Obama's new ads take Rush Limbaugh out of context, which is stupid, because you don't need to take him out of context to point out that he has regressive views on race and immigration. He called McCain's orphan bill the "Comprehensive Destroy the Republican Party Act of 2007" on the basis that incoming immigrants would demand to be supported by the government (like, you know, "young blacks"). He accused then president of Mexico Vincente Fox of trying to expel "a renegade, potential[ly] criminal element that is "unwilling to work," through immigration.
The idea that Limbaugh, after a lifetime of explicit racism, including accusing Obama of "inciting riots" last year before "dreaming" of some himself, would accuse Obama of "stoking racism" for using his words in a Spanish-language ad is absurd. Limbaugh complains now that it's a presidential election, but he had no problem "stoking racism" when he was trying to defeat the immigration bill. It was the purpose of his daily broadcast. It's only now that talk radio's actions have come back to haunt them in the form of Latinos potentially voting in large numbers for the Democrat that it matters.
McCain has been far more moderate in the past on immigration than he is now -- currently he says he wouldn't even vote for his own bill. Obama's ad should have exploited that ambiguity, rather than overreaching by portraying McCain as completely in line with Limbaugh on the issue. Of course, McCain's ads accusing Obama of having personally scuttled the immigration bill aren't any more honest, but that hardly excuses the Obama campaign's actions.
--A. Serwer
