It has been a popular Republican tactic to cause fear in the American public in order to get them to do or believe something. 9/11 was used against us to bully the country in to war and the fallout from that -- terror color levels, wire-tapping, use of torture techniques in interrogations, a constant McCarthy-esque witch hunt of anyone who mentioned they had any issues with America or the status quo -- has caused Americans to consistently live in fear of...well, nearly everything. Including each other. I'm scared to think how many folks stand in fear at the airport when they see that they just happen to be getting on the same airplane as a human being of Arab decent.

And yet, these have frequently been the tactics of the neo-cons to herd the American people around like sheep and get them to rally behind a war waged on people who never attacked us.

These same tactics are also used to win elections.

I read this interesting op-ed in the NY Times about the Push to 'Otherize' Obama (http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/21/opinion/21kristof.html?scp=1&sq=otherize%20obama&st=cse). The Republicans, specifically the McCain/Palin ticket, do not have a record or reputation to run on. They don't have any reasons for voters to run TO them, so instead they have to make voters run FROM Obama. And they're using the same fear tactics that have worked for the previous administration.

Now, at first, I thought the American people were beginning to get hip to this kind of thing. After all, Bush's approval ratings are in the toilet and people are pretty much in agreement that the war in Iraq is a wash.

But recently, I am reminded that I should never underestimate the stupidity of the American people.

By their own admission, the McCain campaign decided last week to turn up the smear tactics against Obama. Since their platform won't get them elected, and frankly they are losing their asses in the polls, they have decided to instead convince American voters of the idea that Obama SHOULDN'T be President, rather than McCain SHOULD. Now, of course, Obama has to respond, so he is not guiltless in this, but our hope is that this will only serve to turn off undecided voters to the McCain/Palin ticket, who the NY Times just said is running one of the dirtiest campaigns they can remember. That is our hope.

My new FEAR, however, is this... that these tactics are actually working too well.

What do I mean by that?

Well, there is an interesting passage in that same NY Times article (http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/08/opinion/08wed1.html?_r=2&ref=opinion&pagewanted=print&oref=slogin&oref=slogin) condemning the McCain campaign's mudslinging that scares the shit out of me. The article refers to one of Palin's rallies in which she is trying to characterize Obama as a terrorist sympathizer...

Her demagoguery has elicited some frightening, intolerable responses. A recent Washington Post report said at a rally in Florida this week a man yelled "kill him!" as Ms. Palin delivered that line and others shouted epithets at an African-American member of a TV crew.

Really? "Kill him!"? I don't care if you want to argue with me about the issues. I don't care if you don't like Democrats. I don't care if you are a Palin-loving Republican. But what I absolutely CANNOT tolerate is racism and threats of assassination!

Now who's to blame? Is this the fault of the American people, who still have deep seeded hatred for "other". Or is it the role models they have had in government positions? In this case, I can't help but blame the McCain/Palin ticket. Not only did their campaign managers admit that these were going to be the tactics employed moving forward, but they have consistently modeled behavior that comes across as intolerant and ignorant (should I bring up the "that one" quote from last night's debate?).

The racism and threats from this crowd are a big part of what I'm now afraid of, but back during the primaries there was another point of view expressed by a couple of my friends. One of whom was African-American. The general consensus from these friends was that they were afraid to vote for Obama because they thought he would be assassinated....

If Obama wins, and is assassinated, it will be, in my opinion, the darkest day in American history. Darker than the Kennedy assassination, darker than this depression we're headed into, darker than -- dare I say it? -- 9/11. Because it will mean that the people of the United States of America have squandered their chance to turn a corner in history. They will have squandered their chance for a future where the United States are viewed as that "shining beacon on a hill", and not as the bullies of the world. They will have squandered their chance for a future in which we use greener sources of energy so that our planet can survive for a few more hundred years. They will have squandered their chance to show to their children that a country built on the backs of slaves, can become civilized enough to choose a man to lead us who wouldn't have been able to even VOTE less than 50 years ago.

But we can't be afraid... otherwise the terrorists McCain will win. We can't let these unfounded, grossly exaggerated, and sometimes downright made-up attacks against Obama change what we believe. We have to believe that we can be better. We have to believe in a new era without fear tactics, without Cheney, without Bush, without their policies...



We have to hope.

Tags: obama

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