Yet, to ignore this subject completely, never to mention in print what so many are thinking, is to miss something important. Only against this dark background of dread can you appreciate the full irresponsibility of the turn that the McCain-Palin campaign has taken toward attacking Mr. Obama's character, biography and patriotism – attacks that, in other contexts, we would not hesitate to describe as “character assassination.” The charge made by Sarah Palin that he has been “palling around with terrorists”; the robocalls associating him with “domestic terrorist” William Ayers; the insinuation that he is alien, un-American or even anti-American, rhyming Obama with Osama; the absence of instant rebuke when some idiot at a Palin rally cries out “Terrorist!” or even “Kill him!” (Okay, she probably didn't hear it. But was she stirring them up against him? You betcha. Did she spell out the limits of responsible debate? Not that I ever heard.) Palin supporters might retort: This is America, not namby-pamby Europe. We fight tough and we fight to win. But more responsible Republicans disagree. They argue that, if you really put “country first” – John McCain's campaign motto – you should not travel this road and risk stirring those demons. It's no accident that Mr. Obama was given Secret Service protection unusually early in the primaries. Watching Colin Powell's measured and eloquent endorsement of Mr. Obama, many will have recalled that one widely reported reason Mr. Powell himself did not run for president was his wife's fear that he would be assassinated. No serious analyst would dispute that the threat to Mr. Obama, however effective his Secret Service protection, is greater than it would be to a white candidate.
Of course, the nutters, xenophobes and racists are out there anyway. The point is that no one should ever be able to claim, with even a shadow of plausibility, that the McCain-Palin campaign has given them even a hint of encouragement. I feel it important to record that I have heard several white Republicans say, with real feeling, what a great thing it would be for the United States to have a black president. “It would be electrifying,” former secretary of state James Baker said on CNN, before hastening to add that he was Republican and therefore backing Mr. McCain.
This criticism of the nasty turn taken by the McCain-Palin campaign would lose some of its force if the Obama campaign had been launching comparable attacks on the character and biography of the Republican candidates. The Obama camp has done its share of negative campaigning, and factcheck.org finds that the candidate himself has sometimes misrepresented Mr. McCain's policy positions. But he has never resorted to such lowdown personal attacks. In the last presidential debate, he even heroically refrained from questioning Ms. Palin's qualifications to be president – passing up a sitting duck, if ever there was one. His quiet message was: Let the American people judge. So the McCain-Palin campaign has been unilaterally playing with fire.
The stakes in this election grow higher by the day. It feels like watching a poker game with huge piles of chips accumulating on the table. Both the potential loss and potential gain are huge. On the upside is not just the symbolic breakthrough of electing the first African-American president – and a child of the world carrying with him the hopes of the world. It's also the arrival in the world's most important job of someone who has the potential to do it very well. Not the best candidate for president. That was Bill Clinton: a campaigner of genius, at once folksy and intellectual. But good at the actual job.
I did not always think this. At the beginning of the year, I still thought Hillary Clinton had the edge over Mr. Obama for knowledge and experience. But Mr. Obama has gained stature through every challenge. For a start, he has shown amazing stamina and strength. Due to the long drawn-out primary contest with Ms. Clinton, he has been campaigning for nearly two years non-stop. Through all the ups and downs of the campaign, and the financial crisis of recent weeks, he has been cool as a cucumber and steady as a rock. Stamina, strength, coolness under pressure and calmness under fire: These are qualities we'd like to see in a president.
