Monday, March 10, 2008
Mighty White Of You, Mrs. C!
Okay, so freshman senator Barack Obama currently leads the Democratic presidential nomination race in popular votes, states and delegates won! With that resume, he would, according to Hillary Rodham Clinton, be a pretty good vice presidential candidate -- for her? WTF??
In what Bizarro world does the person running behind discuss concessions that the leader in the race should consider?
She does realize that she's no longer first lady of some backwater southern state (my apologies to the good people of Arkansas), right?
This sort of behavior from HRC should not go unpunished. Gary Hart has already noted that HRC has violated an unspoken rule of primary politics -- you don't provide the other party's general election opponent with rhetorical weapons with which to attack the strongest rival for your party's nomination. Clinton did that with the, "Obama doesn't pass the national security test" -- whatever the heck that means. So, if HRC is intent on going nuclear, Obama's people (NOT the candidate himself) have to ask how far they are willing to go to respond in kind.
The Clintons have already been exposed in a very specific way by what occurred in South Carolina. Both the general media and black voters in general saw some not undisguised race-baiting.
With that history, Obama supporters could reasonably ask if Hillary Clinton would treat another rival --leading her by every statistical measure -- as an inferior to be considered as a running mate? Or, more bluntly, any white rival? (Yeah, Hillary likely considers everyone else her inferior, but would she adopt the same sort of condescending strategy?)
Now, the potential downside of Obama's people calling Hillary on this he has assiduously avoided running as the "black" candidate, in favor of making a post-racial ecumenical appeal. The Clinton South Carolina strategy was developed to marginalize him in just that way. Pointing out that the Clintons are acting in a stunningly disrespectul way -- intimating that the younger black candidate should be "happy" to be "accept" a de facto "appointment" by an older white female candidate, who seems to stop just short of calling him "boy" -- would give Democratic Party superdelegates (excessively PC as they are) something to think about. But how would it play in the media? Would on-the-fence voters think Obama was playing the race card himself?
It's a risky move, but Obama must do something to knock the Clinton machine off its stride.
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In what Bizarro world does the person running behind discuss concessions that the leader in the race should consider?
She does realize that she's no longer first lady of some backwater southern state (my apologies to the good people of Arkansas), right?
This sort of behavior from HRC should not go unpunished. Gary Hart has already noted that HRC has violated an unspoken rule of primary politics -- you don't provide the other party's general election opponent with rhetorical weapons with which to attack the strongest rival for your party's nomination. Clinton did that with the, "Obama doesn't pass the national security test" -- whatever the heck that means. So, if HRC is intent on going nuclear, Obama's people (NOT the candidate himself) have to ask how far they are willing to go to respond in kind.
The Clintons have already been exposed in a very specific way by what occurred in South Carolina. Both the general media and black voters in general saw some not undisguised race-baiting.
With that history, Obama supporters could reasonably ask if Hillary Clinton would treat another rival --leading her by every statistical measure -- as an inferior to be considered as a running mate? Or, more bluntly, any white rival? (Yeah, Hillary likely considers everyone else her inferior, but would she adopt the same sort of condescending strategy?)
Now, the potential downside of Obama's people calling Hillary on this he has assiduously avoided running as the "black" candidate, in favor of making a post-racial ecumenical appeal. The Clinton South Carolina strategy was developed to marginalize him in just that way. Pointing out that the Clintons are acting in a stunningly disrespectul way -- intimating that the younger black candidate should be "happy" to be "accept" a de facto "appointment" by an older white female candidate, who seems to stop just short of calling him "boy" -- would give Democratic Party superdelegates (excessively PC as they are) something to think about. But how would it play in the media? Would on-the-fence voters think Obama was playing the race card himself?
It's a risky move, but Obama must do something to knock the Clinton machine off its stride.
Labels: Barack Obama, Democratic 2008 Presidential, Hillary Clinton, race
