Willie Horton Redux
Commentary: An attack ad targeting Barack Obama raises a question: Can anyone with doubts about capital punishment, especially a black guy, become president?
May 1, 2008
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To become president of the United States, you've got to be willing to kill black men. That's been the consensus in American politics over the last quarter-century, ever since support for the death penalty became seen as a litmus test for electability to the White House. The issue of capital punishment is inextricable from issues of race, both because most of those executed are African American men, and because the issue carries an encoded discourse about white fear of black crime. With an African American man for the first time within striking distance of the Oval Office, it was inevitable that the issue would rear its head—and so it has, in an attack ad that's being referred to as "Obama's Willie Horton."
In the new ad released by a group calling itself the National Campaign Fund, the camera pans over ravaged, graffiti-ridden urban streets as a voice-over names three victims killed by gang violence in Chicago. Then comes punch line: "That same year, a Chicago state senator named Barack Obama voted against expanding the death penalty for gang-related murders." And finally, the knockout blow: "So the question is, can a man so weak in the war on gangs be trusted in the war on terror?"
That last line operates on any number of levels. To start with, it calls up the familiar, grotesque claim that any reluctance toward allowing the state to strap a human being to a gurney and pump poison into his arm is somehow a sign of "weakness." Then it takes an absurd leap, arguing that such "weakness" translates into an inability to defend the country against terrorists. But there's something else going on, as well, as the camera traverses those burned-out streets. The implied threat is that the black criminals lurking there are just waiting to stream out of the ghettos and get "us" (i.e. white people), just as the Islamic jihadists are waiting to stream over the borders and blow us up. If our only defense against such threats is to be "tough" on these people—to kill the worst ones and jail the rest—is Barack Hussein Obama really the man for the job? Won't he be too soft on his homeboys—and maybe even on people who share the same religion as his father's side of the family, as well? (Needless to say, to be president of the United States in the 21st century, you have to be willing to kill Muslims, too.)
It takes a man possessed of a kind of vile genius to do so much damage in so few words, and that man is Floyd Brown, the conservative activist and Republican strategist with a long and storied history of sleazy media tactics. Brown is best known for the 1988 ad attacking Democratic nominee Michael Dukakis, then governor of Massachusetts, during his run against George H.W. Bush. While Bush, the ad said, supported capital punishment, Dukakis "not only opposes the death penalty," but presided over a Massachusetts prison furlough program that gave weekend passes to inmates, including convicted killer Willie Horton. As a photo of Horton—a large, bearded black man—loomed on the screen, a voice-over described the rape and stabbing he committed after absconding while on furlough. The message to white voters was clear: While George Bush will do away with men like this, Michael Dukakis will let them loose to kill, rape, and pillage.
"...if they make a mistake, I don't want them punished with a baby." - Barack Obama
However, it's a stretch to call this about "killing black men". That's where you are going to lose the target audience because that's NOT what it's about. Even though that's largely what happens, it's NOT the point, so don't pretend it is. Think!
This is really just another way for the Conservatives to "frame" the issue in an ignorantly simplistic fashion so that ignorant people don't have to THINK about it. The real issue is that poverty and lack of opportunity lead to crime, and a larger percentage of the black population lives in poverty, or lacks opportunity, as do many whites, but not as large a percentage of whites; a disproportionate percentage of the black population lacks opportunity and ends up resorting to crime for a variety of reasons, which leads to a disproportionate representation of blacks in prisons, also for a variety of reasons, not the least of which is the inability to "afford" good legal representation. America's version of "justice" is as corporate-American as it gets: it is based on the "bottom line": profit margin. Of course, in the end, justice is not about revenge, as is the death penalty, nor is justice about profit margins and monetary costs, whether to the state or the individual.
The real problem is not as much that the Conservatives use this approach, but more so the fact that, unfortunately, this approach still works.
Perhaps rather than making this as much an issue of race, Liberals should group black and white poor together in terms of their imprisonment, and show it as a class problem, rather than a racial problem, framing it in terms of percentages of poor people that end up in prison as opposed to wealthier people, noting that a larger percentage of the total black population, than percentage of the total white population, lives in poverty. But then again, facts never seem to gain much traction with Conservatives. And, as John Stewart Mill said, "Although it is not true that all conservatives are stupid people, it is true that most stupid people are conservatives."
Sorry, I'm not buying it now and never did. What we should be afraid of are the consequences of not treating ALL of our citizens equally. We should be afraid of people living in poverty, with no health care, no job, no food, no shelter, and no hope. We, the richest country on the planet, should be afraid of continuing the policies of the Bush administration by voting for John McCain.
Capitol punishment is hyprocritical. How can we have a law that says killing is illegal except when it has the government's approval? How can we say that when we kill it must be done in a "humane" way? Contradictory, is it not?
How about Iraq? Isn't that government approved killing on a grand scale? How could a war in Iraq ever be justified as defense? And how could it ever be perceived as in any way humane?
