When GOP Says 'American,' It Really Means 'White'

John McCain’s first post-primary ad declares him “the American president Americans have been waiting for," and the repetition tells all, Harold Meyerson writes in the Washington Post. Forget "strong," or "experienced," he notes. For the GOP, " ‘American’ is a term to be used as a wedge issue, a way to distinguish their more racially and religiously homogeneous party from the historically more polyglot Democrats.”

Never mind that Obama’s story of immigration and racial transcendence is quintessentially American; when Republicans say “American,” they mean “white and Christian,” Meyerson writes. “Should the election turn on the question of ‘What are you going to do for America?’ " he writes, "rather than ‘Are you a real American?’” (More John McCain stories.)