WASHINGTON, 22 April 2008 — In this year’s contest for the Democratic presidential nomination, Barack Obama has been taken to school by Hillary Clinton and the Republican right wing. The New York senator and her GOP allies are giving him lessons in politics’ dark side. Whether he’s learning anything remains to be seen.
Consider what Hillary & Co. have taught thus far:
Lesson One: The enemy of my enemy is my friend.
In 1960, Hubert Humphrey visited Howard University during his campaign in the D.C. Democratic primary. He was also running against John F. Kennedy in the West Virginia primary, where the Massachusetts senator’s Catholicism was being assailed.
I asked Humphrey how he felt about the attacks against Kennedy’s faith. Humphrey, not missing a beat, said that although he was seeking victory, he didn’t want to win with anti-Catholic votes. To Humphrey, an enemy of his friend was his enemy, too. Not so with today’s Clinton-conservative lash-up.
Republican presidential nominee, John McCain; far-right-wingers Pat Buchanan and Rush Limbaugh; and the conservative talking heads on Fox TV and Hillary have a common enemy: Obama. Their allegiance to the goal of bringing him down makes them compatriots.
To discredit Obama, Hillary plugs McCain’s commander-in-chief qualifications.
She and McCain, working from similar talking points, do a tag-team number on Obama, labeling the Democratic Party front-runner “out of touch” and “elitist.”
Meanwhile, Bill Clinton turns up on Limbaugh’s show on the day of the Texas primary (he was interviewed by a guest host) to plug his wife’s candidacy to Limbaugh’s vast conservative audience. The Clinton-right-wing friendship is one of the most arresting developments of the campaign.
Lesson Two: Resort to McCarthyism.
Discredit your opponent by associating him or her with someone who is strongly disliked or deemed disreputable.
Lesson Three: Getting too big for your britches is costly.
Frederick Douglass, former slave, abolitionist and human rights champion, could have told Obama that there would be days like this. It’s one thing to have a great speaking voice and a commanding presence, as did Douglass — and, likewise, Obama. It’s quite another matter to think you have something important to say. Worse yet, to tell yourself you can be a leader, not just a loyal spear carrier. Douglass found that out. In his autobiography, “Life and Times of Frederick Douglass,” Douglass talked about his early days as an escaped slave in the North. The Massachusetts Anti-Slavery Society assigned him to travel through part of the state with a white society member to sign up subscribers to the Anti-Slavery Standard and the Liberator.
“I was generally introduced as a ‘chattel,’ — a ‘thing’ — a piece of Southern property — the chairman assuring the audience that it could speak.”
Because of his speech and demeanor, Douglass said, people said “I did not talk like a slave, look like a slave, nor act like a slave.”
He had to prove he once was chattel, and he was discouraged from stepping up and out of his place.
Remember, young folks, there’s a price to be paid for appearing uppity.
It could even cost you the presidency.
