McCAIN'S LAST STAND: It Ain't Over 'til it's Over

Throw out the incredible mudslinging segment and a bizarre fixation on Joe the Plumber and the third and final presidential debate was so much more of the same: An angry, entrenched Republican leader desperate to get his finger on the trigger of American foreign policy against a calm, measured and moderate Democratic challenger.

Senator John McCain thought he had a winner in a variation on the Joe Six-Pack routine we have heard so often in the past: Joe the Plumber.

It turns out Joe is a pretty radical character who doesn’t believe in Social Security. "Social Security is a joke," began his rant. (Neither does John McCain one suspects but he would never be so foolish as to utter it in public.) Joe’s been listening to too much Hate Radio. He couldn’t see that the hammer that hit him was in the grasp of the same fear mongers that in the name of patriotism sold him a bill of goods: We don’t need no government regulation. Free Trade is the only way to go (even as it ships our jobs overseas and deflates our wages at home). Tax breaks for international corporations and the wealthiest of Americans is the key to a strong economy and anyone who says otherwise is a commie pinko Anti-American.

McCain’s generous dipping into the politics of smear, which most observers suggest goes against his character, is a measure of his campaign’s desperation. The McCain loyalists went all soft when their candidate angrily stated "I am not George Bush" but when it came time to distinguish himself from the disastrous policies of the Bush administration, his rehearsed litany did not include a single economic policy difference.

He might have drawn attention to his initial opposition to the Bush tax cuts but it has since become the centerpiece of his economic plan for America.

McCain’s visible frustration and rage belie the fact that his proposals are primarily smoke and mirrors in the Bush tradition and his opponent is adept at knocking down the façade to reveal the unvarnished truth: McCain is more of the same.

We are tempted to conclude that it’s all over but the inauguration. However, that would be a critical mistake. We are dealing with a Republican machine that has orchestrated the most egregious disenfranchisement campaigns since the days of Jim Crow. Many including myself believe that they have stolen two consecutive presidential elections by purging predominantly black voters from voting rolls and by rigging electronic voting machines in key battleground states (Florida 2000 and Ohio 2004).

We know that the Republicans are capable of stealing a close election. Their specious accusation of massive voter registration fraud against an organization known as ACORN (the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now) is a clear signal that they fully intend to launch their disenfranchisement operation again.

Given the possibility of a Bradley effect (voters who will not admit to pollsters that they will not vote for a black candidate) and a tendency of undecided voters to migrate to the underdog, no margin in the polls is safe.

To those of you in the battleground states (by now you know who you are) who are still on the fence, consider carefully the consequences of your decision.

To those who are committed Obama supporters, now is the time to act as you would if the polls were dead even.

To those who have withheld support for Obama because you object to his Afghan policy, his pro-Israel stance, his moderation on Fair Trade, his hesitancy to take on corporate monoliths more directly, his refusal to advocate government sponsored health care, his insistence on increased military spending, on and on, which of these candidates would be more willing to listen to criticism and adjust his policies?

Which candidate can we work with? Which is less bound by ideological intransigence? Which can grow and adapt to changing times?

I need not remind anyone how large the stakes are.

When John McCain was forced to rebut a supporter at a rally when she stated that Obama was an Arab, it occurred to me that I am one of few Americans who can say that I have voted for both an Arab American and an American Indian for president.

Come November 4th I will be able to say I have also voted for an African American.

Yes, it matters.

Jazz.