I will not be distracted by Rev. Wright, flag pins, Swift Boat attack ads, Faux News, gay marriage, or anything else the mainstream media conjures up as an "issue" for the coming election. I know they have not yet begun to spew out their fabricated distractions. Just wait until they open the Karl Rove playbook of political dirty tricks. They won't give up their stranglehold on our government easily - they'll go down kicking and screaming all the way!
The bottom line is we need someone in the White House who will not lie to us. Someone who will tell us the good news as well as the bad. Someone who will talk to us as intelligent citizens who deserve to be informed. Someone with no corporate ties and no corporate money in his pocket. I believe that person is Barrack Obama.
Fast forward nine years and it turns out Bill Clinton didn’t take anyone’s gun, there are no black helicopters except in Iraq, where they are piloted by mercenaries from a company called Blackwater and the federal government is now $9 trillion in debt with red ink as far as the eye can see. Compassionate conservatism has come to mean torturing prisoners of war, dropping cluster bombs on civilian populations, and 47 million people without access to affordable health care. We have invaded and occupied two countries and may do it again with Iran. The United States is reviled and has become an international pariah. Thousands of Americans are losing their homes due to laissez-faire regulation and unscrupulous lenders. Gasoline is $3.50 a gallon and headed higher. The stock market is in the toilet and sinking lower.
Yes, Floyd Brown, it is very clear to me now which political party I should fear the most.
The Republican Party will go to any extent to retain their power. Even if it means, well you know. If the people want their country back we MUST not allow the Republican Party to turn our beautiful Democracy into a totalitarian system. As we speak Bush is doing harm to our country. He could care less about you, me, or our children. He is a spoiled piece of [deleted] that is delusional to reality. The bottom line is that no U.S. Black man has never committed crimes as bad as George Bush. As a matter of fact if George Bush was a Black man, he would have already been executed. IN TEXAS. FU Republican party. The Republican Party’s main objective “more for me none for you, America”
Secondly, this bologna about "a Christian this" and "a Christian that". You liberals use this catch phrase only when it suits you, just like those deplorable right-wing Republicans. Both of you lots disgust me.
As for Obama being a model Christian, the man refused to sponsor a bill to require medical treatment for viable babies in induced labor abortions! you want to speak of valuing life, there you go.
Fourthly, the death penalty is a necessity in some cases, but it must be used with extreme caution. The only greater injustice to seeing a criminal go free is to wrongly convict an innocent man of a crime. With that in mind, every sentencing for the death penalty should be carried out under full transparency and with adequate time for deliberation and perhaps a large jury of judges.
Something overlooked is the possibility that intimidating gang violence by the death penalty is a way to prevent many of the tribal genocides and wars now evident in Africa, but having been evident elsewhere throughout history. These types of groups if allowed to acquire enough power turn zones into marshal law turf where violence and the skill of marksmanship matter more than civility, law, and compassion. There is a time for understanding and another for discretion, and this is a matter of discretion.
Making an issue of a non-issue, Mr. Ridgeway makes it seem like America wants to kill black men. Editorials like this create drama which increase readership due to emotional stakes.
Perhaps what is at issue is not whether the death penalty is appropriate but how a sentence is determined, how much appeal may go into the process especially for those without the money to use this process efficiently, and finally how we go about executing the sentence.
Only the last part is an option to me: death by the means of murder. If they tortured them to death, then that is their death. If they murdered by gunshot, then death by firearms. Even psychopaths have a certain need for self-preservation, so if they find that they will die by what means they unjustly killed their victims, then it may prevent some behaviors (which is far better than preventing none).
Are a disproportionate number of prisoners "black"? Yes! And on death row? Yes! And does the overturning of a wrongful conviction for a man after 27 years give a great reason to pause and ponder the current system? You bet! But for me, this is not an issue of the death penalty but in stopping the blight of race definitions and resulting racism. The issue is in creating a system with more failsafes, more efficiency, and more justice.
One thing has pleased me. Mr. Ridgeway has every right to voice his opinion, and he does remind us that this is his commentary and not a factual article. This is how he views the world right now, and we are welcome to consider or reject it. As for me, I find his view tainted with the concept of race, unable to hold people accountable for poor choices whether learned from an awful culture that has been allowed to propogate in certain communities or not. We must dismantle violent culture in America while providing the inheritors of these cultures new opportunities and new ways of living. One cannot live a new way of life without if he or she does not know any other way.
Screw everyone else.
Your quote above is referring to his own children who are not yet responsible enough to raise a child. Just in case other people wanted context. (I understand if you're against abortion, age isn't really a moral factor.)
Obama2008 !!!!
Someone is sure to think that I have written this in all seriousness. For that small minority. It is not.
What has always been obvious is that those who know their attitudes and positions are flawed and merit less on a primordial level, deflect (or attempt to deflect) attention from those areas, instead attacking their opponents in any way they can to show THEIR "weaknesses."
