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As the general election starts to take shape, there is a growing war between Barack Obama and John McCain on very substantive issues which are very integral to the election. The problem is that on many of these issues the voters are being left with a perception that might not have anything to do with the reality.

The perception that the Republican Party is attempting to sell is that John McCain is a war hero and will be tough on terrorism. If you believe them, the nation will be more secure with a former POW and Naval pilot at the helm than with Obama.

Why? Well, the Republican National Committee would argue that it should be obvious. Barack is against the war. He has said he will, gasp!, meet with the leaders of other countries, even ones that are not our friends. Historically, not all great war time leaders were pro-war or even veterans. In fact, most great leaders in war time had the role thrust upon them, kind of like George W. Bush. Weren’t expecting that analogy, were ya?

The simple truth is that being former military does not mean you are absolutely better to run the American War on Terror. After all, the current president is a veteran and he sort of bungled the war effort, didn’t he?  Ronald Reagan, a diplomat and a charismatic man with no military history, won the Cold War.

Added to that are the quiet questions about McCain’s time as a POW. Like the accusations against John Kerry, that he was not military leader he claimed to be, there are accusation that McCain is not the POW hero he claims to be. The poster here, who signs his name, first made the accusations about McCain in 1999. This is not a new attack, but it does seem to be something we ought to know about the man who would be king.

The perception is that Barack is naive and uninformed about international politics, but the reality is that he has lived it. As a child of many cultures, he has travelled much of the world and understands the diplomacy aspect of international relations. As near as I can tell, the only diplomacy McCain has learned is to “carry a big stick”. He forgot he “walk softly” portion of the adage.

Another portion of the perception versus reality game taking place is the quiet and deliberate, hushed tones even, attack on Obama.  Every effort is made to portray him and his family as racist while people in the comfort of their own homes or voting booths decide they just can’t vote for a black man for president.

And they have been so sly about it, clouding the issue as a question of religion. His father was Muslim, he spent some time in a Muslim school, he’s really a Muslim. The implication and the perception that hate mongers want people to be left with is that Obama is the same sort of extremist as those who flew planes into the World Trade Center. We can’t come right out and say don’t vote for him because he’s black, so we stage whisper “Muslim” and point behind his back. I guess this is okay, becuase really, how many white Muslims do you know?

I heard a woman named Asma Barlas speak once about the perception that white Western women have of Muslim women, a perception that is again not reality. As a white Western woman, it was uncomfortable to hear, but her argument made sense. We want to believe that Muslim women are oppressed so that we can believe we are superior to them. In the same way, Americans seem to need to believe that all Muslims are evil, so that we can maintain some sort of superiority.

In reality, some Muslim women are oppressed, just as some women are elsewhere in the world. Perception versus reality. In reality, some Muslims are extremists, just as are some Christians. In realtiy, some military men are leaders and some are just son’s of admirals following in Daddy’s footsteps, with a little help from his friends.

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