The deck is stacked against voters who hoped the race for the White House would not devolve into a race about race.
The latest racial flare-up was triggered by comments Barack Obama made during a campaign stop in Missouri.
John McCain accused Obama of playing the race card when he said “he doesn't look like all those other presidents on the dollar bills.” McCain told CNN’s John King:
I'm sorry to say that it is. It's legitimate. And there's no place in this campaign for that. There's no place for it and we shouldn't be doing it.
McCain’s campaign manager, Rick Davis, likewise said:
Barack Obama has played the race card, and he played it from the bottom of the deck. It's divisive, negative, shameful and wrong.
Sadly, the promised “respectful campaign” is now stuck on race. As the New York Times noted:
The McCain campaign’s accusation that Senator Barack Obama is “playing the race card” brings the race issue out in the open while allowing the McCain team to say it has not made the first move — a strategy we saw to some degree in the Democratic primaries.
Whether that works or not, this will mark the day that race officially became an issue in the 2008 general election.
The race card is on the table and up both candidates’ sleeve. So, it’s time to crank up Etta James’ “Stacked Deck.” As Etta reminds us, “If you’re going to play cards, baby, you know, you got to deal sometime.”
