News opinion 2008-08-04 Andanh.com

The race card Mon, 4 Aug 2008 11:16:13 -0500
Jesse Jackson must have been forgiven by the Obama campaign and welcomed into its inner circle. Because it sure seems as if he’s giving the campaign advice. Responding to a McCain ad knocking him as a world celebrity, Barack Obama essentially accused the McCain campaign of race-baiting. It was a hair-trigger resort to the charge of racism of the sort that Jackson built a career on, making himself radioactive and anathema to the political center. In 24 hours, Obama had lurched his carefully crafted brand in Jackson’s direction. And for what? The McCain ad intersperses footage of Obama’s massive political rally in Germany with images of Britney Spears and Paris Hilton before asking “is he ready to lead?” It’s rare that a political candidate is criticized for being too popular, but that’s the import of the ad, and its inclusion of Spears and Hilton has been called even by McCain sympathizers “stupid,” “childish” and “juvenile.” But the McCain ad had a serious point, one the Obama campaign obviously felt it couldn’t ignore. Obama can be as arrogant, gassy and remote as other members of the country’s aristocracy of fame. If this celebrity framework is successfully imposed on Obama, the entire repertoire of Obamania - the mass rallies, the soaring eloquence, the picturesque cool of the candidate himself - risks becoming a liability. In a statement Obama repeated three times, he said what George Bush and John McCain are “going to try to do is make you scared of me. You know, he’s not patriotic enough. He’s got a funny name. You know, he doesn’t look like all those other presidents on those dollar bills.” Translation: Bush and McCain are going to go all Bull Connor on me. Neither has done any such thing, of course. McCain has distanced himself from attacks with the remotest hint of racial undertones. When a talk-radio host mentioned Obama’s middle name several times in the course of an introduction of McCain at a rally, McCain roundly denounced him. When the North Carolina Republican Party ran an - entirely aboveboard - ad linking Obama with his longtime pastor Jeremiah Wright, McCain loudly objected. Obama’s charge is a flat-out smear. Afterward, an Obama spokesman implausibly insisted the dollar-bills comment was not about race: “What Barack Obama was talking about was that he didn’t get here after spending decades in Washington.” This is rich. George Washington didn’t serve in Washington either, given that the capital of the country was first New York and then Philadelphia. His path to the presidency went through Trenton, Valley Forge and Yorktown (granted, quite different than Obama’s). As for the other presidents, neither Abraham Lincoln, nor Andrew Jackson, nor U.S. Grant was a Washington time-server prior to winning the White House. Obama clearly was talking about race. He said much the same thing in Berlin: “I don’t look like the Americans who’ve previously spoken in this great city.” Did he merely mean that he has better-fitting suits and a slimmer frame? Obama has apparently been spoiling to throw out the race charge. When he won the North Carolina primary, he said McCain would “play on our fears” and “exploit our differences.” In June, he said Republicans were going to run against him saying: “He’s young and inexperienced, and he’s got a funny name. And did I mention he’s black?” Obama hopes to use the racism card to inhibit all criticism of him, with the presumed cooperation of the press. But there’s a much larger downside. Obama’s race is a political advantage so long as it is sold in a post-racial context. If his background is a symbol of how we can get beyond the poisoned atmosphere of both racism and the hyperactive, opportunistic charges of racism, it’s a boon to his change-and-unity candidacy. That’s why Jesse Jackson expressing a desire to perform emergency surgery on Obama was a priceless assist. Now, Obama could throw it away in a fit of self-destructiveness worthy of ... dare we say it, Britney Spears?

