One thing you can say for this election: it will certainly clear up any doubt about whether racism can swing the outcome of a national political race in America. I know that Harriet disagrees with me violently in my pessimism, but this ad seems to me a Willie Horton-type torpedo aimed at Obama’s campaign. The message is quite transparent: “he wants your children to be sexually active, and he’s black“. It’s very cheering to see the number of Americans who are really deeply shocked by this. As I say, we shall see if there are enough of them to win.
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Meta
The design of your site is nice at first sight. Bu then my eyes swim when trying to read the text of your posts. Light text on dark background deceases readability in my view.
http://www.456bereastreet.com/archive/200608/light_text_on_dark_background_vs_readability/
Well, I may change it sometime. It’s dark-on-light when printed, thanks to the magic of CSS. But I find large expanses of pale background tiring on the eyes. In any case, all such experiments depend on my finding a suitable photograph, and I like the one I have; there might be something from the fjäll around Ammarnäs but I am too busy to check.
The response to the advert is part of an overall response to the general vacuity of McCain’s campaign. In the midst of the biggest economic crisis since the 1970s — possibly the biggest since the Great Depression — he has nothing but dishonest attacks on his opponent and empty generalities (oh, and a moderately pretty running-mate). Barack Obama appears to be what McCain says he is, a straight talker with real ideas. I don’t know that this overcomes race (as a man of colour living in a society where this is a real disadvantage I hope it does), but it is certainly attractive to a large number of people. What is happening is that a lot of people are paying attention to what Obama is saying more than to what he looks like. Whether a sufficient number of people are doing that is not yet clear.