Who played the race card?

If you’ve been following the mainstream media over the past few days, you’ve certainly learned that Obama played the wrong hand in the ’08 Presidential Poker Tourney — the race card. How dare he flout the color of his skin or insinuate that the Right are fear mongering racists? Obama has got some nerve, right?

One problem. The wingnuts and the McCain campaign played the race card a long time ago. In fact, the comments that produced so much anger and disappointment from the McCain campaign turned out to be Obama’s irrefutable analysis of the Right’s tactics against the senator from Illinois. Obama said that McCain couldn’t win on the issues so had to resort to negative politics of fear. The Right, Obama said, would claim “he doesn’t look like all those other presidents on the dollar bills.”

While surely this alludes to the color of his skin, Obama’s race card only becomes an offense if what he claims is untrue. Here is a McCain campaign ad from June. Note the imagery:

Looks like the McCain camp came up with the idea of Barrack on our currency long before Obama. More significantly, McCain surrogates have been playing the “race card” right in front of the nominee’s eyes, this one from back in May:

And who can forget the Fox News fear campaign, ostensibly the royal flush of race cards:

Sadly, in the past week “journalists” have suffered another bout of amnesia and failed to call the McCain camp and its many surrogates on its BS. As long as mainstream journalists fail to present the truth, McCain benefits.

McCain vs. Obama On the Issues: Income Tax

What will the Republican attack mantras be in 2008? Let’s take a look at the top contendors:

• Obama is a closet Muslim extremist. Only if you open trashy chain e-mail. 
• Obama is far less patriotic than POW McCain.  We’ll probably hear this one from every angle, Michelle Obama not excluded.   
• But my 100% cashback guarantee: Obama will raise your taxes so high you can say goodbye to everything from vaction to kitty’s haircuts!!! 

This is almost the only thing, and I mean only thing, the wingnuts and their hapless followers seem to believe when it comes to the economy and their democratic rivals.  Fact and truth (you know, those annoying caveats that get in the way of GOP triumph) need not apply in the timeless, delusional tax chant. 

So what is the truth in 2008? Let’s take a look at Income Tax savings if McCain’s and Obama’s plans were to be fully implemented, provided here in dazzling chart form (numbers based on average ’08 return):

Income	McCain Avg. tax bill	Obama Avg. tax bill	Difference   (O-McC)
Over $2.9M	-$269,364	+$701,885	+$971,249
$603K and up	-$45,361	+$115,974	+$161,335
$227K-$603K	-$7,871	+$12	+$7,883
$161K-$227K	-$4,380	-$2,789	+$1,591
$112K-$161K	-$2,614	-$2,204	$410
$66K-$112K	-$1,009	-$1,290	-$281
$38K-$66K	-$319	-$1,042	-$723
$19K-$38K	-$113	-$892	-$779
Under $19K	-$19	-$567	-$548

(Source: Tax Policy Center)

So if you are flippin rich and have an annual income over $112k, McCain is your guy.  But if you are like me and most Americans:

We can see that if you make less than $112,000 a year, then you will pay less in taxes under Obama’s policies compared to McCain’s. According to the IRS, 89% of Americans report less than $100,000 in adjusted gross income (2005). —-  dailykos and ARing2B

So when a misguided friend, colleague or random McCain supporter tries to tell you Obama will raise your taxes, this response should work for 90% of you:  “You are SO not telling the TRUTH.  Here, take a look at this chart.” (Unfold printout of above chart from back pocket, show misguided counterpart, and watch their eyes as they attempt to rebutt or revert to other false GOP talking point).       

By rolling back Bush’s tax cuts to the wealthiest, Obama has room to give America’s masses a little help.  Rest assured, the hardworking wealthy will still be wealthy, but the hardworking rest of us will have a little more cash to dump into our ailing economy.   

Don’t forget to take a look at last week’s Civil Right’s Issue Brief. 

Even if you think you’re right, arm yourself with knowledge.  You might help someone else come to the light. 

 

McCain Backs Bush’s Illegal Wire Tapping

Despite earlier claims that Bush did not have executive privilege to wiretap Americans without warrant, Sen. McCain expressed his support of the unconstitutional FISA legislation that is getting Bush and the boys into trouble as of late. From the New York Times, McCain stated in a recent letter:

[H]earings purportedly designed to ‘get to the bottom of things’ have already occurred; and neither the Administration nor the telecoms need apologize for actions that most people, except for the ACLU and the trial lawyers, understand were Constitutional and appropriate in the wake of the attacks on September 11, 2001.

