[milwguy]

I believe the MSM have missed the larger point in the NH primary, and its implications moving forward towards the general election. It has long been held that Bill Clinton is know as the first 'black' President. He has cultivated his black followers for years, and conventional wisdom has held that he could move them to Hillary in this election cycle. Even with Hillary's clumsy efforts to sound 'black' in her speeches before African American audiences, much of the black establishment moved early on to back her. Even with Obama in the race, many influential black ministers in South Carolina declared early on their support for Hillary. ............................................... ...I believe the MSM's reaction to the debacle in the NH primary will have a profound affect on the entire primary process, and, if Obama does not get the nomination, the general election.............................................. ...Here's why: Watching 'Hardball' tonight, or reading Donna Brazile's comments about the way Bill Clinton has dissed Barack Obama it became evident to me that the 'black' base which the Democratic Party so heavily relies on to win national elections is becoming suspicious of the process in New Hampshire. Brazile in particular made the point today when she said "For him to go after Obama, using a fairy tale, calling him as he did last week. It's an insult. And I will tell you, as an African-American, I find his tone and his words to be very depressing." ................................ ........On "Hardball", all the talk tonight was about why the polls were wrong, and whether whites who told pollsters they would vote for Obama, changed their vote to Hillary, and just couldn't get themselves to vote for a 'black' candidate. '''''''''''''''''''''''''''''' .........The seeds of doubt in the black voter have being planted. If we continue to see Hillary winning at Obama's expense, especially when the polls indicate Barack should have won, then those seeds will grow into widespread disillusionment among one of the pillars of the Democratic base..................................... ......Let us further speculate what will happen down the road in a tightly contested race. The Clinton's are all about power and will do anything to acheive it. Bill is way off his game already, and the gaffes he is making on the campaign trail could really start to hurt, especially if he continues to ridicule Obama. I think it was Gov Shaeeen's husband who started dissing Obama;s drug use, and Bill has contiued to denigrate his youth and inexperience. Even Hillary has made references to Obama that would be considered rascist had they been uttered by a Republican........... ......All this perceived attacking of Obama will bring the African American establishment to his defense. Once that 'establishment' figures out the 'Man' who is keeping them down is none other than the first 'black' President, Bill Clinton, they will stay home in November. If they think that the Clinton's have wronged Obama, they will never vote for Hillary. That could be the real story of the 3008 election. Hillary and Bill may split the Democratic Party in a way that would make the Republican Party look like one big happy family in comparison....................................

[luv2ski]

Wow! You really do look into the future! (3008 election!) ;-D

[biff]

Get some steel, Brazeel. What do you expect Billy to do? Pat Obama on the back and say “you’re doing a great job, keep after it, boy”??

[counterpunch]

This isn’t the coming split of the Democrat base. That will come after the convention.
Here’s how it will shakedown: Obama will narrowly beat Hillary in the state primaries, leading the uninitiated (including the MSM) to believe Obama has won the nomination. But upon reaching the convention, the Clinton machinery will engineer a coup via the unpledged super-delegates. Democrats, particularly blacks, will be disillusioned and angry. They will say the Clintons stole the nomination from Obama, even though the black vote will actually go mostly to Hillary, with the affluent white vote being what gave Obama his narrow victory in the states.

[gitmo]

But tell me why, as an African-American, Donna, you feel that the president's comments weren't appropriate.

How exactly does the phrase "as an African-American" affect the meaning of the question? Does it imply all blacks "feel" the same thing? Does it mean her "feelings" would be different if she wasn't African? Does it mean her "feelings" would be meaningless if she was white?

[HANG THE EXPENSE]

I would love to see this happen.

[Revolting cat!]

I thought Donna was a Brazilian-American?! What’s up with that?

[ClarenceThomasfan]

Excellent analysis. Also Hillary recently downplayed the role MLK played in civil rights, saying it was LBJ who passed it. That does not go down well in the black community. She may burn all her bridges.

I lurk at African American boards everyday and they/we are not happy. I have seen threads where they call Hillary a b**ch and swear they will never vote for her. Go to Black voices and Mediatakeout.com and click on some of the threads. You will be shocked.

[ProfoundMan]

This is an interesting part of the Dems larger problem. For the first time in my lifetime, the Dems have all their minorities represented front and center - women, blacks, gays (Edwards), hispanics (at least until tonight) and the mentally infirm (Kucinich) and most are running a variant of an "identity politics" campaign. The outcome of the primaries will be that the Dems themselves will have also decided which minorities they don't prefer. Driving that point home will tweak 'em good...

[Verginius Rufus]

So Bill is attacking Obama for his youth and inexperience? Bill Clinton is trash. Back in 1984, Ronald Reagan refused to make an issue of his opponent’s youth and inexperience. Reagan had class.

[JustaDumbBlonde]

"And I will tell you, as an African-American, I find his tone and his words to be very depressing."

Dear Ms. Brazile:

As an ordinary American that just happens to be white, I find your whining horribly annoying and quite depressing. Of course, you and your support of commie liberals has always depressed me. The Clintons are garbage now and they always have been, but up until now you thought they could do no wrong.

[Ann Archy]

Hey Donna....How about Hillary saying Obama hadn’t done the “SPADEWORK”??? How RACIST!