The Media Has Proved It's Not Racist, But It Is Sexist

Reporters have been hyper-sensitive to the candidacy of Barack Obama. From the beginning, he has been treated with kid gloves by the media. The McCain Campaign put together a great web video on the Media's love affair with Obama:


The McCain campaign has complained recently that they have been painted into a corner. The McCain people claim that Obama can launch the most personal of attacks and, at the worst, get a slap on the wrist. They can call McCain old, unstable and out of touch. They can question Sarah Palin's intelligence and mock her experience. But when McCain fires back, his attacks are deemed as "ugly," even racist.

The Washington Post quotes Georgia Congressman John Lewis as comparing John McCain's tactics to racists of the past including George Wallace and Church Bombers.

During the primaries, Hillary Clinton and Bill Clinton were also accused of racism when they brought up Obama's former pastor Reverend Jeremiah Wright or compared Obama to Jesse Jackson.

The media and the Obama campaign have been quick to throw penalty flags on any and all perceived racism.

But what about sexism?

Apparently that is not considered as great a sin by society and the media. Bill Clinton claims it is sexism that kept his wife from the Democratic nomination.

Pennsylvania Governor Ed Rendell talked about how sexism in politics is okay and how racism is taboo:



Indeed, polls showed that Americans are more acceptive of the idea of a black President than a woman President. The Democratic Primaries proved that to be true.

And that brings us to the General Election. Bill Maher can call Sarah Palin a "Bimbo" and that's okay. The media can question if she can run and be a good Mother and that's okay. Reuters and other media can take and publish Photographs like these:



And that's okay.

Sarah Palin was vilified as being dangerously inexperienced for her short tenure as Alaskan Governor and her time as mayor of a small town before that. In contrast, Obama's short tenure in the US Senate and his time as a state legislature before that was never questioned.

It would seem America has come a long way in race relations. Barack Obama's historic candidacy, his nomination and his success so far is testament to that. Maybe that is a good thing. Maybe the country and the media needed to pave the way for Obama's ascension to once and for all heal the ugly open wound of racism.

Sexism, however, will still be alive and well.