Richard Kim in the ultra-left Nation wonders how Hillary feels about her "white racist" supporters:

...in the name of another personal quality--honesty--I'd like Hillary Clinton to make the following statement: "Though my opponent has run a terrific campaign, in primary after primary, I have proven that I am the more electable candidate. I am more electable because I am white. Barack Obama--Wow!--he's certainly inspired a lot of hope, but as voters in Indiana and North Carolina make up their minds, as the superdelegates make up their minds, they should remember that Barack Obama is black. They should also remember that a whole lot of white working-class Americans are racists. White racists are an important part of the Democratic Party, and time and time again, they've supported me because I am white. I am ready on day one to govern as your white American president."

If this sounds--excuse the pun--beyond the pale, it's because it is. Or at least, it should be. But the alleged racism of white working-class voters has become, through her campaign's own actions, the last remaining rationale for Clinton's candidacy.

Are white working-class voters really racist? How many and where? If a significant number of them are, should Democrats really court them on the terms of their racism? These are questions worth asking since, apparently, a lot of Democrats think they're valid. But as long as the Clinton campaign continues to code the fact that it is counting on a base of white racist support, we'll never have this conversation.

Sounds to me like some on the left are starting to pre-spin the reason for an Obama defeat (today and/or in November) as because of racist, white Americans. But is this really likely to be the case? I don't believe so - what the left ignores or pretends doesn't matter is that Obama egregiously insulted all Americans who aren't black voters and/or upper class white voters. Obama and Co can spin it until the cows come home, but he really did call average Americans bitter, gun-carrying, fearful, religious bigots - and when coupled with his pastor's obscenly racist and anti-American rhetoric (which rhetoric, of course, is believed 110% by people at the Nation, for instance), it is a natural that the insulted constituency would gravitate towards the only other Democratic alternative - Hillary Clinton; had there been a more moderate black candidate instead of or in addition to Hillary, then these middle and lower class white voters might well have gone for that candidate.

Are there racists in America? Of course. Are they, on the whole, likely to be either GOP or Democratic voters? No. Your basic racist - and I mean the real "I think black people are inferior" sort of KKKer racism - thinks that our government is the Zionist Occupation Government and that the votes are all just a sham anyway. These really are the bitter people who wallow in hatred - and not just of black people, but of Jews, Catholics, hispanics, Asians...everyone who isn't of the Anglo-Saxon extraction and committed to the white supremacy movement. In 2004, these people weren't pondering - in the Democratic race - as to whether or not they should back Kerry or Edwards. Race isn't a factor in this - except on the left, which is desperate for an explanation other than Obama's leftist extremism for Obama's electoral troubles, and possible defeat.

I still think that Obama will be the Democratic nominee - the Democratic powers that be are desperately afraid of what will happen if the first credible black candidate is denied the Democratic nomination; but if Obama loses, it won't be because white racists pushed ultra-liberal Hillary over the top, but because Hillary has proven herself the more dogged campaigner who both took nothing for granted nor despaired when things went wrong. And if Obama does still get the nomination and goes down to a McGovern-like defeat in November, it still won't be racism as the cause but the continued and strong rejection of ultra-leftist ideology by the majority of the American electorate.

Cross Posted at Blogs for Victory

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