Karl Rove: How to defeat a black man and the inelectibility of …

I generally do not comment on American politics, but i found this article in the Wall Street Journal very interesting.

WSJ carried a letter by Karl Rove, the supposedly once brilliant former Bush strategist.

In the letter, he advices McCain and Hillary Clinton how to deal with the loud black kid on the block:

So what must Mr. McCain and Mrs. Clinton do, especially in the seven weeks before Pennsylvania? Both need to focus on Mr. Obama’s biggest weaknesses.

(i) “One is the Illinois senator’s claim to be the new “post-partisan” leader to bring Republicans and Democrats together. ” … ” Mr. Obama has no real record of voting and working across party lines on high profile issues like judges, immigration, intelligence reform, troop funding and energy.”

(ii) “Mr. McCain and Mrs. Clinton also need to continue highlighting Mr. Obama’s lack of experience. Mrs. Clinton’s surrogates and ads effectively hammered him on this. But voters were also encouraged in a subtle way by Mr. Obama himself to take a second look. His inspiring, but nearly substance-free, rhetoric is now raising questions. Sure, his Web site has position papers drafted by academic geeks galore, but voters may ask: “What has he done?”"

You may look at it that Karl is just giving good advice to his fellow Republican, Senator McCain. Perhaps. But what about the advice to Mrs. Clinton who is not a republican, and therefore by all means an “enemy”? Why would he advice the enemy to emerge victorious? Two possibilities:

( i) Clinton is a less harmful enemy ( perhaps because she is white)

(ii) If the Democrats pick Mrs. Clinton over Obama, she is an easier target for McCain to defeat than Obama.

Whatever the reason, this message is meant for the American public. If Rove needed to contact the two senators, why, he would just visit their faceBook profiles and leave a message on their walls! If the “internets” is slow or myspace is too too jammed up, why not just call a Bush ( Snr. or W. ) and ask him to recommend him (Rove) for the job?

There is one sure way of setting America against Obama: Play the fear of black card ( “inexplicable fear”, i must add: There may be historical reasons for black to fear white, but i am always at a loss why it is always the other way round. I have tried to understand this fear, without success. Perhaps it is because i am black, and the fear is a white thing.) . There are those who would oppose (e.g. by moving out ) a black buying a house in their neighborhoods, for fear of property values going “south”. I am sure there are many who feel the same about Obama occupying white house.

But, there is good news. The young and professional America seems mostly color blind, and resonate with Obama’s inspiring messages. It will be very interesting to see how middle America ( 50+ ) deals with the fear of Black.