The link above and below is to a column by Eleanor Clift in which she quotes Charlie Cook as saying “Who wants to feel responsible for costing the first African-American president his reelection?” Now Eleanor is clear in stating that she is reporting and not necessarily expressing her own opinion. However, the lack of any remarks to the contrary would, to me, indicate that Eleanor might, at the very least, be flirting with tacit agreement with Mr. Cooks’ statement.
I am amazed! In what universe is Mr. Cooks' statement NOT calling (some) Democrats racist?
I agree with Tom that Eleanor Clift didn't do much of anything to distance herself from Mr. Cook's statement.
ReplyDeleteWhatever this says about me, I guess I basically agree with Clift and Cook on the political analysis of the Dems' situation. An expression of this that's maybe more race-neutral would be something like: No one is going to challenge Obama in the primaries because of the historic nature of his presidency, given that he does have many left-friendly accomplishments he can point to (stimulus, Obamacare, DADT, SC appointments, etc) and that against a weak Republican field he stands a good chance of re-election. In purely strategic terms, surely the Dems are better off overall going into the Presidential election if no one challenges Obama.
All that said, I was a little surprised to see this being aired so openly by such a prominent Democrat commentator as Eleanor Clift, since even the discussion of it has got to weaken Obama. In other places I've read musings about whether Hilary should challenge Obama. There is some *serious* discontent among the Dems right now.
But, I find it hard to believe that that sentiment runs deep among rank-and-file Dems. Maybe the overall thought is that instead of slugging it out during the primaries, they'll get the more hard left's discontentedness on the table and out of the system early by openly discussing it.