Identity Politics Coming Home To Roost

Have been very busy of late: digging out of a snowstorm, busy at work (surprisingly!), and dealing with wife’s ear surgery. But I’m never too busy to comb the internet, looking for interesting stories like this:

Somewhat surprisingly, as the campaign has tightened, racial tensions have bubbled to the surface with the two camps exchanging accusations. Those tensions are reflected in this week’s polling data. Overall, Clinton and Obama are close nationally in the Rasmussen Reports daily Presidential Tracking Poll. But, among white voters, Clinton leads 41% to 27%. Among African-American voters, Obama leads 66% to 16%.

The Democrats have always played the race card in elections, often with spectacular results. It’s all fine and dandy when using it against hapless Republicans, but now that a black man has a chance to win the Democratic nomination, is either Clinton or Obama going to play the race card? Knowing Hillary, she’ll use every weapon in her arsenal to win, including some good, old-fashion race baiting. Obama, to his credit, is not really playing the race angle, but who knows what will happen when finally faced with the prospect.