McCain victory - a triumph for racism, sign and symptom of America's decline

Great article that shows what could happen and why if McCain wins.

Consider this - what gives?

"With the Bush legacy of reckless war and economic mismanagement, 2008 is a year that favors the generic Democratic candidate over the generic Republican one. Yet Barack Obama, with every natural and structural advantage in the presidential race, is running only neck-and-neck against John McCain... Obama has built a crack political operation, raised record sums, and inspired millions with his eloquence and vision. McCain has struggled with a fractious campaign team, lacks clarity and discipline, and remains a stranger to charisma."

Prejudice usually comes coded in distortions about Obama and his background. To the willfully ignorant, he is a secret Muslim married to a black-power radical. So, with what group is Obama weak and why? Older white voters - for the obvious reason: his race. Here's the evidence in a NY Times Poll:

• 27% say too much has been made of the problems facing black people


• 24% say the country isn't ready to elect a black president.


• 26% of whites say they have been victims of discrimination.

A I've said many times before, the ramifications of a McCain presidency are devastating, not only for the US, but for the world.

What if Obama wins?

"We would finally be able to see our legacy of slavery, segregation, and racism in the rearview mirror. Our kids would grow up thinking of prejudice as a nonfactor in their lives. The rest of the world would embrace a less fearful and more open post-post-9/11 America."

What if McCain wins?

"McCain represents a Cold War style of nationalism that doesn't get the shift from geopolitics to geoeconomics, the centrality of soft power in a multipolar world, or the transformative nature of digital technology. .... At this hinge moment in human history, McCain's approach to our gravest problems is hawkish denial. ... He wants to deal with the global energy crisis by drilling and our debt crisis by cutting taxes, and he responds to security challenges from Georgia to Iran with Bush-like belligerence and pique."

Obama's policy prescriptions are serious attempts to deal with the biggest issues we face: a failing health care system, oil dependency, income stagnation, and climate change. To the rest of the world, a rejection of the promise he represents wouldn't just be an odd choice by the United States. It would be taken for what it would be: sign and symptom of a nation's historical decline.

No, Obama won't do too well in the slave states... and his race will hurt him particularly among redneck older whites... the same group we can thank for the last 8 years of this disastrous chapter in American history. Could it happen again? Perhaps, only in America.