Newt Gingrich has turned his Monday night debate exchange with Juan Williams on food stamps and the black community into a campaign ad titled “The Moment”:
The ad begins with the question, “Who can beat Obama?” The ad is betting that Republicans are longing to see Gingrich lecture the first black president on how there’s nothing racist about suggesting black people would rather be on public assistance than work for a living. It indulges two longstanding Republican fantasies: That Obama is an intellectual lightweight dependent on his teleprompter who would be easily dispatched by a knowledgeable conservative opponent, and that racism on the right is entirely an invention of liberals, who are the real racists.
It’s telling that, although Gingrich’s overall performance last night was reviewed positively by political observers, this is what his campaign chose to emphasize.
