I've done a complete 180 on Hillary. I think she's unintentionally helping Obama with her comments.

Lucky 13

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Fri May-09-08 10:42 AM
Original message

I've done a complete 180 on Hillary. I think she's unintentionally helping Obama with her comments.

Hear me out before you smack me down.

I, like many former Hillary supporters, have been appalled by her behavior in the past few months. And instead of dropping out of the race after Tuesday's primary results as I expected or hoped, she vows to keep fighting on. She also appears not to be willing to stop trying to damage our presumptive nominee. Worse, were her divisive statements yesterday:

"I have a much broader base to build a winning coalition on...found how Senator Obama's support among working, hard working white Americans is weakening again, and how whites in both states (Indiana/North Carolina)who have not completed college were supporting me. A pattern is emerging here."--Hillary Clinton to USA Today.

As book_worm pointed out in a post yesterday, "She understood what she was saying she made sure to emphasize "white" not once but twice."

Once again she caused my jaw to hit the floor. Once again, just when I thought she couldn't go any lower... she went lower. I was downright horrified and depressed by these statements. And then it occurred to me...

This is all going to help Obama. This is going to help him put this primary season to bed, this is going to improve his numbers in West Virginia and Kentucky, and this is going to eventually help him win the general.

Lower-class white folks that aren't as fortunate as I was to attend college and deliberately work to expand their minds often harbor these underlying sentiments of racism. Sometimes it's out in the open. Often not. Sometimes it's based on reality of their hardships. Sometimes it's baseless.

What Hillary managed to do with these statements is put a spotlight on the MASSIVE 300 pound gorilla in white America's living room. She articulated that which was only a "feeling" in the subconscious of the under-educated and less self-aware white voter. If people "feel" certain attitudes that are racist, but don't see those attitudes mirrored back from society, the media, our candidates, whatever, they aren't forced to face the ugliness of these ideas. BUT NOW, she has articulated what many lower-class uneducated whites feel. And it's not pretty and they are forced to see that. They are also going to see many other white people come out and denounce this garbage.

Maybe once again I am being naive and idealistic, but I think that to see your deepest most secret biases so plainly thrown out into the open is HARD for many people to swallow, even if they might FEEL the same way. Like Imus and others who have made fools of themselves through publicly racist comments, by bringing these sentiments to the forefront she's allowing white voters the opportunity to see how UGLY many of their own subconscious or even conscious beliefs are, work through them, and move past them.

What I suspect MAY happen is that there will be a backlash. Hillary has basically declared herself the white racist candidate. The majority of white America does not want to be associated with that - not even uneducated, lower-class white people in Appalachia. They won't want to openly support it, lest they perpetuate the stereotype that people from Appalachia are uneducated racist rednecks. And even in the secrecy of the voting booth, many people will reject associating themselves with that.

And I think this will carry over to the general. Hillary is helping EVERYONE get over their racism by becoming the poster girl for it. It will move white America to accept Barack not as a black candidate, but a candidate who just happens to be black. And this is just one important step to helping us overcome the race issue that we are sure to face in the fall.

thoughts? am I on to something here or has she finally driven me completely crazy?