Aside from Hillary Clinton‘s comfortable win over Barack Obama in Tuesday’s Democratic presidential primary, most of the Sturm und Drang of the week just past was incited by a television spot produced for the North Carolina GOP. The ad makes three points: Obama attended Rev. Jeremiah Wright‘s church for 20 years, Wright said the Almighty should damn America and, because of his apparent comfort with his pastor’s extremism, Obama is “too extreme for North Carolina.” The first two points are matters of undisputed public record. And one need not agree with the third point in order to concede that it is an imminently reasonable assertion, given the moderately conservative political preferences North Carolinians have expressed at the polls in recent decades.
Predictably, however, Obama’s cheerleaders in the mainstream media, the left side of the Blogosphere and political fellow travelers in the Democratic party immediately began blasting the North Carolina ad. Typical was Democratic National Committee chairman Howard Dean who called the ad “racially divisive” and challenged presumptive GOP presidential nominee John McCain to pass this “test of leadership” by forcing the state party to stop airing the ad (which by the way has been viewed more than 200,000 times on YouTube at last count). Amazingly, McCain quickly joined this condescending chorus, demanding that the ad be pulled as “inappropriate” and “offensive to some.” During a Friday conference call with bloggers, McCain added that the ad “is not the tenor of the campaign we want to wage.” And he said the North Carolina GOP is “out of touch with reality.” A McCain campaign spokesman was unable to say what part of the ad conveyed the objectionable tenor.
Indeed, none of the critics point to factual inaccuracies in the ad, so they hide behind a parade of accusatory generalities about tone and tenor. As for Dean’s observation, we look forward to hearing his explanation – delivered, please, without his usual opportunistic bombast – of precisely what in the ad is “racially divisive.” Otherwise, it’s difficult not to conclude that what is really going on here is an attempt by Obama and his sympathizers to put all discussion of his relationship with Wright off-limits by branding it somehow “inappropriate” or vaguely racist. Ditto his relationship with unrepentant Weather Underground terrorist Bill Ayers and Chicago political bagman Tony Resko. For clarity on this point, simply ask yourself how these same people would react if the tables were turned and McCain had sat passively in the pews for 20 years listening to an unreconstructed Southern Baptist bigot in the pulpit damning America for seeking racial equality, accusing the government of inventing AIDS to punish sinners and extolling KKK Imperial Dragon David Duke for defending the superiority and purity of the white race. The double standard at work here is absolutely breath-taking.
