Watching CNN, I was struck at how this tried-and-true political label has finally been exposed for what is always was: a euphemism. The commentators would be at a loss at various points as to how to describe Hillary's voters--they can't just say "folks afraid to vote for a black man"--and then there it was:
REAGAN DEMOCRATS
Before people get dewy thinking about a unity effort or some kind of truce, just remember John King and Soledad O'Brien et al repeating that sobriquet over and over. Video, some analysis and a little snark after the jump...
She's gone from Norma Desmond to Norma Rae, but all along, Clinton's dirty little secret has not been her various voices, her shady finances, her frightening lack of honest, her shameless panders. No it's her base:
The commentators all but refer to Clinton as the Republican candidate when they look at their maps and charts; John King didn't blink as he reeled off the republican areas where Clinton was running strong, and the democratic areas where Obama was doing well... No surprise. Thankfully, as Clinton looks more and more pathetic and Obama looks stronger and stronger, his margins among white women and working class folks continue to improve--even in states like PA and IN that are supposedly hostile to him. Obama is our democratic nominee.
But looking at the returns from southern Indiana and northwestern North Carolina, the spine of Clinton's electoral logic has been exposed, and it isn't pretty. Forget Operation Chaos--she is now relying on old, gut-level fear to limp forward.
Don't get me wrong--I'm from East Tennessee originally; and I love my Smoky Mountain home. But there is some deep-seated, um RACISM, out there. And I for one will never forgive the Clintons for clinging to it--for winking at these "Reagan Democrats"--in their desperation.
Hold on for a crazy metaphorical jump: Clinton to me looks more and more like...Kim Jung Il. Famously marginalized, xenophobic, reality-averse and utterly irrelevant.