Started this for comments, but I also felt I should add my own commentary. Keith Olbermann in his Special Comment on the Clinton campaign, I feel fell somewhat short. He gave Clinton so much benefit of doubt suggesting that somehow she is a separate entity from her campaign?!
If Obama were to whine and seek sympathy in playing the race card the way Hillary has played the gender card, and then go on to use sexist sentiments as some sort of tactical tool, not only would he be held personally responsible, but all media would eat him up alive and his campaign would have been over by now. So much for that "black male advantage" here in these here United States! Hillary Clinton is using race as a campaign tactic, to stoke the sentiments of all those blue collar white folk who will be voting in PA, and who may not watch Olbermann, and Mathews etc etc – btw I have now joined them in no longer watching Chris Mathews, I yell too many times at the TV – and whose sentiments may not necessarily be too far off Ms Ferraro’s that the black guy takes their jobs from them through affirmative action.
Unfortunately this will cost Barack votes in PA, it will work, as it has already been shown to be working in other states. It will drove the black vote away from Clinton, and now that there are no more states with huge black populations, Clinton really has nothing to lose, and cares nothing. Negative campaigning works. She knows it, and she is not only party to it, but it has been her tactic against Barack ever since SC, and it has finally picked up traction.
Obama cannot win this nomination, because he is too weak in his failure to shape the narrative. He has now turned spokesman for Ms Ferraro taking pains to point out that Ms Ferraro is not racist? It’s not his job to speak for her, nor his campaign’s and I can’t think why it doesn’t occur to them to not take on these goody goody stands on everything. It’s certainly not helping him any with either the media or the voters given all new polls. The media refers to knife fights, whereas in fact team Clinton is the only one throwing daggers, while camp Obama is so high above the fray, they are beginning to become invisible – at least as concerns their message.
It’s disheartening, and discouraging, but the politics of yesteryear is winning again, and the media is complicit, and you Keith should have gone further in condemning Mrs. Clinton for participating in this kind of dirty tricks. She heads her campaign and she hired all those characters that you now seem to put all the responsibility for the message on, and hence the concurrence in all of their message from Maggie Williams to Terry McAuliffe! This is not done accidentally.
It is a campaign tactic, and contrary to the current consensus, it will help not hurt the Clinton campaign, and it will certainly hurt the Obama campaign. It is not going away any time soon, and you can bet you that if somehow Clinton does not manage to wrest the nomination from Obama, the GOP will use the exact same tactic in the general. Thanks team Clinton again for handing the GOP not just the wonderful ideas, but the effective ammunition that they will be able to use without even having to run new ads. All they’ll have to do is use news clips of your divisive hateful tactics!
If Clinton wins the nomination, I cannot see black voters sticking with the Democratic Party, after all the insults leveled at both the African American intelligence as well as the sheer ruthlessness of how much the Democratic party takes the African American vote for granted. It may very well send African Americans to the GOP in droves, losing the Democrats the election in November and quite possibly sending the Democratic Party into oblivion for generations to come. Couple that with Condi as McCain’s veep, and you can bet you if Hillary is the nominee, the African American vote will go to the GOP in larger numbers than ever before seen, and again, the GOP will have beaten the Democrats at their own progressive smoke screens!