I love this shit

Not only does Colin Powell deliver eloquent reasons for why Obama is a “transformational figure” who will be an “excellent president” in this clip, he calls out the Republican party leadership, their constituency, and the McCain campaign for their racist smear campaign in the most cunning way. Watching this clip reminds me how patient (or quiescent) Obama and the rest of America, and especially people of color, have been during the last few weeks of McCain’s campaign. It’s almost as though the McCain people forgot that there are other people of color in the U.S. besides Obama, and that other people vote besides anti-Muslim racists with a pathological fear of terrorism. Colin Powell comes out of left field (or is that right-center?) and refutes the entire logic of the McCain ticket since the choice of Sarah Palin. Hopefully this endorsement will shock the system of undecided voters and get them out to vote for Obama-Biden.

Joe the Plumber

In the phrase, “spread the wealth,” repeated frequently tonight by John McCain, “wealth” was a synonym for “whiteness.” On the surface, tax reform seems like a straightforward fiscal issue, but it is really an identitarian issue disguised as a fiscal one. When Republicans discuss tax policy, like John McCain did tonight, what they mean to do is focus their constituency’s resentment for marginalized people and the American underclass upon a narrow issue that seems completely rational, tax reform, but which is really anything but. Within the Republican platform, whiteness and wealth are not mutually exclusive. The compulsive harping on tax reform, to the detriment of any other issue, reinforces this fact. Wealth was a code word for whiteness tonight, and the fact that Joe the Plumber may have decoded that message is not only insidious, it’s dangerous.