Deborah Leavy: McCain's racial stain

IN MEMPHIS last weekend, I made sure to go to the Civil Rights Museum. It's attached to the Lorraine Motel, where Martin Luther King was fatally shot in 1968. Visiting it is an intensely emotional experience.

Walking through the museum, I encountered a burned bus used by the Freedom Riders, films of police using firehoses to scatter black children, photos of the beatings on Bloody Sunday in Selma, Ala., and of black and white college students at a segregated lunch counter sitting stoically as ketchup was poured on their heads by angry white toughs.

It was a stark reminder that a vein of racism runs deep in America, a vein that John McCain has sadly tapped into by exploiting the fear of the "other" deeply embedded in all human beings.

"Who is Barack Obama?"

"Too risky for America."

"Pals around with terrorists."

"He doesn't view our country like you and I do."

These code words serve to remind white people that "That One" is different, not like us.

And if enough white people were to feel uncomfortable or unsure about Obama, McCain might win.

But the Civil Rights Museum also shows how far we've come - far enough that, for the most part, relics of that extreme racism belong in a museum.

Thankfully, McCain's strategy isn't working. In part that's because of the progress we've made since the days of segregation.

Americans don't want to go back to that ugly era. After 19 months of campaigning under the scrutiny of the media, Barack Obama is someone they've gotten to know, and even to like.

TO MANY WHO once thought otherwise, this election is no longer about black and white. It's about green - the color of money.

The money suddenly missing from retirement accounts, the college funds for their kids and the value of their home. The money not there to buy health insurance. The wages that have stagnated while those of the CEOs who brought on these economic troubles have skyrocketed.

Most Americans have rejected McCain's tactics, and the lead that once was his has evaporated as Obama's has grown to appear insurmountable.

And so Republicans and their sleazy allies have turned to another way to win - trying to suppress the vote, targeting constituencies that tend to vote Democratic, especially blacks, new citizens and younger voters. In parts of North and West Philly, anonymous fliers warn people with unpaid parking tickets or outstanding warrants to stay away from the polls or risk arrest.

The state GOP last week filed a lawsuit alleging fraud in registering voters that Pennsylvania Secretary of State Pedro Cortes called "a frivolous suit aimed at doing nothing other than undermining voters' confidence just 18 days before the election."

The New York Times reported illegal purging of eligible voters in eight states, including several where the race is tight.

In Ohio, litigation continues over rejection of absentee ballots requested by eligible voters.

In Florida, the League of Women Voters suspended their efforts to register new voters after newly enacted laws called for thousands of dollars in fines for simple human errors.

In Virginia, college students attempting to register were told their financial aid and health insurance could be cut off.

In Michigan, state officials tried to deny the right to vote to people whose homes had been foreclosed.

Many states have instituted a policy called "no match, no vote," under which simple clerical errors and misspellings are enough to keep otherwise-eligible citizens from voting.

This pattern of attempted disenfranchisement of voters by Republican state officials had approval at the federal level. Karl Rove directed the Justice Department to go after U.S. attorneys who declined to prosecute what they determined to be bogus allegations of voter fraud.

As I was so graphically reminded at the Civil Rights Museum, people died for the right to vote.

John McCain long ago disavowed his early opposition to the MLK holiday. He calls himself a man of honor and integrity.

Yet he's sought to rouse the racism that lies in white America's subconscious. He's sold his soul to the devil (Karl Rove) by using Rove's tactics to win.

I'm not saying that anyone who supports McCain is a racist. There are legitimate reasons to prefer McCain over Obama.

I just wish McCain had spent more time talking about those reasons, instead of following a path that no one should be proud of. *

Deborah Leavy is a regular contributor to the op-ed page and an associate member of the Daily News editorial board. E-mail her at deborah.opinion@gmail.com.