McCain, Obama ad wars continue to heat up Mon, 4 Aug 2008 11:16:14 -0500
What do Paris Hilton and Brittany Spears have in common with offshore oil drilling? All three come together in an odd attack ad from Sen. John McCain’s presidential campaign. The ad from the presumptive Republican nominee charges Sen. Barack Obama, the presumptive Democratic nominee, of being - wait for it - a celebrity! Are you shocked? Did you faint dead away? As attack ads go, this one seems notably inept - at least at first glance. There’s no doomsday voiceover, no sharks-in-the-water music, no grainy slow-motion close-up photos of scary headlines or indicted co-conspirators. Instead, red-carpet shots of the starlets segue into majestic scenes of Obama smiling to cheering crowds. It ends with a predictably distorted description of Obama’s energy policy. In brief: Obama hugs trees, McCain hugs offshore oil rigs. Yet, as attack ads go, this one hardly leaves a mark on Obama’s constantly- uplifted chin. In fact, “if you shut off the sound,” one somewhat bemused GOP pollster told the Los Angeles Times, “almost all the images of Obama are very positive.” Just as it is hard to make an antiwar movie that depicts what soldiers really go through, it is not easy to make an anti-Obama ad that shows Obama in front of cheering crowds. But the ad’s value soon proved itself. By highlighting Paris and Britney, it received millions of dollars worth of free airplay and chatter on cable TV and the celebrity gossip shows and reporters. McCain’s ad people understand TV’s weakness for the spoiled celebrities that audiences love to deplore. Ironically it was not that long ago that McCain was tagged in Republican circles as a star-seeker. He’s hosted Saturday Night Live, acted on “24” and in “The Wedding Crashers” and enjoyed such favorable coverage that NBC’s Chris Matthews, among others, used to call the media McCain’s “base.” And Hollywood folks loved him, too. Hollywood names like Norman Lear, Harrison Ford, Quincy Jones, Berry Gordy and Michael Douglas have to the “maverick” McCain. Now he’s belittling Paris Hilton, the daughter of Rick and Kathleen Hilton, two of McCain’s campaign contributors, according to the Los Angeles Times. Great way to say thanks, Senator. Nowadays McCain looks like a wallflower at the prom while his former adoring media runs off after the new dreamboat. Like most media-driven campaign narratives, it’s overblown. Although McCain received less coverage than Obama in recent weeks, a George Mason University study found that Obama’s coverage tended to include more criticism of him than McCain’s did. The media giveth and we taketh away. Obama was expressing more concern with the media that his opponents pay to put on the air. On the day McCain’s ad rolled out into TV markets in 11 states, Obama said in Missouri that McCain and other Republicans would try to frighten voters by talking about Obama’s “funny name” and the fact that “he doesn’t look like all those other presidents on those dollar bills.” McCain’s campaign manager Rick Davis took umbrage. He accused Sen. Barack Obama of playing the “race card ... from the bottom of the deck,” borrowing a line that us old-timers remember from the O. J. Simpson trials. Times have changed. You used to have to be engaged in actual bigotry to be accused of “playing the race card.” These days you can be acused of racism merely for bringing up the subject of race. Soon a viral idea spread across the blogosphere and talk shows that, in juxtaposing Obama with the two fame queens, the ad delivered subliminally racist messages. Could this, many asked, be a more subtle version of the bimbo ad that undermined Democratic Rep. Harold Ford’s senate campaign in Tennessee? I don’t buy it. Unlike the Ford ads, the McCain ads imply no relationship between Obama and the blondes. Besides, if you want to argue subliminals, this ad might just as easily sway some of the “Leave Britany Alone” crowd to vote for Obama, if they can find their polling places. On another front, Obama had to take time to denounce a new song by the rapper Ludacris, “Politics (Obama is Here).” Besides taking cheap vulgar shots at McCain and Hillary Clinton, the song includes a line that echoes a recent controversial New Yorker cover: We gonna “Paint the White House black,” he raps, “and I’m sure that’s got ’em terrified.” Most terrified is the Obama camp by Ludacris’ subliminal gift to the McCain campaign, as both vie for the support of working-class white Americans who are not all big fans of rap. That’s show biz. It’s not enough to run against your opposition. You also have to keep your suppporters on message.

It's your heritage, and your opportunity Sun, 03 Aug 2008 22:47:00 EST
With more than 14,000 historic sites in the metro area, Louisville is justly proud of its ongoing preservation efforts. Shining examples are the Belle of Louisville, built in 1914 and now America's oldest operating steamboat, and the Peterson-Dumesnil House, built in 1869. It appropriately houses the Louisville Historical League.

Irish Hill plans are discussed Sun, 03 Aug 2008 22:47:00 EST
I must take issue with Mr. Trawick and Mr. McCoy's "Compromise for Developing Irish Hill" in last Monday's Courier-Journal, which places development of land of "greater commercial value and marketability" over the public safety and health of our children, youth, adults and seniors by sacrificing Breslin pool.

C-J and McConnell Sun, 03 Aug 2008 22:48:00 EST
Regarding Phil Gramm and Mitch McConnell: How do they have the audacity to say of the people of the United States, "We've become a nation of whiners"?

Let's start drilling at home Sun, 03 Aug 2008 22:48:00 EST
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi opposes lifting the moratorium on drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge and on the Outer Continental Shelf. She won't even allow it to come to a vote.

Picture imperfect Sun, 03 Aug 2008 22:49:00 EST
While Presidential Obama was traveling overseas last week, having his photo taken in all the right places with all the right people, the McCain campaign machine was back home appearing determined to retain its amateur status.

Tending to the flame Sun, 03 Aug 2008 22:49:00 EST
The recent anniversary of Robert F. Kennedy's death has stirred many memories in this country. I was not yet living in the U.S. at the time, but Europeans of my generation were deeply shaken.

Who does he think he is? Sun, 03 Aug 2008 21:43:00 EST

Gas tax doesn't ease burden on consumers Mon, 04 Aug 2008 09:55 EDT

The Herald-Leader editorial board thinks Kentuckians ought to pay higher gas taxes . and my opponent agrees. I believe differently.

Kentuckians don't want their taxes to increase, especially at a time of record high gas prices.

There's a better way. I have a plan to help solve our energy crisis, bring down the price at the gas pump and reduce our dependence on Middle East oil. The Gas Price Reduction Act can be summed up in four words: find more, use less.

I urge both parties to come together and pass this common-sense legislation. The bill, which has 44 co-sponsors in the Senate, calls for a three-pronged approach: greater energy exploration, technological innovation and more conservation.

Short- and long-term needs addressed by energy plan Mon, 04 Aug 2008 09:56 EDT

I appreciate the Herald-Leader's focus on energy issues and agree that the long-term health of our environment is also at stake.

The .Do More, Talk Less. eight-point energy plan I recently announced is a comprehensive response to a crisis that all Americans are facing right now. It was not a response to an absurd attack on me by my opponent, and it was not meant to be a solution to global climate change, although two planks of the plan are aimed at long-term solutions that would help reduce carbon emissions.

Long-term solutions are critical, but people need immediate relief.

This is a real crisis. The skyrocketing price of gas has led to price increases in other areas. Americans are facing mounting economic pressures already, from the rising cost of health care to the growing credit crunch. Having to pay more for gas and food is leading people deeper into the hole dug for them by Washington politicians. People want action.

Chinese Dir