Wednesday, May 7, 2008

Step by Step, Inch by Inch

Yesterday's results from North Carolina and Indiana did little to change the math for Hillary Clinton. Barack Obama won big in Carolina, while the senator from New York barely eked out a win in the Hoosier state. Obama told supporters last night he's within 200 delegates of clinching the nomination. So why is Hillary pressing on?

Because she can't do anything else. This was supposed to be her time, the nomination process little more than a run-up to her eventual coronation. It hasn't turned out that way, and now she's got a big problem. Her money is running out, and the results last night guarantee she won't be raising $10 million dollars in 24 hours like she did after Pennsylvania.

Yet the nation has a bigger problem than Hillary Clinton does. The closer Barack Obama gets to the nomination, the closer America gets to confronting an ugly, fundamental truth about itself. Racism lives, and too many Americans take it into account when assessing Obama's fitness to be president. Yes, media has nibbled around the edges of this story, but generally its been slow to take it on.

Behind the rhetoric about Jeremiah Wright, the Weather Underground, and flag lapel pins is the rather unpleasant notion that enough people will refuse to vote for Obama on racial grounds to hand the presidency to John McCain. And who are these people? Without generalizing, many are the same working class whites we've been told are so important this election cycle.

They also Hillary Clinton's base of support. This doesn't make her a racist, just a beneficiary 

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