Last Friday at a McCain campaign rally a woman said to Senator McCain: "I can't trust Obama. I have read about him and he's not, he's not us--he's an Arab. He's not . . ." Shaking his head and taking the microphone from the speaker McCain said: "No, ma'am. He's a decent family man [and] citizen that I just happen to have disagreements with on fundamental issues and that's what this campaign's all about. He's not [an Arab]."
McCain has been applauded by some for his response. But that response is troubling. Obama's "not us"? The classificatory and exclusionary "us versus them" mentality revealed in and by that statement could not be clearer. As one of my colleagues mentioned to me today, no one made the point that there is nothing wrong with being "an Arab." McCain's reply left in place the notion that being "an Arab" and being a "decent" man and citizen (persons of Arab descent are not and cannot be citizens?) is an either/or and not a both/and proposition. That's disturbing on surface and deeper levels.
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