Sympathy for the Devil

There is no way I would actually vote for her but I am beginning to feel sorry for Hillary Clinton. The Obama campaign has figured out how to go negative without seeming to. They comb the press for any comments made by anyone remotely connected with the Clinton campaign then they examine these comments with a magnifying glass looking for any possible crypto-racist spin. This allows them to continually complain that Hillary has gone negative.

The Obama campaign has always been prickly about race. When a fellow senator used the word "articulate" to describe Obama he was instantly condemned for implying that it was unusual for blacks to be articulate (considering Bush, Gore, and Kerry he obviously meant that it was unusual for a presidential candidate to be articulate).

Since January this focus has been trained on Hillary's people. One of her people suggested that Republican background research might turn up that Obama not only used drugs, he might have sold them, also. This was judged as racist because it implied that black drug-users were more likely than white to sell some on the side.

Hillary was asked if Obama was a Muslim. She said in no uncertain terms that he was not. The question was repeated and she continued to deny it. Partway through this questioning she slipped in a "as far as I know." Politicians and lawyers always leave themselves a little wiggle room, especially when vouching for someone else. Obama's supporters seized on this as if it was part of a carefully prepared statement and the only thing she said. To hear them, this tiny disclaimer was code words to mean that he really is Muslim.

Geraldine Ferraro pointed out that Obama's race had a lot to do with his success. She would know since she was Mondale's vice-presidential pick because of her gender. Given that Obama is 99th in seniority in the Senate and never sponsored any significant legislation, Ferraro can be forgiven for thinking that Obama's success has to do with more than his vast experience. For making this rather obvious observation she is being called a racist and Hillary is being pilloried for not condemning her strongly enough.

The 3:00 am ad has been examined in a new light by Orlando Patterson who discovered a hidden, racist message. It turns out that the children in the ad can sleep, not because an experienced president is there to take the 3:00 am call, but because a black man is not in the White House.

All of this is causing a frenzy on the left. Hillary is the new George Bush. James Moore wrote a column comparing Hillary to Karl Rove and Darth Vader. The comments following the column are full of Hillary=Bush invective. Keith Olbermann did one of his special commentaries, also comparing Hillary with evil Republicans.

There just isn't much that Hillary can do to fight back. I expect that Obama will continue to discover crypto-racism in Hillary's campaign.

This is probably the roll-out for Obama's campaign against McCain.