The NY Times has opened its first salvo on what they see as an inevitable matchup between Barack Obama and Mitt Romney in the general election. Saying that Mitt Romney is the "whitest candidate" in the GOP primary, Lee Seigel attempts to make the tired liberal argument that Romney's success thus far is due to his ability to appeal, more than his opponents, to those racist Tea Partiers. What would the response have been if they had written that middle America liberals were attracted to Obama because he was light-skinned enough not to scare them off from say, a James Clyburn, who is much darker skinned.
This is what this election is going to be like, no matter who the GOP nominee is. Both the media and the Obama campaign are going to play the race card, the class warfare card, and any other card to smear his GOP opponent. Obama will not try to run on policy, or his record. That's a losing strategy. His only route is to deflect from his failures by running a campaign of personal destruction. He's done it in pretty much all of his campaigns, except McCain, who ran such an inept race that that tactic wasn't needed.
The media will gladly help him in this, and the Times has fired the first of what will be numerous race-card salvos.
What’s Race Got to Do With It?
By LEE SIEGEL
Mitt Romney may not have officially clinched the Republican nomination, but his victory has never really been in doubt. Nor has his viability in November: the most fanatical Tea Partiers are not about to withhold their votes and risk allowing President Obama to be re-elected.
Pundits have already begun the endless debate over whether Mr. Romney’s wealth and religion are hindrances or assets. But there has yet to be any discussion over the one quality that has subtly fueled his candidacy thus far and could well put him over the top in the fall: his race. The simple, impolitely stated fact is that Mitt Romney is the whitest white man to run for president in recent memory (My emphasis).
Read More at The New York Times
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