Just the fact he brings it up means Obama is playing the race card. For a supposed Christian
he's awefully judgemental.......God, the more I read or listen to this clown the more of an idiot I think he is!!!
Barack Obama told a group of Florida donors Friday night that Republicans will try to make voters afraid of him, and suggested they would use his race to scare up votes for John McCain.Apparently girding for a nasty general election fight, the Illinois senator has in recent days predicted that independent GOP groups are waiting in the wings to attack him, and said his presumptive GOP rival is already “fear-mongering” when it comes to foreign policy.
But his comments Friday night in Jacksonville, Fla., seemed to reflect elevated concerns that his campaign to be the first black president would run headlong into political race baiters.
“We know what kind of campaign they’re going to run. They’re going to try to make you afraid,” Obama said at the fundraiser. “They’re going to try to make you afraid of me. He’s young and inexperienced and he’s got a funny name. And did I mention he’s black? He’s got a feisty wife.”
The crowd of supporters cheered, and Obama added: “We know the strategy because they’ve already shown their cards. Ultimately I think the American people recognize that old stuff hasn’t moved us forward. That old stuff just divides us.”
He said Republicans would be unable to run on the economy or foreign policy, so the election would ultimately boil down to a choice between “hope and fear.”
His “feisty wife” comment was probably a reference to a Tennessee GOP ad that criticized Michelle Obama for saying in February that she was proud of her country for the first time.
Obama mentioned the ad Friday afternoon at a press conference, where he defended his announcement the day before that he was backing out of the public financing system for the general election. He expects to raise more money on his own, in part to defend himself against independent GOP attack groups.
While there is no imminent, large-scale threat from so-called “527″ groups — such as the “Swift Boat Veterans for Truth” group that attacked John Kerry in 2004 — Obama said they’re waiting for him.
“527’s pop up pretty quickly and have enormous influence and we’ve seen them,” he said. “I don’t think that I am off the wall here to see that … a lot of outside groups that are potentially going to be going after us hard.”
The presumptive Democratic nominee, though, has faced down a viral whisper campaign, carried out through anonymous e-mails and Web site postings, in which race and religion are front and center. Obama launched a new Web site to debunk the false attacks, some of which suggest he secretly is a Muslim, that his wife harbors racial angst against white people and that he is not patriotic.
Some of his detractors also have referred to him by his middle name, “Hussein,” though McCain usually condemns attempts to suggest he is Muslim.
The issue of race was repeatedly invoked during the primary campaign against Hillary Clinton. Bill Clinton was criticized for comparing his win in the South Carolina primary to Jesse Jackson’s victory 20 years ago. Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell told an editorial board that some white voters just wouldn’t support Obama because he’s black. Another supporter, Geraldine Ferraro, said Obama was seeing such success because of his race.
FOX News’ Bonney Kapp contributed to this report.
