Saturday 7 June 2008

Diane Abbott Is Right

Now there's something you don't get to say every day.

Helen Wilkinson's arguments for Obama to make Hillary Clinton his running mate are wrong in almost every particular.

She seems to think that Clinton is some kind of feminist heroine. In fact she ran very much as part of Clinton Inc. She is undoubtedly an able woman, but she owes her career in elective politics to being the wife of a former president.

Wilkinson claims that Obama was the candidate of the Democrat elite. In fact it was Clinton who began as the "inevitable candidate". She had name recognition; a massive pile of money; the support of the majority of congressman and senators that had declared; above all, she had the Clinton machine.

Wilkinson says that the Clinton has the support of the Democratic grassroots. In fact her core support is white women over 60 and white blue-collar workers (or as she described them "hard-working white Americans"). And what drew many of them to her was their total unwillingness to contemplate voting for a black man. When questioned by pollsters some of them admitted as much. And more must have thought that, but knew it was rude to actually say.

The Clintons incomprehension that this ungrateful black "boy" was daring to challenge them for the top prize was evident from the start. And the pro-Hillary blogs boil with barely-suppressed racism.

Wilkinson also recycles bogus statistics about Clinton getting the majority of the popular vote. Clinton arrives at this figure by ignoring all the caucus states; adding in the residents of Puerto Rico (who have a vote in the primary but not in the actual general election) and adding in the vote in Florida where there was no official campaign (wherever there was a proper campaign Obama narrowed the gap with Clinton even if he did not overtake her) And for good measure she throws in the votes from Michigan, where Obama was not even on the ballot paper. The superdelegates know Clinton's figures are junk. That is why they ignore them.

Wilkinson claims that prominent black politicians are calling for Clinton to be vice president. No black elected official is calling for this. Many are ashamed they endorsed her initially. The racist undertones of her campaign meant that, whilst she led Obama amongst black voters at the beginning of the campaign, by the end black people were voting against her nine to one.

Her unpleasant campaign led to an angry Edward Kennedy coming out early in support of Obama. And the New York Times (which originally endorsed her) was driven to writing a leader deploring the tone of her campaign and imploring her to "call off the dogs".

There is no doubt that Obama needs to win over older white women and white voters generally who have a problem voting for a black man. But there are many excellent female politicians, who have actually risen on their own merits, that he can choose. He could even select a Clinton friend like Ed Rendell, the governor of Pennsylvania Governor or General Wesley Clark. But the Clintons and their baggage (and it is a "two for one" deal), Obama does not need.

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