Two essays about the role of Barack Obama's race in the election.  One with a definite liberal bias, one with a definite conservative bias.

This essay by William Lowther shows a strong liberal bias, which will become abundantly clear as you read it.  Lowther definitely encourages the reader to believe that a vote not cast for Obama is a vote for racism, and uses a significant amount of anxiety inducing imagery.  At the same time however, Lowther does a compelling job of framing Obama's place in the history of America.

Next, a right-wing perspective from the Wall Street Journal, in which we learn that some Democrats actually believe its possible that racism could be affecting polling, and thus clearly the left is manufacturing excuses to explain their possibly inevitable failure.

Of particular interest to me though, is the following two sections compared next to each other

Quote from: The TelegraphIn another unpredictable twist to a highly unusual campaign, the first major accusation of the "race card" being played in the Obama-McCain showdown came from the Republicans and elicited a partial apology from the Democratic candidate.

Senator Obama had told supporters to expect a campaign of prejudice and fear from his rivals. "You know, 'He's not patriotic enough, he's got a funny name.' You know, 'He doesn't look like all those other presidents on those dollar bills.' You know, 'He's risky.' That's essentially the argument they're making."

That produced a furious response from Team McCain. "Barack Obama has played the race card, and he played it from the bottom of the deck. It's divisive, negative, shameful and wrong," said top McCain adviser Rick Davis./quote]

Compare with this from the Wall Street Journal piece, describing the same event:

Quote from: The Wall Street JournalPart and parcel of this argument is that Republicans are bound to play the race card. The Democratic candidate made this case himself in late June. "They're going to try to make you afraid," Mr. Obama told a rally in Florida. "They're going to try to make you afraid of me. 'He's young and inexperienced and he's got a funny name. And did I mention he's black?'"

After a second round of this -- recall the Obama line "He doesn't look like all those other Presidents on the dollar bills" -- the McCain campaign dared complain that at no time has the GOP candidate said anything remotely about his opponent's race. Predictably, Mr. McCain was charged with playing the "race card" himself.

Notice that the WSJ piece does not attribute the quoted "race card" comment to anyone in particular, though the implication of the paragraph is that McCain was charged with playing the race card for complaining that at no time has the GOP candidate said anything remotely about his opponent's race.

On the other hand, the Telegraph article actually attributes a full quote in which Barack Obama is definitively accused of playing the race card -- for asserting that his opponents would attempt to use Obama's perceived differences to create fear -- by a significant member of the McCain campaign team.