Allen Iverson as Model for Political Attack Ad

I don't think this ad is totally racially motivated at all. The ad seems to portray Barack Obama as a self-centered attention seeker, which is totally untrue. If it's anyone seeking attention, then it's John McCain and his campaign. The ad seems to link a (so called) self-centered attention seeking Barack Obama with that of most American sports figures, white or black. The ad is tasteless, a similarity to that of the John McCain campaign.

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So McCain is comparing Obama to AI who is a potential hall of famer, regarded as one of the toughest players in the NBA, and culturally has changed the game more than anyone since Jordan. Seems fair to me.

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You believe New York magazine? WOW....Your Time Warner bosses are very happy I'm sure..I'm sure a raise is not too far off..Maybe your own Chris Matthews type Obama love fest..Woulnt that be something..I'm sure you are all a tingle

the unfair American perception that the league is full of thugs.

Yea I mean its not like its true or anything..I mean really

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I didn't read the NYM piece, but I agree with you and the unnamed savant. The race issue is an extremely delicate one, and the McCain campaign has to be very careful about reminding people that Obama is African-American. They can't even really use code words, so they'll have to resort to visual signifiers like showing him playing basketball and juxtaposing his image with young, sexually available white women like Paris Hilton and Britney Spears. As we get closer to the election, expect them to get more explicit as they get more desperate.

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Some people need to get back to reality. The only one using the race card is Obama. He used it against Hillary and now he's using it against McCain. He tries to claim that anyone who attacks his credibility, is really attacking his race.
The intent of the ad was merely to show that Obama is all style and no substance. He has the time to go to a gym (where there are cameras) but cancels a visit to wounded American troops, austensibly because he didn't have the time (but in reality, because no cameras were allowed at the hospital).

And as for personal bravery, here's the first paragraph of an AOL news item:

"Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama is backing away from a challenge by Republican rival John McCain to hold a series of town hall meetings, agreeing to only three debates in the fall. Obama advisers say the Illinois senator doesn't want to take any chances or give his opponent a high-profile platform now that he's ahead in the polls."
Do you know what kind of sound a chicken makes? "Braack, Braack, Braack."

So don't compare him with Allen Iverson. My guess is that Iverson would show up at the town hall meetings regardless of the possible consequences.

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I notice you didn't include any examples of Obama's playing the race card. Unlike what your pals in the White House and Fox News think, just saying something doesn't make it the truth.

And AI might go to a town hall meeting, but he wouldn't foul an opponent to put him on the line with 10 seconds left and the Nuggets up by 1. That doesn't have anything to do with personal bravery; that's basketball 101. And Obama's not debating McCain when he's ahead likewise doesn't have anything to do with personal bravery; that's politics 101.

The chicken thing is funny, though - I'm sure you came up with it, right?

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The funny part about that ad is the footage they used was of him getting ready to shoot a 3...... during a visit with US troops.

God I hate dishonest political attack ads from BOTH sides.

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So let me get this straight. It's o.k. to show a white guy shooting hoops, but it's not o.k. to show a black guy doing that, because the public will assume that the black guy is a thug, as opposed to a class act like Tim Duncan, Kevin Garnett, Derek Fisher, and hundreds of other professional basketball players. Sorry, but people who think stuff like that, need to get back on their meds.

I didn't cite examples of the use of the race card because the racism charges as to Hillary and Bill were on the news (even CNN) almost every night for about two months, so I felt that anybody who wasn't living under a rock would know what I was talking about. However, for you rock dwellers:
"Sen. Barack Obama's presidential campaign has prepared a detailed memo listing various instances in which it perceived Sen. Hillary Clinton's campaign to have deliberately played the race card in the Democratic primary."
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/01/12/obama-camps-memo-on-clin_n_81205.html

And as to politics 101, I thought Obama was about change and doing things in a less partisan manner. I guess he's just another flip-flopping political hack.

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Martin, no mention of the fact that the gym Obama "makes time for" in the ad was full of US troops stationed overseas in Kuwait? That all those people cheering were members of the United States Military? That all those young, predominantly black people in matching shirts eagerly gathering around him for pictures and handshakes were US servicemen and women? It's also worth mentioning that he has visited Walter Reed hospital, and other US military hospitals, multiple times, and that his voting record on veteran's issues is rated far more positively by nonpartisan veteran's groups than his opponent's.

And honestly? If you want to be taken seriously, you should try to come up with some new phrasing. That way you can at least pretend to have a new idea, even as you recite the same kind of rumors and outright lies said about every single Democratic presidential candidate since the demise of the Dixiecrats. The only thing new is that, this time, you and your ilk can feel free to bleat about this illusory "race card" that always seems to appear whenever someone on your side says or does something stupid about black people.

And, yet...I feel like I'm kind of shouting into the abyss here. If you're still parotting the talking points word-for-word by this point, I think you're pretty much lost to reason.

To be more on topic, race in sports, and racial issues in sports, are at the same time interesting and depressing. Allen Iverson is a primary example of the entire issue, though I think to a lesser extent as he's aged. I do feel it's a valid concern on the writer's part - many white people still feel like basketball is a sport for black people, and the "thug" image is unfortunately and inextricably tied to that. And, yes, Republican 527s (if not the McCain campaign itself) do want to push that Obama is "different", "unsafe", "foreign", and, yes, plays basketball. However, I think AI is a bit of an extreme example to use in this case. After all, the entire collective ad campaign isn't intended to give a specific picture - just a general impression of unease, which is in large part directly tied to race.

What it comes down to, I think, is that sports have had their problems with race. But at least it's not gotten to the point where seeing racism has become more of an offense than being racist.

"Race card".

Christ.

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Oops. Sorry. That should have been about three paragraphs shorter.

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And not to pile on here, but to answer your first question - which goes back to my original point - yes, showing a black man playing basketball means something different than showing a white man playing basketball, especially in a political ad if that man is a candidate: you are underscoring his blackness. You are reminding the viewer that he is black by showing him engaging in an activity stereotypically associated with black men. That's why, as the original post said, the McCain campaign didn't show him playing golf or relaxing on the beach.

And skipping a debate has nothing to do with partisan politics; it's just common strategy - if you're in front, you have nothing to gain by doing a debate, regardless of your party affiliation.

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