| South Carolina last night became the first Southern | | | | and I sure hope he got it. Why? Because Obama |
| state in the presidential primary season to vote, and | | | | understands, as I and a growing number of my fellow |
| South Carolinians sent a message to the Democratic | | | | Americans do, that the Democrats need a new base: |
| Party: if you want credibility with today's voters, don't | | | | a base guided by the dynamic political center, not the |
| turn the clock back on racial politics. | | | | deluded apologists for outdated liberal assumptions. |
| The big winner was Barack Obama, garnering 55 | | | | Democrats at an X-roads |
| percent of the vote in the Democratic primary. It was | | | | Hillary and Bill Clinton have not simply tarnished their |
| no surprise that Obama inspired 78 percent of black | | | | own, respective images: they have made their joint |
| voters to side with him. But what was perhaps more | | | | goal VERY CLEAR. They just wanna be president. |
| notable was the approximately 12 to 14 percent | | | | Their ambition has trumped even the need to preserve |
| "bump" he got in white voters, whose support had | | | | the integrity of the Democratic Party in its modern |
| stood at a paltry 10 percent only days ago thanks to | | | | compact with black voters, wherein Democrats - |
| the efforts of the Clinton Ambition Machine. | | | | thanks, it's true, largely to Lyndon Johnson - had been |
| Hillary Clinton had gotten the ball rolling by trying to | | | | judged as the party that truly cared about black |
| not-so-subtly brand Obama as a "black candidate" | | | | concerns. |
| -rather than simply a "candidate" - when she made a | | | | The Clintons showed me how little respect they had |
| point of noting that Martin Luther King's efforts at | | | | for the dignity of black people as individuals; that, in their |
| attaining greater equality for blacks in the 1950s and | | | | eyes, black folks were just a "voting bloc" the party |
| early 60s would have been fruitless without (white) | | | | needs to keep a hold of, even if it means using political |
| president Lyndon Johnson. (Why did her comment | | | | extortion. Strong language, I know. But what I saw and |
| have racial undertones? Because she wouldn't have | | | | heard from the Clintons in South Carolina was an |
| had any material to work with if Johnson had been | | | | attempt to threaten blacks with further marginalization |
| black.) | | | | if they sided with a "black" candidate. It must have |
| Here's what I heard in Clinton's message: Remember, | | | | been one of the saddest moments of truth for legions |
| black people, you can't get anywhere without whites | | | | of former (Bill) Clinton supporters. People like me. |
| making it happen for you. As if blacks don't already | | | | The irony is that the Clintons' assumptions about the |
| know how much sympathy they need from members | | | | prejudices of voters today may turn out to be |
| of the cultural majority simply to be assured a minimum | | | | misplaced. I would not be surprised if their tactics, |
| of respect from that cultural majority. Hubby and | | | | which seem to have backfired on them in South |
| former ex-prez Bill Clinton had already labeled | | | | Carolina, continue to undermine Hillary's campaign |
| Obama's POV on the war a "fairy tale," suggesting | | | | heading into Super Tuesday. |
| that the "black candidate" was naive about international | | | | (How disgusted was I with the Clintons? I actually |
| affairs and therefore nowhere near as sophisticated | | | | caught myself fantasizing about voting for Mitt |
| as "people like us." | | | | Romney if Clinton were his opponent.) |
| Bill further tried to pigeonhole Obama as an old-school | | | | Those in America who want to see the Democrats |
| liberal leader (read: culturally - or racially - | | | | establish a winning game plan need to help move the |
| one-dimensional) by suggesting that Obama's support | | | | party toward Obama's more inclusive - and politically |
| in South Carolina was comparable to Jesse Jackson's | | | | realistic - vision. Whether they realize it or not, |
| primary victories in the state in 1984 and 1988. But | | | | Democratic voters are faced with a historic decision: |
| voters who've been paying attention know that | | | | to stay where they've been, circling their leftist wagons |
| Obama is a totally different guy than Jackson. He has | | | | and sticking their heads in the sand; or taking the |
| no interest in playing a "black leader," but rather in being | | | | blinders off, opening their minds and living in the present |
| an "American leader." | | | | and future. |
| Obama also has no interest in seeing the Democratic | | | | That present and future could mean victory for a |
| Party prolong its losing streak vis-a-vis the presidency, | | | | rebranded Democratic Party - a party where race is |
| which is why he has made a point of saying that | | | | beside the point, because the candidates don't make a |
| crossover Republicans and Independent voters are | | | | point of race; where good ideas are welcomed, no |
| welcome under his tent. | | | | matter what part of the political spectrum they come |
| Hillary Clinton went after Obama at the Democratic | | | | from; where more "average" citizens help drive the |
| debate Monday night for praising Ronald Reagan. As I | | | | party's direction and the "elites" responsible for |
| watched her try to paint Obama as a | | | | repeated failures on the political playing field no longer |
| "Republican-lover," I thought: How stupid. What I heard | | | | call the shots. |
| in Obama's comments about Reagan, the appeal of | | | | Candidates who rely on the votes of narrow-minded, |
| Republican ideas and the Republican Party's challenge | | | | polarized, fearful and misguided elements in their midst |
| of conventional wisdom during the 1980s and 1990s | | | | will not do well in a political landscape where the winds |
| was an appreciation for their STRATEGY - not their | | | | of unity and inclusion are blowing. Democratic voters |
| POLICIES. | | | | must decide whether they will allow themselves to be |
| This is precisely the ground I cover in my book, | | | | swept along by those winds, as they sow spring fields |
| "Democrats in the Red Zone: an Independent voter's | | | | with the seeds of positive change - or whether they |
| take on the game of political perception." I gave a copy | | | | will stick with what they think they know, even if it |
| to Obama's communications team in New Hampshire, | | | | leads to failure. |