There are plenty of valid ways to express a negatiive opinion about Obama. There are also plenty of complaints which have strong racial undertones. To deny that the issue of racism is
very present in this campaign is to be ignorant of the facts. It hasn't been reported much - partly because the Obama campaign doesn't want to draw too much attention to the issue - but there have been many instances of racist vandalism and hate speech directed at campaign headquarters and volunteers. I've also seen it firsthand, in an area where I wouldn't necessarily expect it (Chicago suburbs, congressional district that voted for Kerry in '04): the democratic headquarters where I've been volunteering lately (not for Obama, but for the area's congressional campaign) was vandalized with "nigger" written on the windows. It's worth mentioning that not only does the office have Obama signs in the windows, but the Democratic congressional candidate for the area is also of mixed ethnicity. The racism is very real, and it's very present...most people have just learned to express such opinions in other ways (
). The funny thing about racism is that someone who is racist, pretty much by definition, is incapable of recognizing that fact. That's how you get people who say things like "I'm not racist or anything, I just can't vote for a black man." Uh...yes...yes, you are racist. Most people have learned to have a
little more tact with their racism though, so instead there's the focus on his name, rumors about how he's Muslim, or when that doesn't work there's always the "look at the scary black man!" approach.
Pan, those "criticisms"
are racist. If you want to criticize Obama, talk about his voting record, or talk about his policy proposals, or even talk about something to do with his personality. Personality traits are certainly fair game - I think Clinton is a terrible loser and incapable of admitting defeat, and that's not something I want in a president. Some people think Obama is arrogant - I disagree, and I happen to think McCain's ego far surpasses that of Clinton and Obama combined, but if you want to talk about why you feel Obama is arrogant and therefore don't think he'd make a good president, that's fine. But no amount of feigning innocence after talking about "Barack
Hussein Obama" can change that there's no reason to bring up his middle name unless you're trying to emphasize something.
Similarly, there are plenty of valid ways to criticize Clinton, and plenty of sexist ways to do so. As for McCain, I don't think it's ageist to express concern over his age, considering he'd be the oldest first term president ever elected, but I also don't think there's much to be concerned about there so that line of criticism is a waste of time.
Most importantly, it's not the Obama camp which cries racism every time someone criticizes him - they're doing everything they can to keep race out of the picture, even when it means playing down the numerous acts of racist violence the campaign has experienced. Instead, it's Clinton who claims it's sexist - demonstrating that she doesn't own a dictionary - that some people think she should withdraw. People aren't saying she should withdraw because she's a woman (
that would be sexist); people are saying she should withdraw because she
lost (at least by the metric most every previous presidential candidate has used to decide when to withdraw). I've been working with a number of Clinton supporters in my area's Congressional campaign, and they understand this...one has to wonder, why doesn't she?