Recent remarks by Virginia Senator George Allen may not have
broken any bones but they surely bruised the tender sensibilities
of some liberal operatives and their media counterparts. His
videotaped comments to S.R. Sidarth, an Indian-American college
student working for his Senate opponent’s campaign, and the
reaction to them just might be an opening volley in the 2008
presidential campaign.
Conventional wisdom has it that Allen’s oral use of the word
“macaca” — the preferred spelling of which has lead to all sorts
of nefarious definitions — adds up to one conclusion: racism.
Typical was a Washington Post
piece by Eugene Robinson which claimed that Allen
“instinctively or subconsciously believed that drawing a line
between his white audience and the darker, foreign-looking Sidarth
was at that moment good politics.”
But this racism-as-a-political-tool theorem seems to operate in
only one direction; to the right. It does not include, for example,
Delaware senator Joseph Biden’s singular way of campaigning for the
Indian vote in New Hampshire last month which was also caught
on
tape and aired on C-SPAN:
In Delaware, the largest growth of population is
Indian-Americans, moving from India. You cannot go to a 7/11 or a
Dunkin’ Donuts unless you have a slight Indian accent. I’m not
joking.
But Hillary Clinton apparently
was joking when, after quoting Mahatma Gandhi at a fundraiser
in Missouri, she cracked unwisely, “He ran a gas station down in
St. Louis.” Mrs. Clinton did apologize and although her comments
were given press coverage, most of the headlines trumpeted only the
apology and failed to scold her for the original joke itself. Not
so when Republicans do the gaffing.
And Allen did commit a blunder, no doubt. But the reason is more
likely political than racial. Were he and his staff having a little
fun at Mr. Sidarth’s expense? Probably. The modern practice of
having an opponent shadowed out on the hustings — one which
Allen’s team also employs — is bound to lead to such scenarios.
Gone are the days when a candidate could relax and rub elbows with
the party faithful unencumbered by vexing video eyes. But were
there racial overtones? Here are his remarks in their entirety:
My friends, we’re going to run this campaign on
positive, constructive ideas. And it’s important that we motivate
and inspire people for something. This fellow here, over here with
the yellow shirt; Macaca or whatever his name is, he’s with my
opponent, he’s following us around everywhere and it’s just great.
We’re going to places all over Virginia and he’s having it on
film. And it’s great to have you here. And you show it to your
opponent because he’s never been there and probably will never
come. So it’s good for you to see what it’s like in the real world,
rather than living inside the beltway. His opponent actually right
now is with a bunch of Hollywood movie moguls. We care about fact
not fiction. So welcome, let’s give a welcome to Macaca here.
Welcome to America and the real world of Virginia.
So Mr. Allen fudged the man’s name in a juvenile way. Hardly the
sinister affront portrayed by the out-of-context excerpts published
in the press. The sad thing is that Allen felt he had to make the
compulsory apology to the allegedly aggrieved constituency. As are
most apologies made by those who’ve done nothing really wrong,
Allen’s mea culpa was almost as silly as the original accusation
itself, and the press ate it up.
But you have to give the media credit. They see that Allen may,
in all probability, be the GOP choice in 2008, and the fear and
loathing they have for him is actually a form of respect. The fact
that he’s the only real conservative who has a chance at winning
the nod is cause enough for trepidation, but it goes beyond that;
you know, the cowboy image and all.
Two other recent Republican presidential candidates were also
unashamedly un-nuanced, cowboy-types who shared Allen’s easygoing
style, and they managed to win four terms between them. This is
what drives liberals to distraction: despite the occasional social
slip-up, the great unwashed seem to prefer this type of man to hold
the nation’s reins. Welcome to America.
Lisa Fabriziois a
columnist who hails from Connecticut. You may write her at mailbox@lisafab.com.
