Barring a miracle, Troy Davis will die by lethal injection on Monday night. With the election so close you can taste it, nobody wants to talk about an execution.   A rally is scheduled for 6:00 pm on October 23rd on the steps of the Georgia State Capitol and I plan to be there.  

The state-sanctioned death of Troy Davis will receive a few passing mentions in the major newspapers and thirty seconds on CNN.  Davis has some high-profile supporters (Jimmy Carter, Desmond Tutu, the Pope, Amnesty International) and that’s enough to warrant a few equal-and-opposite quotes from supporters and state officials. 

Then our eyes will drift back to the horse race between Barack Obama and John McCain and the plight of Troy Davis affair will be forgotten.

Don’t expect the presidential candidates to defend an innocent man.  John McCain has enough problems with the Republican base without taking up for a convicted cop killer.  This late in the game, the disciplined Obama campaign isn’t going to hand McCain a Willie Horton moment.

So I decided to invest money I don’t have in a protest no one will notice.  I’m flying to Atlanta because I can.  Many of you would stand up for Troy in Atlanta if you could, but you can’t.  If you want me to stand proxy for you let me know (all contributions gratefully received).

Politicians and quarterbacks think the same.  Up by ten late in the game, Team Obama is running the ball straight into the line while Team McCain runs trick plays and guns for the end zone.  The caution of the Democrat and the increasing desperation of his Republican challenger tell us things about America we’d rather not know.

Although Barack Obama styles himself as an agent of change, his campaign, from the outset, has been a model of disciplined caution.  Having studied the losing strategies of Democratic presidential campaigns over the last few decades, Obama understands that what you say isn’t nearly as important as what you don’t say. 

Any impression that you are weak on national defense and terrorism, soft on crime, insufficiently patriotic or too attentive to the needs of the poor and the underprivileged spells death for Democrats.  Which explains why a progressive politician from Chicago presents himself as pro death penalty, supportive of the war in Afghanistan, opposed to gay marriage and a champion of the middle class who rarely mentions poor folks and avoids all contact with Muslim Americans.

The Democrat has come to terms with the unpleasant realities of Middle America.  He tells us who we are.  Colin Powell can stand up for Muslim Americans (and thank God he did), but Powell isn’t running for president.

John McCain hates gutter politics, but the realities of American life give leave him with no alternative.  If he thought the high road would carry him to victory he would take it.  But his handlers gave him a choice: whine about Bill Ayres and socialism or wave the white flag.  And if the candidate is too principled to sing the praises of pro America real Americans, then you bring in the surrogates to do it. 

Watching this hate parade from the curb, we learn a few more unpleasant truths about America.  We are desperately afraid of terrorists, criminals and folks who don’t look, speak and pray like we do.  We aren’t all that way, but Republican strategists are hoping that more than 50% of us are. 

John McCain knows the low road probably won’t take him to the White House.  After sacrificing the last vestige of personal dignity he will be remembered as the guy who lost to Barack Obama in ’08. 

But maybe, just maybe, he can still turn this thing around.  That’s what keeps him going.

Obama’s caution tells us that America remains a fearful center-right empire heavily invested in military might and mass incarceration.  This year’s Democratic hopeful can’t rush back to Arkansas to preside over the execution of a mentally retarded man.  The last successful Democratic presidential candidate took no pleasure in this crude guesture, but the times demanded it.  Once elected, Clinton punted on health care reform and turned his attention to a massive omnibus crime bill he knew would enjoy bipartisan support.  Politics ain’t beanbag.

Barack Obama knows he can’t intercede for Troy Davis–politics is the art of the possible.

Fortunately, most of us aren’t preachers, politicians or bank presidents and are therefore free to follow the dictates of conscience.  My conscience tells me to get up at 4:30 tomorrow morning so I can be at DFW by 6:00.  To be honest, it feels like a futile gesture.  One more anonymous face at a Troy Davis rally isn’t going to change anything.  

But maybe, just maybe, we can still turn this thing around.  That’s what keeps me going.