A New Hope?

In last Sunday's New York Times, Frank Rich wrote an apologia for male, white voters entitled, "In defense of white Americans." In it, he asserts that the media, not reality, is the fuel that propels fears of the Bradley Effect redux. He also asserts that race will not play as much of a factor as many expect...or in McPalin's case, hope.

While I hope the preponderance of male, white Americans will put what's right before what's white, I'm neither as confident nor as optimistic as Rich. He seems to think that the McPalin gambit of pandering to racist fears will backfire. I hope so, because the Republicans have bet all their chips on the race card. But what we've seen from republican politics in the Karl Rove era is that fear is the most frequently used arrow in the republican quiver, and they've used it effectively.

With all respect to Frank Rich, I think he is being very naive. Just because they aren't wearing sheets and burning crosses at McPalin rallies, it doesn't mean they have purged the fear and hatred that undermines much of what is good about our society and our democracy (inclusiveness). You don't even have to listen very closely to pick up on the not-so-subtle language of the us/them racist argument. It's Michelle Bachman accusing Obama of being "un-american"; it's Sarah Palin calling red states "real america" and "pro american"; it's Nancy Pfotenhauer calling southern Virginia, the "real Virginia." At every level, republican discourse is built on divisiveness, fear and hatred. I hope I'm wrong, but Frank Rich, I'm afraid, underestimates the power of the dark side.