McCain has a broken sense of humor

When Barack Obama humorously notes that he doesn't look like previous presidents on our currency, in a serious warning not to let his being black be used as a divisive campaign issue, the McCain campaign fiercely denounces it as making race a campaign issue.

When the McCain campaign impugns Obama's popularity with comparisons to celebrities or mocks Obama's supporters with religious comparisons to Moses, McCain says it is just humor, just having a little good natured but still respectful "fun"...

Seems McCain's sense of humor is as broken as his common sense. First, it would be absurd for Obama to make race an issue. Further, the comment would have passed with no media fanfare or much notice at all, at least until the McCain campaign made a big deal out of it. So who is really making race a campaign issue? The fact is, Obama is just stating the obvious, while McCain is trying to make it divisive.

Obama is black. He will likely be our first black president. He doesn't look like previous presidents - BECAUSE HE IS BLACK! Deal with it. This is an unavoidable topic. It isn't "playing the race card"; it is just one way he is different from previous presidents. Being different can be good, can be bad, can be irrelevant, can be pertinent, and it can be comforting or scary, all depending on your perspective. Being black is part of who Obama is. McCain claims to want to deal with this the same way he deals with homosexuality in the military (don't ask, don't tell). This may be comfortable, but it is also dysfunctional.

Barack Obama routinely is asked by the press, by various interest groups, and by supporters (by seemingly everyone it seems) about issues of race and culture and religion. These are lines that are routinely used to categorize and analyze voters. These are also lines that have been exploited in campaigns to divide people and create fear that can be exploited for political gain (thanks Karl Rove). Obama does a great, thoughtful and sensitive job of addressing these serious, previously ineffable issues. His message is consistently one of mutual respect, understanding and unity.

I would, just once, love to see John McCain address the same questions that are routinely hurled at Barack Obama. But McCain seems to believe that race should be unmentionable. Could it be that McCain just doesn't have any compelling thoughts or messages on the subject? Or perhaps, having hired the same strategist Bush used in 2004, and the same man that smeared his own daughter in the 2000 primaries, McCain plans to use race as a divisive campaign issue. Or maybe he just thinks we shouldn't talk about it, for fear we might recognize our commonality and unite for a change!