The Presidential campaign is being compared metaphorically to a card game, poker I would assume but there are lots of cards being played so it isn't a simple game of Five Card Stud: it's more like unlimited card draw. The candidates get to pick up cards and throw down cards at will, whatever suits their hand at any point in the game. This method of playing poker would result in chaos which is perhaps a good description of the way election campaigns swirl so unpredictably.
It might be simpler if each candidate could only draw five good cards to play in the election. Their opponent could only talk about the cards they and their opponent were playing. It would greatly simplify the game and it would tell us all a lot more about what they really think is important to hold in their hand.
Each player at this point in the election is holding cards that they would like to hold and others that they would like to discard.
John McCain is playing with cards of old age, health issues, White, prisoner of war, war hero, veteran, old sage, Weak Grasp of Economics, Senator, young trophy wife, Republican, Conservative, Not-Conservative-Enough, Drilling for Oil, For War in Iraq, and so on.
Barack Obama also has a set of cards including youth, inexperience, vitality, African American, Senator, young whippersnapper, Against War in Iraq, Democrat, Liberal, Too-Liberal, Pro-Tax-On-Wealthy, Popularity, Attorney, Social Issues, Unknown Grasp of Economics, Outspoken Wife, Young Family, and so on.
Now, my idea of having each candidate play a political game of Five Card Stud isn't going to happen. The American political and election systems are set up to play the game of unlimited card draw, so the cards each candidate chooses to display and the cards they make us think they want to hold change constantly. Sometimes one of the candidates will even hint that the other guy wants to play a card that perhaps their opponent really wishes wasn't even in their hand. Some cards can't be thrown down.
The race card is just such a card. Neither candidate can throw away their race card but neither can afford to play it either. It could turn a winning hand into a losing hand so they must instead point to the other guy's race card as if they themselves aren't holding one that matters. But the public knows each player holds a race card. And everyone knows which race card each candidate holds, it is simply bad form to talk about it.
The question is whether the American public cares more about the race card than it does about all the other cards. The real question is whether the American public in general is past racism to the point that behind the curtain of the voting booth they will vote based on the cards that really matter, or only on that one.
I wonder if the American public appreciates the wasted effort and the muddied waters that playing the race card card represents. I would prefer to hear about the important cards in each candidate's hand. For me the race card is an "Ace" of the past, a joker. For me it simply isn't meaningful in today's game. The question is whether the race card, like the Joker, is a card which has lost its potency over time.
Since television became fundamental to a successful presidential campaign, a candidates appearance and skill in handinling the media has been vital to the success of a presidential campaign. I wonder if Americans can look beyond Black and White or if the race card still has some power, I wonder if it will yet trump the hands of both players. Perhaps somewhere deep inside John McCain's deepest personal presidential ambitions he hopes it is so, perhaps he hopes that behind the curtain Americans will still vote based on his card and against Barack's card.
Recently John McCain's campaign began to play the ultimate bluff by playing the race card. In doing so, he's betting everything on the race card being his winning card. In doing so, his campaign is openly courting behind the voting curtain racism. Perhaps Barack is fearful of that potentially hidden racism, the kind that smiles at a fund raiser but tells jokes about race behind iron gates over cocktails at The Club.
I do not see an upside to Barack playing his race card outside the Black community. If behind the curtain racism is real, then his card hurts him. If most of America is truly past voting on race, then they would be indignant at him suggesting they weren't. Since there is no upside for Obama, the only play is the cynical bluff by McCain that could take the pot or leave him broke. Frankly, I think it's time for the race card to go the way of the Joker. It's time to discard the old power card and take all the chips.
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