Click here for a series of photos of Senator McCain not looking at Senator Obama during the debate last night:
I think Angry Black Woman nails it:
Not so long ago in this country — within McCain’s adult lifetime, though not Obama’s — white men did not look at black men, except to order them around or warn them off white women. They did not address black men directly if they could help it — and if they had to, it was never done in a way that might suggest respect. Black men did not look at white men either, because that was the shortest path to death; a black man who dared to look a white man in the eye was “uppity”. Didn’t know his place. Needed to have a lesson taught him, usually with a bullet or a length of rope. Even today there’s a certain kind of white man — usually older ones from the South or from wealthy backgrounds — who still won’t accord a man of color the simple courtesy of looking him in the eye. They’ll look everywhere else, address “the air” rather than the person, and get progressively more irritated if that person doesn’t back off and go away.
She Absolutely nails it. I must admit that I watched the event and did not pick up on the body language that McCain displayed but when you look at the still photos it is so very obvious. I did notice that today the pundits were making a big deal the Obama referred to McCain as John as though it was somehow a presumptuous act on his part. I think I am going to watch the debate again. Clearly there were some nuances that I missed the first time.
I definitely noticed the not-looking-at-him, although I didn’t make the Jim Crow/Southern Strategy connection, much as I knew about McCain’s dogwhistles in other contexts. I’m not sure how much of this was coaxed by the handlers (it’s also a classic power move in line with the whole “Obama’s a rookie” routine) and how much was just his natural assery coming to the fore; either way, he didn’t come off well at all, no.
I am somewhat astounded by the reactions of some folks (many black) who didn’t “pick up or get” the implications of McNasty not looking at Obama. Please study our history. It wasn’t too long ago in my lifetime that a black man (or woman) could get killed for looking a white man or woman directly in the eye. If we could channel Emmet Till, what answer would you get for that black manchild being savagely maimed, tortured and then killed for allegedly”recklessly eyeballing” Miss Ann? Afterall, it was Miss Ann’s “pure” white word against that of a nigger. We all know what happened to Till. If you don’t, please do your research. It is not ancient Roman history that happened 2,000 years ago. McCain knew exactly what he was doing. McCain, a son of Mississippi. The state of Ross Barnett; willing to kill James Meredith to keep him from enrolling in “Ole Miss”. Mc Cain was operating on this level HIs body language showed the upmost contempt he has for Obama and black people. He couldn’t fathom the thought that this intelligent, handsome, articulate, educated, Black man has the termerity to be on the same stage with him in the quest of running for the POTUS. It’s a wonder he didn’t have a coronary arrest on the stage. As MalcomX said: “no more days like those”. Obama didn’t blink, and McSane couldn’t handle it. Along with his drama king, I’m going to return to D.C. like General MacArthur, backfiring and seeing Mooselini implode while being interviewed by Katie Curic. As the old tv Batman show used to say: “the best is yet to come.” His camp is going to resort to the vilest, white supremacist antics to stir up ” hardworking, regular, (read white) Americans”. This is the same mess, when McCain’s camp wanted Obama’s to “apologize” for statements that were occuring in the initial days of Caribou Barbie’s VP candidacy announcement. Apologize for what? To Miss Ann? Again, they have put Palin up on the proverbial pedestal of “white womanhood”: mother, wife, patriotic, uber-religious, etc, etc. Against, the “uppity niggers” vis-a-vis Barack and Michelle Obama. And Palin, will dutifully and willingly go along with this charade. McCain and the Republicans in general are masters at political propaganda. They have studied the “playbook” of the Nazi propaganda machine and have taken it to greater heights than Josef Goebbels and Adolf Hitler could have ever imagined. He or she who controls the language controls the thought pattern.