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Arklatex
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Message to Obama and McCain: Don't Waste Time on Paul's Backers
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Posted June 24, 2008 | 10:20 AM (EST)
The message to Republican presidential contender John McCain and his Democratic rival Barack Obama don't waste any time courting no shot former GOP presidential contender Ron Paul's backers especially since Paul has not endorsed either candidate. From his few stray comments on the race, he likely won't. Yet the intense debate, speculation, and media talk continues that McCain at least will make a concerted effort to get Paul's backers on board. If true that won't do much for his campaign and even less for his image.
The scary thing about Paul's candidacy was never his fringe views on taxes, social security, abortion rights, his opposition to tough environmental regulations, tout of non-interference in state rights issues and his opposition to civil rights laws (said Paul, they actually promote bigotry by dividing Americans into race and class).
Or that during his truncated presidential campaign, Paul took much deserved heat for his screwball past shoot-from-the-lip quips that blacks are criminally inclined, political incompetents, and chronic welfare deadbeats, and that Lincoln was wrong to fight the Civil War. Nor was it really scary that he ran a campaign ad demanding that students from alleged terrorist countries should be denied visas into the U.S. Paul offered not a shred of proof that there are hordes of students pouring into America to commit terrorist acts.
The really scary thing was that his out of the pale views and bigoted quips made sense to the throngs of mostly young, naïve, and impressionable voters who shrilly cheered him on. They repeatedly lambasted, hectored, harangued, and giddily name called anyone who dared utter criticism of their leader. The Paul phenomenon had all the dangerous earmarkings of a political cult and that hasn't changed.
Yet, that notwithstanding, politics is politics. And with both Obama and McCain scratching and clawing for any edge they can get over the other, they will be sorely tempted to pander to the Paul crowd. In Obama's case that means claiming that he's in sync with Paul on a quick fold up of the Iraq war. He'll hope that the more liberal leaning Paul backers might be susceptible to this pitch and will ignore that he supports an assault on poverty, affordable health care, immigration reform, strong civil rights and civil liberties protections, abortion rights and environmental protections. These are issues that Paul and his backers are as far part from Obama on as the sun and the moon.
In McCain's case, it means that he'll try to convince the conservative leaning Paul backers the he's a bit of a closet Libertarian himself on taxes and loose government regulations. He'll hope that they ignore his tough it out, win the war stance on Iraq, support of deficit spending, and waffle on abortion, environmental and civil rights protections. Paul's backers share no common ground with McCain on these issues either.
As yet Paul's backers haven't given any sign that either of the candidates holds any real appeal to them. The likelihood though is that the majority of Paul backers regard Obama as a too liberal Democrat. His tout of big and expanded government renders him a poor option. A significant number of them abhor McCain's war stance enough to consider him only a slightly more viable option.
The even greater likelihood is that many Paul backers will simply render the Biblical pox on both of their houses and stay home. Or, in a few cases, throw in their lot with former Georgia Congressman Bob Barr. That might not be a bad fit considering Barr's sordid history of flirting with racist and ultra-right fringe groups.
In any case neither Obama nor McCain can ever hope to stir the rabid juices in the Paulites as Paul did with his kick the establishment in the teeth views.
Though Paul's views are an odd mesh of libertarianism, know-nothing Americanism, and ultra conservative laissez faire limited government, he still sees himself and his backers as major players on the political scene. He'll milk that for all it's worth.
In fact, he now says that he will hold a big rally in Minnesota at the same time as the Republican convention. Paul advisors say that they'll keep close tabs on how the Republicans treat their man and his supporters at that time.
If Obama and McCain think that they have to bend over backward to woo him and his true believing flock, then Paul will win what he couldn't at the polls, namely inflated political influence. If that happens, Obama and McCain lose.
Earl Ofari Hutchinson is an author and political analyst. His new book is The Ethnic Presidency: How Race Decides the Race to the White House (Middle Passage Press, February 2008).
Anyone have this guy's email? How 'naiive' he is!
