so says Eugene Robinson in a column today entitled The Card Clinton is Playing As per usual with Robinson, as those who watch him on MS-NBC know, he offers keen insight and an ability to sum things up precisely. Note especially his penultimate paragraph:
Clinton's sin isn't racism, it's arrogance. From the beginning, the Clinton campaign has refused to consider the possibility that Obama's success was more than a fad. This was supposed to be Clinton's year, and if Obama was winning primaries, there had to be some reason that had nothing to do with merit. It was because he was black, or because he had better slogans, or because he was a better public speaker, or because he was the media's darling. This new business about white voters is just the latest story the Clinton campaign is telling itself about the usurper named Obama.
Just the latest story. . .
After all, Clinton was not the only one saying that Obama could not win:
In private conversations last year, several of Clinton's high-profile African American supporters made that same argument to me -- that America wasn't "ready" for a black president, that this simple fact doomed Obama to failure, that a Clinton Restoration was the best result that African Americans could realistically hope for. Polls at the time showed Clinton leading Obama among black voters, a finding that reflected not only Clinton's greater name recognition but also considerable skepticism about a black candidate's ability to draw white support.
. As we all know, Obama began to disprove that beginning in Iowa. And although Robinson does not go through the litany, if we look at some of the states Obama has won, they are about as white as they come: Maine, New Hampshire, Wyoming, and Utah are just a few of those he won overwhelmingly which lack significant numbers of African-Americans.
Until Iowa most African-Americans themselves were like the prominent ones supporting Clinton, unable to believe that it was possible for a black man to win the nomination. And there was loyalty to the Clintons. But that is no longer the case, and since Bill's obnoxious remarks during the run up to South Carolina, we now have a situation that the Clintonian arrogance has alienated one of the most loyal Democratic constituencies. And Clinton's argument, as Gene Robinson, is
a repudiation of principles the party claims to stand for. Here's what she's really saying to party leaders: There's no way that white people are going to vote for the black guy. Come November, you'll be sorry.
Let me offer just a few other lines from this Robinson piece:
Assuming that Obama is the eventual nominee, he will have some work to do in reuniting the party. But there's no reason to think he won't succeed -- unless Clinton drives a wedge between important elements of the party's historical coalition.
As to why Clinton could reunite the party and Obama could not? Why would self-described Democrats vote for a self-described Conservative Republican over a black Democrat?
he answer, which Clinton implies but doesn't quite come out and say, is that Obama is black -- and that white people who are not wealthy are irredeemably racist.
Somehow this brings to mind the normal pattern of Clinton supporters at anyone who dare challenge them. I think particularly of the words of James Carville when the Paula Jones issue arose and he called her "trailer park trash," words which may have led her to be more willing to publicly pursue her complaint to the detriment of Bill's presidency. And it is incredibly insulting to lower-income whites, and reminiscent of the kinds of fear-mongering that has so often been used in the past by those in power to attempt to play off poor whites and blacks so that those in power would not be threatened.
But that does not complete the Clintonian arrogance in this case. Robinson calls the notion that Clinton could expect enthusiastic support from the Black community - after this kind of campaign and the results Obama has achieved - were she to get the supers to give her the nomination as "just nots." And he demolishes the arrogance of this belief in two cogent sentences:
Only in Camp Clinton does anyone believe that his supporters will be happy if party leaders tell him, in effect, "Nice job, kid, but we can't give you the nomination because, well, you're black. White people might not like that."
Let us be generous for a moment. Even I will briefly ignore my conclusion, posted on March 8, that Clinton's campaign has morally disqualified her from the presidency. Acknowledging the internal efficacy required to run for high office, the belief necessary to put oneself through th rigors of the campaign, let us grant that Hillary Clinton honestly believes that she is the most qualified to be President, and that in the perfect world and if others had the wisdom to see things as she does, she would be better positioned to beat McCain than is Obama. That would still require her to hold on to core Democratic constituencies while expanding the pool of support. She is not capable of winning without the strong support of the African-American community. And to take them for granted is arrogant, and also dangerous. And while she may draw strong supporter among lower-income and less-educated white voters in primaries in some states, someone had better remind her that it has been a long time since a Democratic presidential candidates won a majority of the white voters in the general - her husband was elected twice because of his strong African-American support. Lose that support and a lot of states flip to the Republicans, even some without large black populations, but which have been critical for Democrats in recent contests (Wisconsin and Pennsylvania, anyone?).
Perhaps all that is going on now is Clinton is pushing the envelope to be better positioned to negotiate the terms of her withdrawal. And we can argue whether or not she is entitled to any consideration - I would argue her recent campaign efforts have disqualified her from any entitlement, because she has chosen to act as if she is playing Samson, prepared to pull the temple of the Democratic party down upon her and us if she cannot be the victor. And maybe those around her (especially Bill) who are insisting on going the limit should pay attention to the response Obama got in the House yesterday, and realize that if she insists on pushing the limits of the tolerance of people in the party she runs the risk of public humiliation - of having prominent supporters publicly abandon her in favor of Obama. She is being given a small window to withdraw gracefully, and if she does not take it, she will have only herself to blame. Herself, her husband, the arrogance of both of them. An arrogance which refuse to acknowledge that she can no longer win, and can only damage the party and its nominee.
But Robinson says it so much better:
"It's still early," Clinton said Wednesday, vowing to fight on. At some level, she seems to believe the nomination is hers. Somebody had better tell her the truth before she burns the house down.
Peace.