(Cross-Posted at dailyKos)

Sean Wilentz created a big teapot in a tempest around here with his New Republic piece Race Man, in which he blames Barack Obama for all of the racial division in the Democratic primaries. This article has become a rallying point for many Clinton supporters in advancing this claim, partially because no one else has taken up the cry. At the time I, and many others, pointed out that it was poorly documented, relied on argument by assertion and circular logic, and in no way proved its point. Since that, the article has largely fallen into obscurity except among people who occasionally trot it out along with other tired charges.

But now Wilentz is back, with a much more succinct and updated version of the same attack, Obama was the first to play the race card. The New Republic piece at least had the virtue of being poorly circulated outside the blogosphere, but this piece ups the ante by reaching for wide circulation in a state with an upcoming primary.

The piece itself is, if anything, more poorly constructed than the New Republic article. But it is clearly well written; Wilentz has put the words together well to promote the agenda he's promoting, and someone reading with an uncritical eye may be tempted to believe some of his assertions. Thus, this diary: to point a critical eye at Wilentz' Philadelphia Inquirer piece and point out the numerous problems therein.

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There has clearly been a lot of talk about race during this campaign - and, unfortunately a lot of talk about race-baiting. The common meme is that the Clinton campaign has started going negative and is using race to do so. But is that the case? Have the Clintons been playing the race card?

There have been many charges against Sen. Clinton, her husband, and members of her campaign. Several members of Clinton's campaign staff have resigned due to (purportedly) race-based controversies and the issue has become so central to the Democratic primary campaign that, when a charge of "racism" was leveled at the Obama campaign (through his association with Rev. Jeremiah Wright), Sen. Obama canceled his TV news appearances to prep for a hasty address on "race and unity".

I'll tackle these two questions together, following a "scorecard" method we can assess at the end. I've come up with a baker's dozen of "race-baiting" stories and will try to determine what was actually said, how the story was spun, and who did the spinning. I'm allotting each story two or four points (which can be divvied up), depending on the impact of the story. As I type this, I'm not sure what the scorecard may look like at the end - and I may disprove my own assumptions. :unsure: Then again, I've been monitoring the coverage of the "race-baiting" fairly closely all along, so I'm doubting that I'll surprise myself much...

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Obama's campaign had an early strategy of focusing on building their delegate count by targeting, among others, caucus states and states with large AA populations. In SC the first state with a large AA population, they had to break the bond between the Clintons and AAs. That's where the four page memo from Obama's campaign characterizing statements they claimed the Clinton Campaign had made about race comes in. It seems to me that this race-baiting was an essential part of his core campaign strategy. Without extremely high AA vote totals his whole strategy would fall apart.

It's sad but true that this type of race-baiting is common practice in large northern cities and southern states with large AA populations. It happens all the time in cities like Chicago, Detroit, and Cleveland,OH were I grew up. Blacks use it with other blacks, whites use it with other whites, blacks and whites use it against each other. It's very effective and has elected many a politician.

This is such a disturbing subject for me to talk about but so is the sight of Obama using such tactics.

I am an AA and I think I can speak for millions of others, I hate this low form of emotional exploitation and I want to see this stuff exposed whenever we see it in action. I believe this black racism is the biggest obstacle to better race relations in current times.

This article is a perfect is a perfect illustration.
Detroit Mayor Exhumes 'Buried' Slur

Visit my earlier diary:
Obama's Southern Strategy

The truth is finally starting to come out, no thanks to American "journalism." Canadian TV just ran a big story about Obama lying to Ohio on NAFTA. The Obama campaign secretly contacted the The truth is finally starting to come out, no thanks to American "journalism." Canadian TV just ran a big story about Obama lying to Ohio on NAFTA. The Obama campaign secretly contacted the Canadian ambassador and told him not to worry about what he says on NAFTA in Ohio.  "Don't worry, it's just campaign rhetoric..." See it here:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jAJYMgX4J uU

Also, David Gergen backed HRC's version from the debate saying that she was never a fan of NAFTA.  See the video here:  http://www.talkleft.com/story/2008/2/27/ 234248/348#74

And here is the whole story on who really did the race-baiting, from Sean Wilentz in The New Republic, 2/27/08, "Race Man:  How Barack Obama played the race card and blamed Hillary Clinton":  
http://www.tnr.com/politics/story.html?i d=aa0cd21b-0ff2-4329-88a1-69c6c268b304 

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Former Virginia governor Doug Wilder is playing the race card by twisting the words of former President Bill Clinton completely out of context.  He insists on pretending that when Bill Clinton said Obama's record on the Iraq War was a fairytale that what he was really talking about was Obama's candidacy itself and not his record on the Iraq War. (link)

"Barack Obama is not a fairy tale. He is real," former Virginia Gov. L. Douglas Wilder told reporters at a Democratic fundraiser as the former president spent the day campaigning for Hillary Rodham Clinton in Richmond and three other Virginia cities.

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