Playing a Subtle Race Card

By Kanrei

If I were African-American I would be offended just a little. I would feel insulted and condescended to. Just how stupid does the White House think African-Americans are? I mean to tie Iraq to slavery…I’m getting ahead of myself.

Condoleezza Rice was one of the last people in the Bush administration I had some respect for. Not very much mind you, but some and that is better than what I have for her comrades. Now it appears she has decided to casually discard that last bit of respect I had out the window. I will miss it.

Condoleezza Rice, Secretary of State of the United States of America, gave an interview to Essence magazine that is such race-baiting drivel that it boggles the mind. If it were not for the ultimate tabloid, the New York Daily News it might have gone unnoticed. She actually uses slavery and the American Civil War to justify not leaving Iraq in an analogy that makes no sense at all.

"I'm sure there are people who thought it was a mistake to fight the Civil War to its end and to insist that the emancipation of slaves would hold…I know there were people who said, 'Why don't we get out of this now, take a peace with the South, but leave the South with slaves?'"

I might be really bad at analogies, but I just do not see the connection. Is she saying Iraq is in a civil war now? That would be contrary to the official White House position. Is she saying that the Iraqis are currently slaves; to whom exactly? We removed Saddam from power and set them up with a government. We have passed three “deadlines” and “historic events” there already. How many more exactly do we need?

There is also the fact that the Emancipation Proclamation was issued in 1863, two years into a war already being fought. This would mean that slavery was not even the major issue in the Civil War, but what use are facts anyway? I can see why they get confused.

I think a better analogy would be the one about teaching your child how to ride a bike. You hold on to the back and run along with the child. Slowly, he gets more and more confidence as you run along side and soon is doing it on his own thinking you are holding on, but you stopped a few feet ago. That is what we must do with Iraq. We removed the training wheels and now need to let them get confident.

Sorry, I got sidetracked. It happens sometimes. Anyway, I find it very interesting in a propaganda sort of way that she would compare the war in Iraq to the Civil War in a magazine with a predominately African-American readership two months away from an election. Figuring this one out is going to keep me up all night. African-Americans generally vote for the Democrats, right? I wonder if there is any connection there.

It appears to be a masterful blend of my old favorite “combine different things to confuse” mixed with a pinch of “sound confident and they will follow”. I can’t decide if her play is more Goebbels or more Orwell in design. Either way I am impressed with the depths of her deviousness.

I really did respect her. It was not until she became the Secretary of State, but I really believed she was doing a great job in that role. She did not win every time, but I thought she gave it an honest try. Now, I must question her. This blind loyalty to Bush and his party forever will cause me to question if her actions are for him or for the country.