It is the same show we've seen many times before. The question is, will it work this time?
For the record, I am not a "lifelong Democrat," nor -- God forbid, a Republican. In fact, despite a natural like I have for Obama, I would prefer Ralph Nader or Cynthia McKinney in the Oval Office.
Nonetheless, I am realistic, and may end up voting for him. But if he continues to distance himself from the populist/libertarian left (the "true left" in my view), I may just opt for one of the alternate candidates.
While listening to open calls this a.m. on C-Span, one caller related that, while campaigning in a rural area of Indiana recently, Bill Clinton attributed Obama's popular support to (not an exact quote):
'he hasn't been caught stealing a car yet!'
Does anyone out there know for a fact that Bill said this? If he did, this is about the LOWEST, most VILE racial slur possible!
These idiots need not wonder why the rest of the world hates America. We've perpetuated idiocy like this ad since the birth of this nation. It's time to grow up! This jerk Floyd Brown needs to dig himself.
I see the same thing in Canada, one person like's a certain 'bill' that might concern them, or the fact he/she is from their home country...stupid votes. No research, or care. Probably doesn't believe the cloud following their candidate, such as CIA involved in drugrunning, Vietnam War for oil and opium. Lazy votes, while others carefully research and question their candidate till blue in the face. Democracy? Complacency!!
Oh well, let them rant all the way to Palookaville for their tough guy hero (read: insane aerial-cluster-bomb murderer) John McSame. Their only hope IS a race war because Obama and the bruuthas won't puss out like Gore and Kerry (both far too effete to be effective in Realpolitik) when Rove, et alia, foist another fake election - if it is not first negated by King George III in a militaristic October Surprise - or if Barack is still even alive in November - right Mike Huckabee?! Maybe some of these humps and their ilk will be the ones diving for cover then.
But revolution does not have to be violent, and that is my hope. My worst real concern, somewhat related to page 3 of this article is that Obama's support may be soft in some places in that the proverbial "educated", well-meaning whites are interested in what Obama can do for their CLASS - which is the real bastion of their loyalty. These insular men and women will stay home glued to the corporate TV news, or worse, blog inchoately, when the racial tension explodes IF and WHEN, again, Rove, et alia, work their political magic - thanks Mr. Diebold for your proprietary vote-flipping code.
It has already happened in the [deleted]-kicking city where I live: Lubbuttocks, Texas - the burg that vied for the Bush Library but whose video presentation offended Rove personally as it made use of a W impersonator publicly expelling his odious flatulence, for which he (the real W) is known - that and goosing by means of physical assault in full frathouse repartee, other world leaders - remember Angela Merkel's visceral reaction to the icy touch of his Asmodean grip? Why did he choose her anyway when everyone knew he was madly smitten with Vlad Putin's icy-cerulean blue orbs? Maybe the same reason he loves to suck face, hold hands, and stroll quietly with the bejeweled sheiks and fakirs of exotic Arabia?
Anyway, not a single vote in the primaries was counted in Lubbuttocks County thanks to electronic voting - oh but the docile citizens were assured it would not/could not have mattered - no biggie!
But I question too W's red-bloodedness ... what's this about Jenna Bush's (a burgeoning chubette like her grandmother) now hubby Henry asking King W , PRIOR to proposing to Jenna. I think he wants to schtup W badly, as he is one of Karl Rove's closet-y stableboys - and, God help her, poor Jenna, even in borrowed clothes, so resembles her Dad in the face ... and reputedly shares many of his affinities for things like Wild Turkey, no doubt cocaine, and copious quantities of barbecue sauce ... oh, and public expulsion of formidable intestinal wind of her own. Whoops, I'm ganging up like these operatives commenting here so ravenously did on Chelsea Clinton - a return to sanity is ordered.
To wit, we MAY never see a black man in the White Bunker, not the black man Obama, but certainly the cynical right-wing troglodyte Clarence Unclethomas and his Svengali, greasy Nino Scalia - both absurd "Constitutional Originalists". Scalia fairly salivates through his spaghetti to hoist Unclethomas on the pitard of the slave auction block - after all that's what Amerika was all about 'Originally."
But try convincing the oh-so-righteous and invariably fundamentalist religious persons trolling this and so many worthy liberal sites -and they DO have the right to comment, if only to reveal the vapidity of their ascendancy - a historical accident, exploited, deftly I admit, facilitated with naked illegalities, by the traitors and murderers in the Republican Party for decades. Kudos Karl.
I have a dear friend who was forced to dine with Karl Rove once as a liaison from his big Houston legal firm, and he is no admirer by any stretch. And he confessed later he could not glance at that slack-jawed pudge while simultaneously consuming food. His mind was assaulted with horrific imagery of Karl and George W engaged in a lengthy Foul Kiss, Skull'n'Bones style. Whoops, just triggered NSA monitoring of this post. Better go.
Viva Obama!