The protracted and increasingly acrimonious fight for the Democratic presidential nomination is unnerving core constituencies — African Americans and wealthy liberals — who are becoming convinced that the party could suffer irreversible harm if Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton maintains her sharp line of attack against Sen. Barack Obama.
Clinton’s solid win in the Pennsylvania primary exposed a quandary for the party. Her backers may be convinced that only she can win the white, working-class voters that the Democratic nominee will need in the general election, but many African American leaders say a Clinton nomination — handed to her by superdelegates — would result in a disastrous breach with black voters.
“If this party is perceived by people as having gone into a back room somewhere and brokered a nominee, that would not be good for our party,” House Majority Whip James E. Clyburn (S.C.), the highest ranking African American in Congress, warned yesterday. “I’m telling you, if this continues on its current course, [the damage] is going to be irreparable.”
That from Jonathan Weisman and Matthew Mosk of the Washngton Post. [1]
The fears, of course, are justified, but I’ve already [2] mentioned [3] why. [4]
Democrats have up until now invariably argued the politice of racism and sexism. Put simply, you need a woman to represent Women, you need a black to represent blacks and so on. The racial and sexual divide that the Democrats fear will tear them apart is a monster of their own making.
As such I have no sympathy whatever for them.