Last week, Barack Obama said: “They’re going to to make you afraid of me. He’s young and inexperienced and he’s got a funny name. And did I mention he’s black?”  He and his supporters have been building up to this point for some time.  And now another major Democrat has stepped up the attack.  According to a Kansas City Star political blog:

Echoing comments by Barack Obama, Kansas Gov. Kathleen Sebelius predicted that Republicans would undertake “a major effort to try and frighten people about him” because of his race. ”That has been the Republican playbook for the last eight years,” said Sebelius, an Obama ally. ‘”He’s not qualified, he’s somebody who should scare you. He’s too liberal.’”   The Kansas Democrat, often mentioned as a possible running mate for Obama, said those were all “code words” to try and make voters “uncomfortable.”

So Sebelius sees racial code in practically every criticism of Obama’s qualifications or issue positions.  In this respect, she resembles the mad John Nash in A Beautiful Mind, who analyzed magazines for encrypted Soviet messages.  Such thinking would almost be funny if it were not part of a concerted effort to smear opposition to Obama.  McCain should fight back, but probably won’t.

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