Bill Clinton (once dubbed the nation's "first black president") dismissed the importance of Obama's South Carolina win by saying Jesse Jackson won in South Carolina twice. He didn't say John Edwards, the white male candidate, won four years ago in South Carolina. He pointed to victories by a black candidate. How is that NOT playing the race card?
And according to the AP, via Josh Marshall:
Clinton campaign strategists denied any intentional effort to stir the racial debate. But they said they believe the fallout has had the effect of branding Obama as "the black candidate," a tag that could hurt him outside the South.
So the Clinton strategy was successful, according to their strategists, because it has now branded Obama the black candidate.
They had better think again. And first they should take a look at the crowd listening to Obama's stirring, eloquent victory speech. The crowd was, as CNN noted, one of the most diverse they had ever seen in a presidential campaign.
No Bill and Hillary. Senator Obama is not the black candidate, as much as you may want to label him as such. He is the candidate who transcends race, and the people see it and hear it and feel it. Even radically conservative Bill Bennett saw it in commenting on Obama's speech on CNN.
Barack Obama is the American candidate.
