Yes, I know & understand the history and politics which cause race to be a sensitive issue in the United States. This isn't exactly what I meant by "what is the race card?"

What I mean is, the media clearly use the phrase as a way of saying that someone has used the issue of race in the campaign with malicious intent. And yet they use the phrase so precipitously and pervasively that it seems to me that the media judges any mention of race in the campaign as evidence of malicious intent.

The Wright controversy that nearly sunk Obama's primary campaign forced the Illinois Senator to give a speech about race, in the hopes of avoiding political catastrophe. I think that the speech he gave, although motivated by politics, rose above politics for a few minutes and addressed the issue of race in an honest, mature, genuine way. It has been a long time since I have seen a politician with the guts to speak to voters as if they were mature, thinking human beings. I had to admire Obama for both his honesty... and his political guile. I think that speech might have saved his campaign.

But, with a few exceptions, the media has not made the same effort to speak about race seriously. I think they have capitalized on what has been and continues to be one of America's most painful issues in order to enhance the apparent drama of this election.

So then there's another question: who's to blame? I mean, do we blame the media, or do we blame ourselves, consumer, for rewarding the media for dwelling on this bullshit? The ad revenues for fast-food media tells us loud and clear: they're just giving us what we want. Or, perhaps more true, they're giving us what we're willing to buy.

Is it the media's responsibility to deliver a mature, sensible dialogue about race? Or is it our responsibility to demand one?