Forty acres and a mule

Mr. Gleemonex was a little slow on the fast-forward button the other night, and we ended up actually seeing one of those horrible McCain anti-Obama ads during the Olympics. People, believe me when I tell you: that is some absolutely breathtaking -- and breathtakingly subtle --racism. The ads are bad enough on the surface ("He's going to raise taxes -- which means fewer jobs!" is a real quote), but beneath the surface is the ugliest shit I’ve ever seen. To people like … well, like certain relatives of mine – the way the unseen crowd chants "Obama" (they’re saying it "OH!-BAH!-MAH!", not "oh-BAH-muh," the way Americans/native English speakers say it), the way the shots focus on his mouth and frame his body – it’s going to touch that nasty unspeakable racist nerve deep inside people who probably wouldn't actually call him "nigger" out loud but who nevertheless are constitutionally afraid of black people; way down in their subconscious, those commercials suggest Malcolm X, African tribal leaders in dashikis, crowds of dangerous hoodlums coming for you. And it's not mistake or coincidence, this near-subliminal hocus-pocus -- the vile swine who made the commercials are very good at what they do. It is sickening, so far beyond repugnant that I’m not sure I have the words. Has it really come to this?