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Obama's the Only One Playing the Race Card

McCain's scrupulous eschewing of racial issue hasn't halted accusations

By Rob Quinn,  Newser Staff

Posted Oct 17, 2008 9:47 AM CDT

(Newser) – Barack Obama's campaign has been unjustly accusing John McCain of appealing to racial prejudice, Charles Krauthammer argues in the Washington Post. McCain is taking the flak for what a few "agitated yahoos" shout at his rallies, he writes—a guilt by association that Obama seems to have escaped despite his ties to controversial figures such as the Rev. Jeremiah Wright.

The insinuations are all the worse because McCain has avoided using race even when it could have been justified, as with Wright, Krauthammer writes. Moreover, Obama has wielded race as a weapon himself, by declaring that McCain was attempting to frighten voters by saying his rival "doesn't look like all those other presidents." Krauthammer calls this “an extraordinary rhetorical feat, and a dishonorable one."

Barack Obama speaks during an outdoor campaign stop at Mack's Apples in Londonderry, NH, Thursday, Oct. 16, 2008.
Barack Obama speaks during an outdoor campaign stop at Mack's Apples in Londonderry, NH, Thursday, Oct. 16, 2008.   (AP Photo/Jim Cole)
Barack Obama gestures as he addresses supporters at a community event in Londonderry, NH, Thursday, Oct. 16, 2008.
Barack Obama gestures as he addresses supporters at a community event in Londonderry, NH, Thursday, Oct. 16, 2008.   (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)
John McCain reacts to the crowd at a rally in Downingtown, Pa., Thursday, Oct. 16, 2008.
John McCain reacts to the crowd at a rally in Downingtown, Pa., Thursday, Oct. 16, 2008.   (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)
John McCain and his wife, Cindy shake hands with their supporters as they leave the Virginia Beach Convention Center in Virginia Beach, Va., Monday, Oct. 13, 2008, after attending a campaign rally.
John McCain and his wife, Cindy shake hands with their supporters as they leave the Virginia Beach Convention Center in Virginia Beach, Va., Monday, Oct. 13, 2008, after attending a campaign rally.   (AP Photo/Gary C. Knapp)
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Barack Obama repudiates comments by his former pastor, the Rev. Jeremiah Wright.   (AtheistMinistry)

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The search for McCain's racial offenses is untiring and often unhinged. - Charles Krauthammer

What makes this all the more dismaying is that it comes from Barack Obama, who has consistently presented himself as a healer, a man of a new generation above and beyond race. - Charles Krauthammer

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