Michael Dukakis Accuses John McCain Campaign of Running Racist Ad Against Barack Obama

Former Massachusetts Governor Michael Dukakis, the 1988 Democratic Presidential nominee, has accused the John McCain campaign of running a racist TV ad against Barack Obama that is similar to the Willie Horton TV ad used effectively against him by Vice President George H.W. Bush in 1988. The '88 Bush campaign is considered the beginning of a new level of negative campaigning not seen since the 19th Century, which reached its apotheosis with the "Swiftboating" tactics used against 2004 Democratic nominee John Kerry by Vice President Bush's son, George W. Bush. Many newspapers and media pundits are claiming that John McCain's negative campaign against Barack Obama is surpassing those historic lows.

The TV attack ad criticized by Dukakis criticizes Barack Obama for receiving advice on housing policy from former Fannie Mae CEO Franklin Raines, who is an African American. The TV ad alternates images of Obama and Raines before concluding with an image of a pathetic-looking white woman, who is a senior citizen.

The Federal National Mortgage Association, known colloquially as Fannie Mae, was taken over the federal government in early September, along with its brother organization, Freddie Mac (the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation), as an attempt to bolster the troubled home mortgage market that caused the recent Wall St. meltdown. The takeovers added $800 billon to the federal debt, which breached the $10 trillion mark.

Michael Dukakis told the Massachusetts political Web site PolitickerMA.com that the ad was essentially same as the Willie Horton TV ad that a political action committee that supported Vice President Bush ran against him in 1988.

"[T]he same thing is happening again this year," Dukakis told the Web site. Dukakis says that despite the claims of the ad that Franklin Raines was one of Barack Obama's closest economic advisors, it is not true. The McCain campaign chose to focus on Raines, despite the fact that Obama received economic advice from other Fannie Mae staffers, because Raines is black.

Dukakis said that it would be difficult for the Obama campaign to point out that the ad was racist.