Speaking in Code: Is It a Lie If You Really Believe It?

After 6 weeks of such blatant fear-baiting that it successfully reversed the momentum that had reduced the Clinton's 25 point lead in PA to just 5 points, I am aghast at how many intelligent people have convinced themselves that race had little to do with the PA Primary results, but rather that voters' were compelled to support someone who "real Americans" can identify with.

Does anyone else hear the irony here?

"Real Americans" is code for our inability to talk about race. C'mon, the 'melting pot' that is Obama more adequately identifies with more people from more backgrounds than any other candidate in history! He's a white/black, immigrant/native, have/have not, educated/down-to-earth, basketball-playing/pleasure-bowling, Muslim-named/Christian-faith-having, church going/intellectually-honest, community organizing, college professor turned public servant—who's benefited from every opportunity America has to offer, yet knows what it is to be marginalized. Who has ever embodied more of the complexities and dichotomies of what it is to be American? If race isn't the significant factor affecting "real Americans" ability to "identify" with Obama, what is it that alienates him from them that isn't also a part of either of the other candidates' narratives?

(Forgive my infatuation with the phrase "real Americans." After my "Imus/VA Tech" piece on GP, I was told by a commenter that, since and I were elitest kindred, I needed to join him on a long odyssey to discover how "real Americans" live. That is only a small step shy of what I use to hear from "real American" schoolmates: that if I wanted to "complain" about justice in America, I should "go back to Africa.")

Don't get me wrong. It's not that race is the only fear that has been exploited or happens to be the only difference some voters see between themselves and Obama. But race is a reasonable proxy for discussing other religious, cultural, educational and socio-economic differences in our American experience because it's so inextricably intertwined with most of these other 'concerns.' As such, race is far from being the trivial card game it is insidiously portrayed as. It is the thing America can't get past because "real Americans" struggle to admit its pervasiveness, its complexity and its impact on their thinking. But we can't ignore it; we know it's something: so we speak in code.

Michelle Martin of NPR's Tell Me More spent much of her Wednesday show (4/23) on the nexus of race in the media coverage of the political campaign. Do you hear what I hear?

Tell Me More Segments:
Clinton Takes Pennsylvania Primary
Pennsylvania Voters React
Media Experts Discuss Race Conversation