Racism, sexism, ageism … evidently, we're all victims now.

At least that's what partisans would have us believe.

The political reality, of course, is quite different. "Exoticism" in the political realm is no longer an impediment; it's a significant asset. And Republicans, whether they admit it or not, were yearning for the excitement Barack Obama generated — that is, before Sarah Palin came along.

Palin's frontier mystique has captivated conservatives. Both the lipstick and the pit bull. It also has discombobulated many Democrats, now fumbling to find a strategy to deal with a conservative woman.

We witnessed accusations of racism and sexism during the Democratic primary fight. On these topics, conservatives, for the most part, have tiptoed in trepidation, lest someone somewhere spy any misconduct.

Which makes the recent brouhaha over sexism that much sillier.

When Obama riffed off Palin's quote regarding lipstick, pigs and such, the McCain campaign instantaneously reacted with ham-fisted glee. Republicans do not excel at identity politics. They shouldn't try. Palin may be able to pull off election miracles, but playing the role of wounded prey is a nuclear-powered stretch.

Democrats, conversely, are prepared for the battle. Just witness how every word uttered by their rivals undergoes intense forensic scrutiny for any subliminal bigotry.

The accidental governor of New York, David Paterson, recently stated: "I think the Republican Party is too smart to call Barack Obama 'black' in a sense that it would be a negative. But you can take something about his life, which I noticed they did at the Republican convention — a 'community organizer.' They kept saying it; they kept laughing."

Well, I did notice. I also noticed Democrats in Denver hailing Obama's community organizing days as an idealistic and weighty accomplishment. Community organizing, you know, is about as impressive to a heartlander as the mayoralty of Wasilla, Alaska, is to an urbanite.

But there is a more serious, pre-emptive claim of racism: The economy, after all, is in terrible shape; no one likes the Republican president. There is no other way, it is asserted, that a candidate as talented as Obama could possibly lose this election. It must be prejudice.

To deny there are racists among us would be silly. But is it possible, with all the problems we face — rather the always-exaggerated problems we face during election time — that other factors play an overriding role?

Democrats told us everything was in shambles four years ago, yet states predictably lined up red and blue — a formula that likely, for the most part, will be repeated this year.

Did Americans have an intolerance for haughty junior senators from New England?

"You may or may not agree with Obama's policy prescriptions," Jacob Weisberg, also making the pre-emptive case in Slate, wrote, "but they are, by and large, serious attempts to deal with the biggest issues we face: a failing health care system, oil dependency, income stagnation, and climate change."

Well, yes. It is about policy. Voters may struggle with their mortgages and curse those high gas prices, yet most of them won't surrender core values or policy beliefs because of the vagaries of the economy.

If roughly half the nation's voters reject the serious, but collectivist solutions Obama offers them, it doesn't mean they're racists; it means they're Republicans.

Now, should Obama lose in November, it will be partly of his own doing and partly because the majority of voters are permanent members of their respective parties.

However you slice it, portraying a hyper-accomplished 47-year-old man running for the highest office in the world as a victim is about as preposterous as depicting Sarah Palin as a damsel in distress.

David Harsanyi is a columnist at The Denver Post and the author of "Nanny State." Visit his Web site at www.DavidHarsanyi.com. To find out more about David Harsanyi and read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate Web page at www.creators.com.

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