by Teh Nutroots | Maybe the Democratic candidates really don't get that in a race where many of the voters like all of them, an attack by one on one of the others is at best a two-edged sword, as my co-blogger Damozel is always saying. They aren't going to do themselves any lasting good by refusing to play nice.
I have already written about this once. Don't they listen? Okay, I'm kidding about that, but really---just when I was feeling more and more settled about Obama---HuffPost gives me this:
Sen. Barack Obama's presidential campaign has prepared a detailed memo listing various instances in which it perceived Sen. Hillary Clinton's campaign to have deliberately played the race card in the Democratic primary. The memo, which was obtained by the Huffington Post and has been made public elsewhere, is believed to have been given to an activist and contains mostly excerpts from different media reports. It lists the contact info and name of Obama's South Carolina press secretary, Amaya Smith, and is broken down into five incidents in which either Clinton, her husband Bill, or campaign surrogates made comments that could be interpreted as racially insensitive....
In putting together a memo on these comments, the Obama campaign is seemingly implying that they are part of a larger, ugly pattern of the Clintons trying to politicize the issue of race. Prominent African-American figures have argued as much. This past week Rep. James Clyburn, D-SC, said he would reconsider his decision to not make an endorsement should the questionable undertones of the campaign dialogue continue.
The memo also underscores the growing testiness of the Democratic primary campaign....The Obama camp did not return repeated requests for comment. But campaign spokesperson Candice Tolliver told Politico that, in regards to the race-based comment: "Folks are beginning to wonder: Is this really an isolated situation or is there something bigger behind all of this?" (Sam Stein; emphasis added)
You better believe there's something bigger: one campaign trying to shut down political discourse and gain a tactical advantage by claiming a racist intent behind statements which it damn well knows are free of such intent.
You know what's "racially insensitive"? Accusing someone---a fellow Democrat--- whose
record shows that she's anything but a racist of being "racially
insensitive" for the purpose of gaining a political advantage on the theory that Democrats of all colors will be too cowed to resist the labelling. .
The document provides an indication that, in private, the Obama campaign is seeking to capitalize on the view - and push the narrative - that the Clintons are using race-related issues for political leverage. In public, the Obama campaign has denied that they are trying to propagate such a perception, noting that the document never was sent to the press(Sam Stein).
I have not heard a single attack on Obama by Bill or Hillary Clinton or any of their surrogates that a person listening in good faith and construing the words as they were intended could construe as an attack on him based on his race rather than on his record or his public statements.
I agree that repurposing criticism of his record as an implied racial slur is a good way of fending off attacks, but how is reframing Hillary as a racist going to hurt the cause of African-Americans if by some chance she gets the nomination? Damozel and I have traded a lot of emails back and forth about this on how these tactics might backfire. We agree on one thing: no matter who wins or loses, this short-term sniping isn't good in the long one.
I hope that the Clintons will be more careful as well, but really, I am beginning to question whether they will be allowed to say anything at all if the "fairy tale" remark is somehow being reframed as "racist."
If Obama allows his campaign to use such cheap tactics to avoid engaging the Clintons on the issues, I am going to lose all the great respect I have for him and his campaign.
Furthermore, this is exactly the sort of nonsense that is going to come flying back like a boomerang to chop off the Democratic nominee, whichever one it turns out to be, right at the knees.
I have been increasingly impressed by the reports I've read of Obama's ability to reach out across political divides to create unity/consensus/compromise. I don't believe Clinton will be able to do this---too much animosity--- and as far as I am concerned, this is one of the major points in Obama's favor.
But if his campaign insists on dividing in order to conquer, it will force me to reassess.
Read more about the memo currently in the hands of the HuffPost here....
See Damozel's piece at The Moderate Voice.
RELATED POSTINGS
- The "Racism" Sniping Needs to Go Away NOW
- Hillary & The Politics of Change versus The Politics of Gender; Update: Bill Clinton Strikes Back
- MSNBC on the Media: Gunning for Hillary, Worshiping Obama
- Andrew Sullivan: The "Really Ground-Breaking" Aspect of Obama's Campaign....
- That Certain Unhinged "Segment of American Political Life"
- About Obama: A Lesson in Bipartisanship?
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