Hillary Pulls Race Card and Obama May Fold

At approximately 6 p.m. on Jan. 15, three hours before a Kumbaya interlude at the Democratic presidential debate in Las Vegas, I saw Al Sharpton defending Senator Barack Obama from charges of youthful drug abuse.

As we all know by now, the accusation arises from Obama's own admission in his modern Horatio Alger tale, Dreams From My Father, published long before he became a presidential candidate, that he tried cocaine as a teenager.

The hoopla over this has validated the judgment of George W. Bush eight years ago to refuse to answer questions about his own alleged drug use, which many believe continued well beyond his teen years. This is why honesty isn't considered the best policy by political consultants. But I digress.

Sharpton has done things to redeem himself in recent years, but his presence is a one-way ticket back to Tawana Brawley, boycotts, shakedowns and good old-fashioned, in-your-face confrontational race-based politics. Seeing him in that box on TV, I realized that the Clintons had done what they needed to do to stop Obama's historic surge in its tracks.

From the start of his career, Obama wanted, and needed, to remove the race card from the political deck. While it isn't clear from whose sleeve the card was pulled, it is likely it wasn't from the person with the most to lose.

If Hillary Clinton's campaign had taken only one shot at Obama, it might have been blown off as a mistake. But four shots constitutes a pattern, with Clinton's former New Hampshire chairman, Bill Shaheen, Representative Charles Rangel, Clinton pollster Mark Penn and Black Entertainment Television founder Bob Johnson all getting into the act.

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Comments

[bluesjones63]

I am NOT understanding what you are attempting to say. Are you implying that African-Americans are STILL afraid of viciousness? Are you saying that African-Americans cannot take "the heat"? Are you saying that African-Americans did not recognize that Barack's race remains a factor in US society? Are you saying that ALL Americans need to stop dreaming/hoping because ONE Democratic presidential candidate decries so-called "false hope"?
What are you saying?

[LeeFromVA]

The Clintons have a whole pile of embarassing crap that could be brought up by Obama or Obama surrogates. Does he do it? Absolutely not. If the tables were turned and the Clintons had that kind of info on Obama would they use it? Hell yes. They criticised him about a kindergarten essay for God's sake. Can you imagine the field day they'd have with a DNA soaked dress, or an affair involving an intern and a cigar? Obama is trying to take the high road and deserves credit for that. He wants a newer, greater America. He's in it for the right reasons.

I used to think the Hillary haters were insane, now at least I understand them. I used to worry that Hillary couldn't win in a general election, now I'm scared she could win. Seriously folks, it would not be a good thing for this country. Even if you like Hillary, you have to agree that she brings some major problems with her. I for one am tired of all the drama.

[StephenDedalus82]

I get the impression that neither camp wanted to talk about race. This isn't about Hillary supporters suddenly coordinating their remarks to assault Obama on race. It's about the media inventing a narrative based on non-race-based comments and then giving constant play to anything said by a supporter that could fit into that narrative. Do we not understand how the media works yet?

[kcnativnla]

Race and gender will be factored in to this race. No groundbreaking news there. However, what are we (blacks and women) supposed to do in reaction; say "running will make people talk about and confront these issues" and then regulate ourselves to our "roles"? I find it disturbing that the very people making this argument are the very blacks and women who should be supporting this groundbreaking moment. That, my friends, is called brainwashing. Society has brainwashed you by saying "you can't win, so why try", and you've picked up that mantle and run with it. I feel sorry for you.

[Charles TW]

It amazes me how anyone can handicap the race for the White House without factoring the race and gender cards. There are a large segments of our voting population who will not accept a black or woman President under any circumstances. Although such racists and sexists are not easily quantifiable, they must be taken into account. Consider the Harold Ford Senate in Tennessee for example.
www.charlestwilliams.com

[bob5701]

the hill is going to rip this election off and the ob can't do anything about it.

[LongTom]

The Clintonistas have been successful so far at deflecting the conversation toward anything but the utter vacuousness of her only campaign theme--her very dubious "experience."

As long as people are talking about the Clintonites' pathetic jabs at Obama (and, btw, the youthful drug use he long ago aired is not aptly described as his "record"), they aren't talking about Hillary's rotten favorable ratings, her many mistakes while accruing the alleged "experience" that supposedly makes it so urgent for us to nominate her, nor the quandary she'll face when she's running against, say, McCain, who has far more experience than she does.

What will she do then? Withdraw and vote for McCain?
Hillary's campaign has been engineered by a nitwit. Her wretched flailings and Bill's coattails may yet squeeze her through to the nomination. But she's a certain loser in November.

[luckypete]

This is ridiculous. Maybe we should revisit those old rumours of Bill Clinton's penchant for blow during his days as the Governor of Arkansas. Along with "Slick Willie," they often referred to him as "The Snowman." The Clinton's are playing with fire with this one.

[Samson1]

Clearly, the game plan of the Obama campaign is to make it very difficult to say anything in any way negative about Obama while taking shots at Clinton whenver possible, albeit usually polite veiled shots. The Clinton campaign is using surogates to take shots at Obama on his record, his experience (or lack thereof), his personal history, and his suitability for office. If any of the shots seem to hit home, then a followup can be made.

What is interesting to me is that the Obama campaign and much of the media seem to feel that it is somehow unfair to do this. There was even a headline on HuffPo recently that the Clintons were "politicizing" the campaign as if it were possible to have a political campaign that was not politicized. It is pretty clear where Huffpo's sympathy lies (at least management).

How about we all just let em fight it out like always and find ourselves a nominee who can actually win the Presidency, hm?

[ghull]

Clinton people are attacking Obama. Wow! Who could see that coming? But, as another comment notes, mentioning Obama's drug past (as well as being irrelevant) has nothing to do with race. Does Margaret realize that two of the people she claims are raising race issues are black? Apparently, media critics are tired of waiting for someone to play the race card, so they're taking it into their own hands. But et tu, Margaret? You're starting to sound a lot like Tucker.

[eshalom]

Obama supporters keep trying to put chunks of his record off limits for any kind of discussion. Whenever anyone criticizes him, instead of responding to it rationally, there's an all out attack against the other party either directly or indirectly charging racism. It's off limits to mention his personal history, but okay to bring up Hillary Clinton's; it's off limits to mention his middle name, but it's okay to ridicule Clinton's inclusion of Rodham in her signature; it's okay for him to allude to African-American leaders from the civil rights movement in his rhetorical flourishes, but it's inappropriate for her to mention the obstacles she's had to overcome in her lifetime. And it's becoming increasingly obvious that he has the media in the palm of his hand; whereas, Hillary Clinton is being treated even worse than Al Gore was treated by the media in the 2000 campaign.

The Obama supporters cry victim at every opportunity, but just let Hillary Clinton mention a slight she has received - wow!

[Tubby]

I think she is trying to say that criticizing Obama is akin to criticizing Israel: In the first instance you're deemed a racist, in the second you're deemed antisemitic.

[Sitco]

Her point is contained in the statement:
(Sharpton'­s)..presen­ce is a one-way ticket back to Tawana Brawley, boycotts, shakedowns and good old-fashioned, in-your-face confrontational race-based politics.

[BillZBubb]

I'm confused. How is talking about drug use the "race card"?

Frankly, talking about Obama's admitted drug use in his distant past isn't going to harm his chances in Democratic primaries. For most Democrats, that's a non-issue. Clinton et al. are wasting their time on that.

But, that leads to the bigger point: Is any serious criticism of Obama racist? That seems to be what a lot of people are implying.