This is a huge opening of attack for Obama. For years, FISA allowed Bush to and the DOJ to spy on all of us without warrant. This Spring, the Democrats let provisions of the bill expire, despite Bush’s fear campaign to get it renewed.

McCain seems to be linking hands with Bush, evading his Maverick persona once again to support another unpatriotic, unconstitutional Bush position. That wasn’t always the case with McCain. From ThinkProgress.org:

In December, McCain, when asked if he would authorize illegal wiretapping, said the President should not disobey “any law“:

McCAIN: There are some areas where the statutes don’t apply, such as in the surveillance of overseas communications. Where they do apply, however, I think that presidents have the obligation to obey and enforce laws that are passed by Congress and signed into law by the president, no matter what the situation is.

Q: Okay, so is that a no, in other words, federal statute trumps inherent power in that case, warrantless surveillance?

McCAIN: I don’t think the president has the right to disobey any law.

McSame

How friends do we point out John McCain’s flat hypocrisy when he tries to distance himself from George W. Bush?  Dig through his voting record is one easy answer.

McCain voted in accordance with President Bush’s views 95 percent of the time in the Senate last year. 

Or better yet. Let John McCain (2002-2007) refute John McCain (2008).  I have a feeling the GOP will regret that darned You Tube program more than ever after this campaign. From Democrats.org:

McCain Wants More Debates

From Politico.com:

John McCain will use the first day of the general election to propose additional debates or joint forums beyond the three sanctioned for this fall, according to a McCain source.

Granted McCain is a much better debater than stump speaker, anyone who witnessed the juxtaposition of last night’s speeches knows why this seems an outrageously dangerous proposition for the Arizona Senator. Tired ramblings or inspiring oratory — which will carry weight in November? When head-to-head against Obama at the podium, McCain will unequivocally come across as the confused, grumpy elder statesmen that he is. For his sake, he should want to stay far away from the Illinois senator, just as he seeks to flee far from the least popular president perhaps ever, George W. Bush.

Check out his speech from the New Orleans area last night. If he wants to debate Obama more than the standard three national events, by all means.

Of course oratory and eloquence should not be the measuring stick for the presidency, but Obama has his opponent beat on policy initiatives, as well. It should be a debate the GOP is certainly not looking forward to.

Waking Up To History

Barrack Obama secured the Democratic nomination last night. Besides a few disillusioned Hillary fanatics, we knew the Illinois senator’s victory was inevitable for some time. But that does not diminish the historic accomplishment. Whether you plan on voting for him or not, I hope you concede that much at least. And what an incredible, symbolic triumph it was for our democracy: The first person of African descent nominated for the world’s preeminent position of influence and power in a country settled upon the genocide of indigenous populations, built on the back of African slavery, and controlled for its first two-plus centuries by Anglo men in a culture plagued (and is yet still) with the poison of racism.

Yes, with an administration insistent on inundating the nation with anti-Muslim fear mongering, a man named Barrack Hussein Obama stands on the verge of the nation’s highest office.

Let that sink in.

But do not bask for too long. There is work to do and much to explore, research and debate. I believe Obama is a figure the country cannot pass up. I have a feeling the world will be rooting for us to get it right this time. From Nairobi to San Salvador, people will look to America and see something perhaps more clearly than we do now: Something is changing in the U.S.A.

While his platform is still more moderate than I’d like, Obama possesses the wisdom and tools necessary to shift the center of America’s ideological philosophy in a way that transcends public opinion to produce meaningful progressive legislation. (I’ll write more on what this means at a later time.)

While my confidence in Obama is sincere, I am resolute in my belief that John McCain and four more years of failed neoconservative policies would be disastrous for this country. (They’ll be a lot more on this too!)

Looking at the face of the new Democratic nominee signals clearly that we have come a long way. That much is for certain. But I say his victory is symbolic because it does not yet reflect an America washed free of bigotry, systemic prejudice and injustice for people of color, the gay community, the Native American community (they are still around you know), people in poverty and children without health insurance and an adequate education.

We have work to do. Conservative complacency, unchecked capitalism, needless, immoral war, and individualist mentalities will not fix any one of the above problems. Let us use Election 2008 as an opportunity to illustrate what a progressive platform might look like and the possibilities of seeing real change in the near future.

This summer and fall, check out The Shifting Center frequently for news, essays, historical reflections, issue briefs, and more as we gear up for the historic 2008 Election.