The disturbing realization that for some in politics, the ‘race’ card is all they have left to play

SAN ANTONIO – It’s election time and already it seems that something just don’t seem to change in the political circles. But what is going on between a U.S. Congressman and a former mayor of Chattanooga is something that should be turning everyone’s stomach. Forget about Mark Foley and his penchant for wanting to talk to 16-year-old boys. Forget about Rush Limbaugh once again being clueless and making derogatory remarks to another human being because of a physical ailment or ability. As a matter of fact I’d say that you could pretty much forget about many of the negative ads that you see that are basically misleading in nature. And while most ads for this current ad campaign between Congressman Harold Ford, Jr. and Bob Corker, the former mayor who is running against him for the Senate seat, have been the usual flavor we would expect from political ads, the one in which a Caucasian woman looks into the camera and tells the Congressman to “call me” is the one getting the most flack. What flack is this ad getting? It’s the perception of the ad being racist in nature.

If you are thinking that this is an over reaction to a tasteless political advertisement, join the club. When I discussed this issue during my weekly radio segment in San Antonio, the radio host and I both came to the conclusion that this was more about tasteless tactics and not so much a racial issue. Of course in the span of a fifteen-minute segment, you really cannot get the full jest of anyone’s feelings on such a topic but I do want to expound on it for a moment. What Mr. Crocker’s campaign manager or handlers have allowed was a pervasive advertisement that tore at the core of some still hidden beliefs amongst many Americans. Did his campaign use the race card in this despicable ad? He most definitely did and even with him categorically denouncing it does not remove the affect it had on viewers who saw the piece. Is it offensive? As desensitized as Americans are these days, nothing strikes a cord faster with some individuals as when the race card is just thrown down arbitrarily like it was in this case. Croaker’s PR firm, the same firm that Wal-Mart uses, Crosslink Strategy Group.

If Republicans are thinking that this is a major snafu in an election year that is hotly contested, they couldn’t make a more obvious observation of the ‘obvious’. Terry Nelson, the supposed brilliant mastermind behind the controversial campaign ad, has found himself and his firm in a war that he has now helped form. Instead of Nelson creating an ad that simply challenged Ford’s stances on the issues, he created this menagerie of a mess that included making fun of Canada’s stance on some issues, using a White actress to portray that maybe Congressman Ford met her at a Playboy party, and probably a few other things. Wal-Mart got rid of Crosslink as soon as it became public that the firm was behind the ad but that does not stop Americans from wondering what kind of political party the Republicans are running.

It’s a naïve position to think that the racial tensions in this country have subsided a long time ago. I’m sure that Mayor Croaker wants to debate Congressman Ford strictly on the issues. The easy thing would be for the two men to do just that and for every politician to follow suit. Attack ads, in my opinion, are nothing more than desperate measures by one side to try and sway the voters by using vague references, innuendoes and half-truths. In all honesty I wouldn’t trust any politician if my life depended upon it because they cannot tell the truth. If you think I’m being sarcastic about the issue, think about this for a moment: when was the last time a politician EVER kept his word to his constituency? And now we have a senate race in the South that is mired with racial overtones to boot? Yeah it’s a disturbing trend by the Republicans but it could very easily be the Democrats in this story as the perpetrators of hate towards a man of color or a man of stature.

But it’s just a simple, disturbing realization that if you’re running for office and you need to play catch up, it’s so easy to play the race card in the situation and then handle the fallout later.