Racial Issues and playing the "race-card"
A standard Obama comment about Republican attacks, combined with a McCain ad regarding Britney Spears and Paris Hilton, has brought race to the fore for the first time in this general election.

During Obama's primary battle against Sen. Hillary Clinton, we wrote: "When race becomes more important, Obama suffers. To the extent Obama looks like 'the black candidate,' he has slim support outside his two bases of black voters and white hard-core liberals." To some extent, that is true today. Obama made a mistake by bringing up race.
The maxim that race is a loser for Obama, however, is less true in the general election than it was in the primary, where "electability" was a chief reason for Democrats to worry about Obama's race. Before the Iowa caucuses, many supporters of Clinton or John Edwards argued that Obama's skin color made him unelectable.
Obama's recent comments-that Republicans would attack him on the grounds that "he doesn't look like all those other presidents on the dollar bills," was an echo of an earlier charge that GOP attacks boil down to "and did I mention he's black?" It's important to note both of these jabs were made before white audiences. This suggests Obama is trying to stoke white guilt. (The alternative-that he is trying to stoke black resentment-is simply not believable, given Obama's track record.)
The main effect of Obama's accusing his rivals of planning race-based attacks against him is to make critics wary of harshly criticizing him. This is part of his strategy of creating the rules of debate: It is off-limits as the "old politics" of division to talk about abortion, the continued terrorist threat, Obama's record, or his inexperience. The "did I mention he's black?" slur is the second half of this strategy: Label all character critiques as racial, in the hope of preserving the pristine reformer image he has crafted for himself.
McCain's campaign hit back hard, accusing Obama of "playing the race card." This forced Obama's campaign to implausibly deny that he was accusing McCain of attacking him on racial grounds. The Obama campaign's immediate tack to the defensive, however, shows their understanding that a front-page discussion of race is a loser for them. Obama's campaign would benefit from discussing race only among supporters and off the record with the media, but on a broader scale-in a very white country with many voters still wary of a black president-talking about race still hurts Obama.
McCain's ad comparing Obama to pop stars Britney Spears and Paris Hilton was juvenile and petty in itself, but it could accomplish its goals. The message of the ad was that, like these celebrities, Obama is famous more for being famous than for any accomplishments or skills. The reaction by liberal writers and bloggers, sniffing out racism and anti-miscegenation innuendo in the ads was ridiculous and self-defeating. If Obama's backers continue to cry "racism," it will hurt Obama more than it will silence his critics.
While Obama may have success with his broader strategy of setting down the "rules" for the campaign-the campaigns may only talk about Iraq, the economy, and George Bush-this attempt to blend all character criticisms with racial attacks was heavy handed, and it backfired on Obama.

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