Political Contempt – Senator McCain and Senator Obama Debate 2

by Vusi Moloi© 2008

I watched the second presidential debate between the Honourable Senators Mr. Barack Obama and Mr. John McCain held on Tuesday October 7. The highly anticipated debate was carried live by CNN from Belmont University in Nashville, Tennessee. The NBC retired anchorman and board member of the African American Howard University Mr. Tom Browkaw moderated the debate. This debate comes in the wake of Senator Obama widening his lead over his contender Senator McCain.

The condescending demeanor of Senator McCain towards Senator Obama took many aback. This culminated in a hard to believe flashpoint when Mr. McCain treated Mr. Obama with utter contempt by referring to him as “that one” and not by his name. This perjorative jab for which no apologies were made caught Senator Obama by surprise. Mr. McCain was talking about the Senate energy bill that he supposedly voted against and Mr. Obama supposedly voted for. Mr. McCain’s reference to the energy bill was not a relevant point of discussion at the time; he brought it up and used it to express his disdain of Mr. Obama. CNN’s debate watchers registered their strong reaction against this line of attack.

Why did Mr. McCain decide to disrespect his fellow American Senator? Moreover, in this town hall format, the intimate distance between the debaters and the audience did not lend itself to this combative style. Why go out of one’s way to make waves? Tennessee is regarded as a conservative state leaning strongly in favour of Mr. McCain. One would expect to score high points among some conservatives when jabbing someone whose ethnicity is regarded as lesser and not equal with respect to the historically privileged group.

However, in this case, the opposite was the case. CNN’s post-debate poll indicated that 54% to 43% of debate watchers found Mr. Obama to be a better leader and a 2 to 1 ratio found him more likeable than Mr. McCain effectively awarding a handy victory to Mr. Obama.

What amazes me in all of this is that Mr. McCain is an Irish descendant and one would expect an egalitarian or at least a reciprocal respect towards his worthy opponent who showed great poise and respect towards the elder statesman. The Irish descendants, whom I respect greatly, are natural allies with African descendants a fact underscored long ago by the great Irish liberator Mr. Daniel O’Connell along with the African American liberator Mr. Frederick Douglas in the 1800s during the Irish Potatoe Famine in Ireland. Mr. Frederick Douglas lived in Ireland in a self-imposed exile to avoid recapture by his masters and also to drum up support for the emancipation of the Irish as well as his African people in the American South.

Both the Irish and the African descendents were historically oppressed and brutalized by the same English colonial and slave masters. Moreover, the Irish were not classified as White but were thrown in the same category as African Americans. At certain times, as recent as the mid 1800s, the Irish were treated even worse than African descendents. A noteworthy Irish writer Mr. Edward Wakin in his book Enter the Irish-American mentions a letter written in 1851 by an Irish American to his folks in Ireland as follows:

"The Irish position is one of shame and poverty....'My master is a great tyrant,' said a Negro lately, 'he treats me as badly as if I was a common Irishman.'"

The Irish Americans at the time turned against their freedom fighting Mr. Daniel O’Connell and instead adopted a new reactionary philosophy that sought to dissociate themselves from their African American brothers and sisters. They felt it was a matter of practical importance to hate their fellow African Americans so that the English can tell them apart. The need for a differentiator drove a wedge between the two racial groups. This strategy seemingly worked because in a little more than 100 years, the Irish Americans became an economically successful group leaving behind their African American counterparts.

The U.S. Census Bureau population study 2005 American Community Survey reported that the Irish Americans numbered 35 million, the largest concentration of whom lived in the American South, home to Mr. John McCain of Arizona. In this context, it does not take much for an Irish American to treat with contempt his African American fellow countryman even though it may not be intended in a hateful way.