Meanwhile in the journal Du Bois Review (Parker, et al., 2009, p. 194) the authors point to racism and patriotism as key themes for the 2008 Democratic primary election. "Race was a consistent narrative" used by those opposed to Obama, Parker explains (p. 194). Both Clinton and the Republicans "used racial references" to attack Obama, including the attacks on Obama "for his perceived inability to connect to 'real working Americans'" (p. 194).

The Republican sideshow called "Joe the plumber" attacked Obama with the charge that Obama was "seeking to take money from hardworking 'real Americans' to give it to 'those people'" (p. 194). Clinton questioned Obama's patriotism suggesting that he was not a "real" American. Parker notes that when Governor Dukakis ran for president as a Democrat, he was attacked but no one questioned whether he was "a real American as they did with Obama" (p. 195).

The authors present...
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