Douglass K Daniel

Douglass K. Daniel is a writer and editor for the Associated Press' Washington Bureau. In an opinion piece on October 5, 2008, Daniel commented on what he saw as the "racially tinged subtext" from Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin in a stump speech on October 4, 2008.¹

Specifically, Palin commented that Barack Obama pals around with terrorists and doesn't see the U.S. like the rest of us; Daniel sees that as a troubling indication that the McCain campaign plans to use race as an element in the upcoming weeks before the election on November 4, 2008.¹

Fast Facts

The terrorist comment refers to William Ayers, a member of the Vietnam-war era Weather Underground¹

Palin has an uneasy relationship with members of the press, including Charlie Gibson and Katie Couric

Daniel has written several books including a biography of CBS news reporter Harry Reasoner and a discussion of the Lou Grant television series.

Quotes

Whether intended or not by the McCain campaign, portraying Obama as "not like us" is another potential appeal to racism. It suggests that the Hawaiian-born Christian is, at heart, un-American.

Most troubling, however, is how allowing racism to creep into the discussion serves McCain's purpose so well. As the fallout from Wright's sermons showed earlier this year, forcing Obama to abandon issues to talk about race leads to unresolved arguments about America's promise to treat all people equally. -- Douglass K. Daniel¹