First of all let me say that this post was spurred by something I recently read about Clinton supposedly being racist and running racist ads:
http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/3/4... Something has been bothering me for weeks, especially over the past few days with the recent Clinton wins on Tuesday and the race getting even tighter(as if that were possible). First of all, although I would be happy with either candidate as a President, I am an Obama supporter. I've had two of his bumperstickers on the back of my vehicle for weeks now and while I was a supporter of Edwards, I became a full Obama supporter whenever he dropped out of the race.
To my fellow Obama supporters that attack Clinton for running "negative ads" and saying that Obama does not, you are right. Obama does not run negative ads - although he does talk negative about Clinton in some speeches and debates, he does not run "attack ads." Why? He doesn't have to. He has been the one with momentum and a boost over the past few weeks. He also has the media to do plenty of Clinton bashing for him. You know those SNL skits about the debates and the media treatment of Obama vs. their treatment of Clinton? Well they aren't too far from the truth - that's sad.
All of this being said I still support Obama. Now it isn't cool with me that Clinton has run some negative ads, but I realize that is just the nature of politics - especially a tight race like this. However, I'm not willing to accuse Clinton of doing something that she is not just because I don't like something she said or an ad she ran. Yes, it was a negative ad. No, I don't think it was racist. The claim is that the ad made Obama look "Blacker"(as if that is a bad thing), but it didn't make him look blacker. It made the whole image look less colorful and darker. What they did was reduce any color in the video at all, which is something a lot of filmmakers and commercial directors do. I often take away some color(and leave some) in images to give it a more distant, old, aged, and almost like a video of a video effect. Maybe as someone who works with video I am over thinking this or maybe it is just that I have never seen a black person with gray skin before so I don't understand how this ad makes him look "blacker".
What is really the bigger issue here is that if people really think a "racist" ad like that will hurt Obama then maybe they just realize something that I've said before when talking about electability in the general election: Unfortunately that(racism) is something he is going to have to fight in the general and overcome. We can't pretend like there aren't racists in this country(and a lot of them) just like we can't pretend there aren't sexists. There are a lot of people in this country that are racist and they aren't just in the south as some people would like to believe.
I think Obama is the right person who can overcome all of that and become the first black President if the nominee, just like I believe Clinton could do the same and become the first woman President if the nominee. Either way I'm happy with either candidate.
The problem Obama and Clinton have right now for me and a lot of other people is not their positions on issues, their ads, what they say of anything like that. It is the brutal and vicious supporters they have that are so passionate about their candidates that they are willing to throw the other candidate, and even worse - their supporters, under the bus. I'm not saying this is specifically any of you(although there have been some horrible flame wars here lately). I'm saying that is far too many supporters of both candidates that I've come across that stir up crap like this.
I hope I haven't offended anyone by calling out something that has been bothering me and many other people for weeks now. The problem is that neither candidate is "dividing the country" like some people have been saying, but instead some supporters of each candidate are dividing the party.
