Todays exit polls had great news for Obama. Obama is improving his standing with white voters, older voters and Jewish voters. It's important for any democratic nominee to work to appeal to all Americans, so when a candidate lags behind with one demographic group we naturally ask "what can they do to catch up?" Since Obama has not done as well with these groups in states like Ohio it's reasonable to have that conversation. And it looks like Obama has been working to fix this gap --and he's making progress.
I've noticed, however, that when the demographic group is black voters the nature of the question changes. Instead of asking "What has Clinton done to appeal to black voters?" or asking "Why can't Clinton get more of the black vote?" the question is framed more along the lines of: "Why do black people vote for Obama so much?"
I think we need to reframe this. I want to know why Clinton has failed to appeal to black voters. The exit polls from Pittsburgh show, that the gap is still enormous. It's embarrassing. Less than 10 percent of black voters supported Clinton. Couldn't Clinton at least make some respectable inroads with this important group of voters? It's clear that black voters from Philadelphia are a huge part of Obama's ability to keep this race close, just a hair under 9 percent. Just a little support from black voters, a respectable 30% of the black vote for example, could have made Clinton's win more convincing --and it would lay to rest fears that her nomination would result in a backlash with black voters staying home or voting against her should she manage to get the nomination.
This will be even more important in North Carolina which has a significant black population. Clinton's failure to make any inroads with black voters is a significant problem, as they are a key part of the democratic base. If she can't win them in the primaries how can she hope to win them in the general election?