McCain and Palin Are Playing With Fire

McCain and Palin Are Playing With Fire
By Khaled Hosseini
Sunday, October 12, 2008; B05

I prefer to discuss politics through my novels, but I am truly dismayed
these days. Twice last week alone, speakers at McCain-Palin rallies have
referred to Sen. Barack Obama, with unveiled scorn, as Barack Hussein
Obama.

Never mind that this evokes -- and brazenly tries to resurrect -- the
unsavory, cruel days of our past that we thought we had left behind.
Never mind that such jeers are deeply offensive to millions of peaceful,
law-abiding Muslim Americans who must bear the unveiled charge, made by
some supporters of Sen. John McCain and Gov. Sarah Palin, that Obama's
middle name makes him someone to distrust -- and, judging by some of the
crowd reactions at these rallies, someone to persecute or even kill. As
a secular Muslim, I too was offended. Obama's middle name differs from
my last name by only two vowels. Does the McCain-Palin campaign view me
as a pariah too? Do McCain and Palin think there's something wrong with
my name?

But never mind any of that.

The real affront is the lack of firm response from either McCain or
Palin. Neither has had the moral courage, when taking the stage, to
grasp the microphone, turn to the presenter and, right then and there,
denounce the use of Obama's middle name as an insult. Instead, they have
simply delivered their stump speeches, lacing into Obama as if nothing
out-of-bounds had just happened. The McCain-Palin ticket has given toxic
speeches accusing Obama of being a friend of terrorists, then released
short, meek repudiations of some of the rough stuff, including McCain's
call Friday to "be respectful." Back in February, the Arizona senator
apologized for the "disparaging remarks" from a talk-radio host who
sneered repeatedly about "Barack Hussein Obama" before a McCain rally.
"We will have a respectful debate," McCain insisted afterward. But
pretending to douse flames that you are busy fanning does not qualify as
straight talk.

What I find most unconscionable is the refusal of the McCain-Palin
tandem to publicly condemn the cries of "traitor," "liar," "terrorist"
and (worst of all) "kill him!" that could be heard at recent rallies.
McCain is perfectly capable of telling hecklers off. But not once did he
or his running mate bother to admonish the people yelling these obscene
-- and potentially dangerous -- words. They may not have been able to
hear the slurs at the rallies, but surely they have had ample time since
to get on camera and warn that this sort of ugliness has no place in an
election season. But they have not. Simply calling Obama "a decent
person" is not enough.

Is inaction tantamount to consent? The McCain campaign certainly thinks
so when it comes to Obama and incendiary remarks from the Rev. Jeremiah
Wright. By their own inaction, then, are McCain and Palin condoning
these slurs? Or worse, are they willfully inciting the angry and
venomous response that we have been witnessing at their rallies? If not,
then what reaction are they hoping to evoke by their relentless public
suggestions that Obama is basically an anti-American liar who won't put
"country first" and has an affection for terrorists? Do they not
understand the kind of fire they are playing with?

I -- and, I suspect, millions of Americans like me, Republicans and
Democrats alike -- couldn't care less about Obama's middle name or the
ridiculous six-degrees-of-separation game that is the William Ayers
non-issue. The Taliban are clawing their way back in Afghanistan, the
country that I hope many of my fellow Americans have come to understand
better through my novels. People are losing their homes and their jobs
and are watching the future slip away from them. But instead of
addressing these problems, the McCain-Palin ticket is doing its best to
distract Americans by provoking fear, anxiety and hatred. Country first?
Hardly.

Khaled Hosseini is the author of "The Kite Runner" and "A Thousand
Splendid Suns."