A Race About Race

Conservatives are feasting on the controversy. Bull Dog Pundit says the Democrats are being hoisted on their own racial petard:

"I've said it before and I'll say it again - if not for his color Barack Obama would not even be mentioned as a presidential candidate. That's not to say that he won't at some point, but can someone again please tell me what he's accomplished that would lead you to believe he's ready to be president of the United States."

Maybe. But would George W. Bush have been a serious candidate had he not been a president's son, or Hillary were she not a president's wife? Everyone uses his or her circumstances and life story.

"The delicious irony in all this however, is watching how frustrating it is for the Clintons and their campaign to question Obama's qualifications without drawing howls of protest (most of which are unwarranted) from many in the black community that she is 'diminishing' what Martin Luther King did, or that calling Obama's campaign is built on a 'fairy tale', or that their 'tone' is offensive to many in the black community.

"After all, for years it was the Democrats who demonized many Republicans and conservatives for being indifferent to, or not caring about black people. Even the slightest bit of criticism was all that was needed for many in their party to play the race card.

"Hillary Clinton is raising some legitimate points about Barack Obama's qualifications to be president. This is politics, not softball, and would anyone doubt that if Obama were white, the tone and substance of her criticisms would draw such anger?"

Michelle Malkin rips Hillary's side, beginning with this other Bob Johnson quote:

" 'That kind of campaign behavior does not resonate with me, for a guy who says, 'I want to be a reasonable, likable, Sidney Poitier 'Guess Who's Coming to Dinner.' And I'm thinking, I'm thinking to myself, this ain't a movie, Sidney. This is real life.'

"Hillary's black supporters are old-school race-hustlers--not embarrassed to show bigoted contempt for non-militant, achieving blacks. Whatever you think of Obama's politics and qualifications to be president, he is a successful person and he has led an impressive campaign.

"Without having to bow and scrape at the foot of racial demagogues like Al Sharpton and his ilk. Which is apparently what earned him the Sidney Poitier remark from Robert L. Johnson. This is how they view Obama--as the unbearably, too perfect, too presumptuous, accomplished black doctor character in 'Guess Who's Coming to Dinner.' "

Andrew Sullivan finds yet another reason to bash Hillary and her hubby:

"I'm not objective on the Clintons. But it's an opinion gained from many years of observing their cynicism, shallowness, self-serving machinations and self-righteousness. And, no, I do not believe that Bill Clinton is doing what he's doing out of marital duty either. Please. We all know what Bill Clinton believes he owes his wife as a wife. But what he owes her as a political device to regain power for the two of them is another matter.

"And the truth is: former president Bush never trashed his son's rivals as Bill Clinton has Obama; and has kept an admirable arm's length distance from his son's administration. Bill Clinton is campaigning for himself as well right now, his own future power. He'll be in a Clinton White House, ready from Day One. And if they get there for a third term, the marital psychodrama they inflicted on us for eight long years will be with us once again."

Okay, the Feb. 5 polls are starting to come in. In California, says the LAT, Hillary is ahead of Obama 47-32 among Democrats, and 52-29 among independents. On the GOP side, it's John McCain 20, Mitt Romney 16, Rudy Giuliani 14 and Mike Huckabee 13.

Those numbers will change, of course. But California could make New Hampshire look like a blip.