It's Race, Stupid

After a few days of lashing out at each other, Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton have decided to let bygones be bygones.

Yeah, right.

Clinton, Obama step back from race flap

Democratic presidential rivals Hillary Rodham Clinton and Barack Obama stepped back from a controversy over race Monday night, agreeing that a prolonged clash over civil rights could harm their party's overall drive to win the White House.

The two leading Democratic contenders shifted course as Republicans pointed toward Tuesday's pivotal primary in Michigan, where Mitt Romney and John McCain both pledged to lead a revival for a state and an auto industry ravaged by recession.

Obama was the first to suggest a cooling of the rhetoric on race, calling reporters together to say he didn't want the campaign "to degenerate into so much tit-for-tat, back-and-forth that we lose sight of why all of us are doing this."

Referring to Clinton and former Sen. John Edwards, he said that while they may have disagreements, "we share the same goals. We're all Democrats, we all believe in civil rights, we all believe in equal rights."

Clinton's campaign issued a statement in the same vein about an hour after Obama spoke, saying it was time to seek common ground. "And in that spirit, let's come together, because I want more than anything else to ensure that our family stays together on the front lines of the struggle to expand rights for all Americans," she said.

Why did Obama and Clinton back off the race stuff?

Is it because they realized that they were promoting a racial divisiveness that had reached unprecedented levels? Did they realize that such tactics are bad for America?

I don't think so.

I think the moves, the statements from the campaigns, were purely self-serving.

This really is a bizarre primary season. There's no smooth sailing, just wild swings, very knee-jerk.

Are Dem voters really supposed to forget about the way Obama and Hillary and their campaigns have conducted themselves the past few days?

I don't think that's possible.

One minute, it's determined that this election will hinge on race.

The next, it's shoved back in the closet.

That can't happen. Once it's out, it's out.

The skin color of Dem candidates is an issue. The gender of Dem candidates is an issue.

These became issues because the Dems made them issues. Things can't be unsaid. They can't be undone.
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Happy Birthday, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.