So for the duration of the campaign, Obama almost entirely avoided discussing race--which was part of his charm. It wasn't that Obama had found a new way to talk about race, or that he had moved beyond race - he just didn't touch it. And this created the perception that we had an African-American candidate running for office unencumbered by the extremely difficult and complex issues of race in America. But with the unfolding of the Pastor Disaster, Obama has been forced to engage on these issues. It turns out, he is no more comfortable speaking about them than the rest of us, and he is just as likely to put his foot in his mouth. Here is the clip, via Powerline, of Obama talking about his "throw grandma under the bus" moment in Tuesday's speech:
Grandma was a "typical white person." Which is to say she was a bigot, but generally decent--as apparently all white people are. The point here isn't that Obama is relying on stereotypes to make his point, though he is, but rather that this would be completely unacceptable rhetoric were it to come from a white candidate. One just can't say that an entire race has a "type." But mere mortals tend to make such generalizations. Obama hasn't said anything particularly egregious here, but neither has he demonstrated some heretofore unknown ability to handle these issues in a way that doesn't sound...common. He isn't very good at talking about race. Despite the swooning among liberals over his race speech, the results are in and his poll numbers have tanked. These issues are too complicated and unpleasant to discuss on the campaign trail without suffering a backlash. If McCain had to talk about race for weeks on end it would be a disaster. But McCain didn't go to sermons every week where the pastor preached "God Damn America" and the "US of KKK." Obama made his bed, now he has to lie in it.