“Clinton’s sin isn’t racism, it’s arrogance.”
Some people have jumped on Hillary Clinton’s latest electability argument (essentially, that white people will vote for her, but not Obama) as an example of race-baiting. It’s not, although the real dynamic behind what she said, and has been saying about Obama for the past few months, isn’t much prettier.
Eugene Robinson nails it on the head in his latest column. The money quote:
Clinton’s sin isn’t racism, it’s arrogance. From the beginning, the Clinton campaign has refused to consider the possibility that Obama’s success was more than a fad. This was supposed to be Clinton’s year, and if Obama was winning primaries, there had to be some reason that had nothing to do with merit. It was because he was black, or because he had better slogans, or because he was a better public speaker, or because he was the media’s darling. This new business about white voters is just the latest story the Clinton campaign is telling itself about the usurper named Obama.
“It’s still early,” Clinton said Wednesday, vowing to fight on. At some level, she seems to believe the nomination is hers. Somebody had better tell her the truth before she burns the house down.
It’s sore loser syndrome writ large. Romney, Huckabee, Edwards, and everyone else found a way to exit gracefully when the handwriting was on the wall. I don’t see Clinton doing the same. I’d love to be proven wrong.
