The Introduction of "Race" into the Democratic Primary Benefited... Obama

[McCamy Taylor]

Something about this whole issue has been bothering me, and I have finally figured out what it was. People have been telling me that Bill and Hillary Clinton came up with a diabolic scheme to make voters in the Democratic primary aware of Barack Obama's race so that White voters would not vote for him. In order to do this, they began to make references to his race that were so veiled (according to Tim Russert just now on MSNBC) that no one but an African-American would take offense at them. For instance, calling Obama "young and eloquent" was supposed to denigrate him for being Black. However, only other Blacks would know this.

If Russert is correct (and I guess he is, because I would not have suspected that being called "young and eloquent" was an insult) then such a strategy was doomed to fail. Whites would not have any idea what was going on. Blacks, on the other hand, would be royally pissed. When African-Americans started crying "racial slur", members of other racial groups would become alarmed since racism is forbidden within the Democratic Party. Even Republican "soccer moms" do not like it. They would look at Hillary, who had stopped being a "bitch" in their eyes after New Hampshire when she showed that she could cry just like a real woman, and they would start referring to her as the "mega-bitch". Since Democrats of all races love the underdog or victim, Obama's support would rise, just as Hillary's support rose in New Hampshire after the "pile on" and Clinton's poll numbers rose after the impeachment.

Had Bill and Hillary Clinton been serious about directing a race based attack against Obama, they would not have attacked him as "young" or "inexperienced" or "someone who experimented with cocaine" or "someone who makes things up"---all charges that are racially nonspecific and charges which did not keep W. from getting elected. These things do not scare Americans. They are not considered contraindications to becoming president.

Were the Clintons attempting to interject race into the campaign, they would have started a "fear Obama" smear. That is how politicians keep Whites from voting for Blacks. "Fear the Black Man."

The only place I have seen or heard "Fear the Black Man" this campaign is from the right wing, which keeps harping on the links between Obama's Church and Louis Farrakhan and Black supremacy. It is in the American Conservative this month. That is Pat Buchanan's magazine. You know. Pat Buchanan, the man who keeps insisting that the Clintons' are conducting a diabolic plan to inflame African-American voters by casting racially charged aspersions at Obama.

I do not believe that the Clintons ever intended to interject race into this campaign. I believe that they wish that Obama was as White as Hillary. Race has benefited Obama in South Carolina where he has been able to play the victim for the benefit of the entire Democratic Party. It has benefited the mainstream media which has had a juicy story to hype and distort.

http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/horsesmouth/2008/01/new_york_times_11.php

And boy, are the talking heads at MSNBC trying to sell it right now.

Pat Buchanan "Bill Clinton is laughing."

[aquart]

1. You noticed.

So did I.

[cmkramer]

5. As did I

Regarding drugs, why was that suddenly an attack on Obama's race? You know, white kids did drugs too. Does anyone honestly believe that if John Edwards had a book out where he spoke about experimenting with drugs (including cocaine) as a young man that it would have been totally ignored?

So the whole Obama strategy relied on taking anything that the Clintons said and crying "racism"? Wow, what a way to unify the country.

[jackson_dem]

2. The numbers confirm Obama benefitted

[goodgd_yall]

3. The media played up race as an issue

They spoke as though everyone understood that Hillary and Bill were playing race politics to their advantage. It was an assumption we're all supposed to support. If you weren't on top of things, all you could do was agree---I mean, it was stated so many times, it must be true, right?

[EffieBlack]

4. Interestingly, this has been going on for years in political discourse and the press never noticed!

And, in fact, attacked and mocked anyone who pointed it out - accused us of playing the "race card."

When Biden called Obama "clean and articulate" - even though I don't believe he intended a racial insult - the media attacked those of us who tried to point out why such a characterization is offensive. When Bill Bennett said aborting black babies would lower the crime rate, they defended him - and attacked us for "calling Bennett a racist." When Pat Buchanan and George Will make their inane, but racist comments, they not only defend them, but continue to give them a platform.

Yet, all of a sudden they are jumping all over Bill Clinton for "injecting race into the campaign." I do not believe that Clinton did this intentionally, but instead think that he was careless with his words when he should have known how highly charged this situation had become and how likely the media would be to seize on anything and everything he said. And that's just what happened.

But the media has been the biggest culprit - they've sensationalized this and ratcheted it up. I think they did it partly in order to make the race more interesting, but more likely because they are too lazy to actually cover issues and it's so much easier - and probably generates bigger ratings - to jump all over superficial "controversies" such as this.

Ironically, in so doing, I think they ended up energizing black voters and may have made Obama an even more viable candidate.

[rodeodance]

6. of course they made him more viable. Will it extend much beyond SC??

.......
Ironically, in so doing, I think they ended up energizing black voters and may have made Obama an even more viable candidate.