The Irony of Cynicism

I have lost track of the number of stories that Barack Obama has used to explain his racially tinged quote.

And so the only way they figure they’re going to win this election is if they make you scared of me. So what they’re saying is, ‘Well, we know we’re not very good but you can’t risk electing Obama. You know, he’s new, he’s... doesn’t look like the other presidents on the currency, you know, he’s got a, he’s got a funny name.'

After first proclaiming with righteous indignation that this had nothing to do with race, his campaign manager in this interview admitted that his comment was racial. (about 3 minutes in)


Now, Barack Obama is attacking John McCain for being of all things cynical.

Sen. Barack Obama denied Saturday that he is playing the race card against Sen. John McCain following several speeches in Missouri last week in which he said McCain is portraying him as scary and risky because he doesn’t “look like all the presidents on the dollar bills.”

“In no way do I think that John McCain’s campaign was being racist, I think they’re cynical” Obama told CNN during a Saturday morning press conference. “I think they want to distract people from talking about the real issues.”

“Their team is good at creating distractions and engaging in negative attacks and planting doubts about people,” Obama said, noting McCain’s recent comparison of his celebrity to Britney Spears and Paris Hilton and the repeated accusation that the Illinois senator skipped a visit with wounded troops because he couldn’t take the press.

Now, when Barack Obama calls John McCain cynical, I am reminded of the pot calling the kettle black. It isn't that Barack Obama is anymore or less cynical than other politicians. Rather, it's that all campaigns that last longer than five minutes become cynical more than anyone would like. That is one of the unfortunate truths of politics. This is not new, look at how Ed Morrissey described the election between Thomas Jefferson and John Adams.

Viewers of the excellent HBO miniseries John Adams will already know this, but others may find themselves surprised at the ferocity of the founding fathers of this nation. Adams himself avoided participation in the vilification of Jefferson as a “debauched deist” and the rumor-mongering regarding Jefferson and his slave Sally Heming, while Jefferson quietly funded attacks on Adams as an Anglophile likely to reunite the US with Great Britain, or perhaps proclaim himself as monarch rather than President. Larson makes the point, which should be rather obvious in retrospect, that revolutionaries do not tend to be calm, mild, and milquetoast, and points to the somewhat hyperbolic list of grievances in the Declaration of Independence as proof.

Is there anything more cynical than painting a patriot like John Adams as secretly hoping to reunite with the very same Great Britain that he helped lead the independence from only two plus decades earlier? When the campaign is this long and the stakes this high, then yes Virginia often times the attacks become cynical and often even unfair.

What is truly cynical is the idea that Barack Obama himself is above such cynical attacks. Frankly, what he said in Missouri itself is cynical. I don't know anyone that is trying to scare people about Barack Obama because he looks different. Of course, this statement is just the latest in a string of cynical attacks.

Let's look at a few more. Here is how Obama described McCain's plans for social security.

Hours before being greeted by the biggest crowd of his campaign, Democrat Barack Obama quietly told a small group of seniors Sunday that Republican John McCain would threaten the Social Security they depend on because he supports privatizing the program....

So if you support private social security accounts, you are actually threatening Social Security for seniors. Does it get anymore cynical than that? How often has Barack Obama referred to John McCain as Bush's third term? Given that McCain has opposed the Bush tax cuts, multiple rounds of spending increases, and the Iraq war strategy for its first four years isn't it cynical to paint the two as the same.

How about on real estate? Barack Obama is fond of saying something like this.

Felicitas and Francisco have lived the American Dream. Their story is not one of great wealth or privilege. Instead, it embodies the steady pursuit of simple dreams that has built this country from the bottom up.

Felicitas came to Las Vegas from Arizona. Francisco came from Mexico. And together, in this city of dreams, they built a life founded on hard work and family; patience and perseverance. For two decades, they raised four daughters on a modest but dependable wage – thanks in part to their ability to organize with other workers in the Culinary Union. Today, she works as a maid –and he works as a porter – in the Bellagio, down on the strip.

Like so many working people, their lives have been shaped by sacrifice for their children’s future – the promise that each generation has the ability to reach a little further. And theirs have been lives lived rent check to rent check, with the promise of a home sought through the little savings that they could put aside week after week, month after month, year after year. Finally, three years ago, they were able to reach that destination in their pursuit of the American Dream. After so much hard work, Felicitas and Francisco were able to move into a home of their own.

Yet a predatory loan has turned this source of stability into an anchor of insecurity. Because a lender went for the easy buck, they are left struggling with ballooning interest rates and monthly mortgage payments. Because Washington has failed working people in this country, they are facing foreclosure, and the American Dream they sought for decades risks slipping away.

Yet, while he presents himself as a man of the people, we find out that he got his own VIP loan in which he saved about $1000 per month over what the average person would have received. At roughly the same time, we found out that he used his position as a State Senator to line the pockets of high profile real estate developers like Tony Rezko while folks in low income housing wound up living in unlivable conditions. While all of this was going on, he was presenting himself as some sort of populist figure out for the "little guy". How cynical is that?

He presents himself as an outsider in a perfect position to change D.C. Yet, he says nothing about being the ultimate insider of Chicago, Cook County and Springfield the cesspool of politics. He says nothing of the political machine that he rose through and gained power. If all he did was become a part of the political machine in Chicago, how exactly does he plan on shaking up D.C.? How cynical is it for him to claim otherwise.

In politics cynicism is a two way street. That said, there is really nothing more cynically ironic than to proclaim your opponent a cynic all the while lobbing cynical attacks and making duplicitous statements.