Politico reaffirms the obvious: John McCain is playing the race card and everybody knows it.

By far the most likely thing that could derail Obama’s victory is a racial backlash that is not visible in today’s polls but is waiting to surge on Election Day — coaxed to the surface (to the extent coaxing is needed) with the help of coded appeals from McCain and his conservative allies.

Racial issues tend to hover in the background in much of the public analysis of the Obama-McCain horserace — often mentioned but not usually as the dominant factor. By contrast, it is increasingly the subject of obsessive interest in the nonstop, not-for-attribution conversation that takes place between reporters, political analysts and campaign sources in the heat of an election.

I'm glad the Politico is calling coded language by its name.  Racially charged tropes like "Obama pals around with terrorists," "Obama the celebrity," and endless invocations of Rev. Wright are most powerful when the racism is plausibly deniable.

The code isn't just to placate liberals. Against all odds and predictions, we've finally reached the point in this country where nobody wants to think of themselves as a racist. No swing voter wants to vote for a candidate whose rhetoric is overtly racist. Bare-faced racial demagoguery is out, coded language is in. Yet the same old racial fears and resentments haven't gone away. People can still be manipulated by ads that hint at stereotypes and echo themes without spelling them out. 

The McCain campaign has to be more subtle now. Steve Schmidt wants to push people's buttons without forcing them to acknowledge that they are being racist. Notice that Rev. Wright is frequently denounced as a racist by Republicans. 

Expect more racially charged dirty tricks and more indignant howls from Republicans that Democrats are playing the race card when they object.