Aaron Keith Harris
2008-03-28 07:00:00.0
Current rank: Not ranked

BALTIMORE -

It’s not surprising that a Hillary Clinton campaign team that includes James Carville, Paul Begala and Mark Penn would be the first to play the proverbial race card in the 2008 presidential election. But is surprising to see the skill with which they played it.

The clips of the Rev. Jeremiah Wright hollering warmed-over liberation theology and left-wing tripe about America’s chickens coming home to roost because of our support for Israel were damaging on their face.

At the very least, having and actively supporting a pastor who encourages his flock to play the victim puts the lie to Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama’s mantra of hope. And it suggests he holds blacks to lower standards of public discourse. Imagine if Clinton or Republican John McCain gave thousands of dollars to an anti-Semitic advocate of white liberation theology?

But Wright’s damning words hit much harder because they were preceded by Geraldine Ferraro’s comments. Because she was the first woman on a major-party presidential ticket, Ferraro had a little cover when she stuck her hand out of the trench to become the first Washington insider to say aloud what everyone knows to be essentially true.

“If Obama was a white man, he would not be in this position,” said Ferraro. “And if he was a woman [of any color] he would not be in this position. He happens to be very lucky to be who he is. And the country is caught up in the concept.”

This was met with universal horror and displeasure. But does anyone actually believe Obama would be where he is if his father were from Serbia or Korea rather than Kenya?

Of course it’s not easy to be a black man in America. But there are times and places where being black doesn’t hurt. When applying to Yale for instance. Or when building a political career in Chicago.

Or when running in Democratic presidential primaries, where a sizable percentage of the electorate is strongly disposed to vote for you.

Or in the general election when many people of all ethnicities and political parties want to help America expiate its original sin of slavery by voting for a candidate who is black, but does not intend to govern as a racial figure seeking redress.

That explains much of the religious, even messianic, rhetoric and symbolism Obama uses on his crowds who desperately want to believe in something, even it isn’t much more than nothing at all.

Obama’s vaunted speech was the completion of the Hillary Clinton gambit, ending Obama’s play for racial transcendence. You can talk all day about how you don’t beat your wife. But people will take from that speech only the image of you beating your wife.

That’s why Americans are now wondering what exactly Obama does think about race, anti-Semitism, terrorism and religion. And about the nature of his connections to indicted developer James Rezko or 1970s domestic terrorist William Ayers. I’d still put Obama as the favorite to win the nomination. But he faces a tough time against McCain, who is once again the above-the-fray candidate.

The Democrats may snatch defeat from the jaws of victory all because Clinton would rather her party lose the election than see herself lose the nomination to someone who had the audacity not to wait his turn.

Aaron Keith Harris writes about politics, the media, pop culture and music and is a regular contributor to National Review Online and Bluegrass Unlimited. He can be reached at aaronkeithharris@gmail.com.