Here we go again. Just when you thought the "race card" had already been played to death "from the bottom of the deck" in this year's election cycle, the Palin/McCain ticket issues this latest bit of racial politricks as usual.
Barack Obama's foes sought to sully the Democratic presidential nominee on Thursday by alleging in a new television ad that he takes advice from former Fannie Mae executive Franklin Raines.Here's the ad[1], watch carefully for the okey doke. There will be a pop quiz afterward.
"Obama has no background in economics. Who advises him? The Post says it's Franklin Raines, for 'advice on mortgage and housing policy.'"
"Shocking," continues the ad's narrator. "Under Raines, Fannie Mae committed 'extensive financial fraud.' Raines made millions. Fannie Mae collapsed. Taxpayers? Stuck with the bill."
An hour after the McCain ad was released to the press, the Obama campaign pushed back with a statement from Raines himself.
"I am not an advisor to Barack Obama, nor have I provided his campaign with advice on housing or economic matters," said Raines in a statement released by Obama's campaign.
The McCain charge stems from a July 16, 2008 story in The Washington Post in which Raines is described as having "taken calls from Barack Obama's presidential campaign seeking his advice on mortgage and housing policy matters."
The Obama campaign says that it is now seeking a correction from the Washington Post but it will not say whether it sought a correction back in July before McCain made Raines an issue in the campaign.
You gotta love the GOP. Barry's regained the lead in the polls (even Karl Rove's), and has been hammering McCain all week on his lack of an even remote understanding of economic policy. If you've read this site for any time, you know what John McCain's idea of economic stimulus is. The first person to say it you-know-where gets a weekend's supply of Cyber CapriSuns.
I mean seriously, of all the folks they could have chosen to pair Obama with, they just had to choose a former black CEO. Don't get it twisted, I'm not about to stick up for Franklin Raines. Reality is, dude ran Fannie Mae into the ground and walked away with a multimillion dollar golden parachute. He once made history as the first brother to run a Fortune 500 company. I see him and his George Jefferson-lookin' a$$ sitting in the Nicholson seats at nearly every Wizards game, and all I can think about is how he screwed the next deserving brotha or sister trying to become CEO out of their shot. Ditto for Dick Parsons and Stan O'Neal, and KMart's Aylwin Lewis. There ain't many CEO's of color left, unless you wanna count the washed-up rapper/fake label exec variety.
All those things aside, this ad is pure propaganda, and I'll go right ahead and say it: that sh*t is racist!
Talk about a Grand Hu$tle.
Seriously, Raines is not a campaign advisor. He isn't a major contributor to Obama's campaign. He didn't bankroll Obama's run for Senate. He is probably nothing more than a guy Barry sees at cocktail parties.
So why, out of all the disgraced former execs that Barry's associated with, would they choose Raines of all people? Sure, there's the Fannie Mae connection, but most importantly, Raines is black.
Watch the ad closely, and notice the odd juxtaposition of two smiling elitist, arugula lovin' black men, the captions of Raines' incompetence, and finally, the fleeting image of a poorly, sickly old white woman, whom these Negroes presumably tricked into signing a predatory loan that's now landed her in a homeless shelter.
That, my friends, is some bullsh*t! Especially considering the fact that McCain has 83 former or current Wall Street lobbyists, including many who've worked on behalf of Fannie and Freddie Mac, as campaign advisers and bundlers. Pot, meet old rusty kettle.
I'd seriously like someone to try and explain this away as anything other than an underhanded racist attack. If the GOP was trying to make the point that Obama's associations highlight his lack of judgement, why not just point to the massive gaffe of fellow disgraced Fannie Mae exec Jim Johnson? Johnson, you'll recall, was appointed to Barry's Veepstakes vetting team before being kicked to the curb for some favorable treatment he got from Countrywide Financial. If you want to draw a correlation of corruption, wouldn't Johnson, who was Fannie Mae's chairman, be a far better culprit, given the fact that he did actually work for the campaign in an official capacity?
One tiny problem: Johnson is white, and a jolly Caucasian dude is far less insulting that two elitist Negroes sneering at your misfortune.
A mere coincidence? I think not.
On an unrelated note, I took French in high school, so I have no idea what this latest Obama ad is saying. Any of my Telemundo-watching regulars care to interpret?
Question: Am I crazy for seeing this ad as an underhanded racist smear? Wouldn't pairing Obama to Johnson make more sense than pairing him with Raines? If you want those CapriSuns, tell AverageNation™ what Cotton Hill's idea of "economic stimulus" is.
'08 Campaigns Target 'Advisors' [ABC News]
[1] New Poppin' Tags Alert!!! I cover so many of these ads, I figured they deserved their own designator.
