those instances are ignored when someone wants to accuse the voting public of harboring racial views towards black candidates.

Alcee Hastings has a view on race for those in Western Pennsylvania (and the rest of the country) as well. Addressing a crowd of Jewish Democrats, Hastings noted:

If Sarah Palin isn’t enough of a reason for you to get over whatever your problem is with Barack Obama, then you damn well had better pay attention. Anybody toting guns and stripping moose don’t care too much about what they do with Jews and blacks. So, you just think this through.

Maybe Mr. Hastings and Murtha missed the news coverage on the negative backlash Obama received by the general public when an audio recording of him stating how people cling to their guns and religion a few months back. It is difficult to say, but it does expose how racism can exist in any form, and is a concept that is not limited to any particular party or race. Racism can even come from an unlikely source.

In a report being denied by the Obama campaign, Michelle Obama is reported to have a heated conversation with the African Press International. This can be a potentially damning account if verified. According to API, Michelle Obama stated:

African Press International is supposed to support Africans and African-American view. It is strange that API has chosen to support the racists against my husband. There is no shame in being adopted by a stepfather. All dirt has been thrown onto my husband’s face and yet he loves this country. My husband and I know that there is no law that will stop him from becoming the president, just because some American white racists are bringing up the issue of my husband’s adoption by his stepfather. The important thing here is where my husband’s heart is at the moment. I can tell the American people that my husband loves this country and his adoption never changed his love for this country. He was born in Hawaii, yes, and that gives him all the right to be an American citizen even though he was adopted by a foreigner.

Even if the exchange isn’t confirmed, the accusation that “white racists” are somehow thwarting Obama’s chances for victory echoes those similar to the ones we addressed earlier. While there will definitely be some of those that will not vote for Obama simply because he is not white (he is bi-racial), there will also be those that vote for him simply because he is “black.” The Obama campaign itself noted how they could win in the state of Georgia through black pride.

While I wish we were long passed the old concept of racism in our country, it is hard not to see evidence of it in our society, and this election is just bringing it to the surface. It is not Obama’s fault that he isn’t white just as it isn’t McCain’s fault that he isn’t a minority, so their “qualifications” for office should not be skin deep. Democrats and Republicans, whites and non-whites alike need to learn to get passed the color of someone’s skin and focus on the aspects that really do matter. A victory or defeat by Obama will not change the mindsets of those with prejudices, but hopefully the nation will learn to be more tolerant from this election.

Related articles:
The New York Times – “Racial Issues Return to the Campaign”
CNN – “Florida congressman points to Palin to rally Jews to Obama”
Hartford Courant – “Thank you, Colin Powell”
Talking Points Memo – “Will McCain man up and repudiate Rush Limbaugh’s racist smear of General Powell?”
Los Angeles Times – “Colin Powell endorses Obama, breaks ranks with the GOP”
The Politico – “Powell endorses Obama”
Yahoo News – “Murtha: Western Pa. ‘racist’ but Obama should win”
World Net Daily – “Report: Michelle Obama calls Corsi ‘evil’”

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