Black Box Report

All last year, even as late as December, Hillary Clinton enjoyed a comfortable lead over Barack Obama in South Carolina. A few weeks and a good deal of racially charged rhetoric later, and the results? The Illinois bantam beat Clinton like the proverbial government mule:

Barack Obama beat Hillary Clinton so badly in South Carolina it may spawn some new kind of Southern colloquialism. When Clemson spanks an opponent by five touchdowns it will be called an Obama. Fans will taunt the losing team as they walk off the field by making an "O" against their foreheads.

How bad was it?

Obama - 295,091 - 55%
Clinton - 141,128 - 27%
Edwards - 93,552 - 18%
Kucinich - 551 - 0%

He won with women, he won with men. He won the black vote by wide margins, and a sizeable chunk of the white vote. He won in every age group except for seniors. He won more votes in South Carolina than McCain and Huckabee combined. Obviously this kind of shellacking got under the Clintons' skin, leading potential first Husband Bill to suggest that, like Jesse Jackson had done in the past, Obama only won in South Carolina because he was the black candidate. This went over like a lead balloon, causing some to worry the Clinton campaign is burning its bridges with the black community, not to mention Democratic voters:

After a very tense period where the Democrats were battling on the precipice of destruction along racial lines, just after we thought that at least the actual candidates could put these tensions away (even if the media seemed dead set to fixate upon them), Bill makes a statement so unabashedly racially charged my jaw simply dropped when I heard him say it. And keep in mind, I’ve always defended him on accusations of trying to stir racial tensions in the past...

That kind of comment may fade away for some, but I know I’m not the only one who will carry that little nugget with me at least until our next president is selected, possibly even longer.

To their credit, the Clintons seem to recognize this, and have promised Bill will be a kinder, gentler campaigner for his wife from here on out. Not that the former president is known for his self-control:

As much as I respect and admire Bill Clinton's many, many strengths, he's tough to muzzle. If the plan is to keep him on the campaign trail, but as a positive advocate instead of an attack dog, there's always the risk that BC will get asked a question about Obama, and he just won't be able to help himself.

If they run passive, the Clintons run the risk of getting swamped by what increasingly looks like a capital-M Movement for Obama. But if they let Bill continue to take pages form the Karl Rove playbook, they threaten to damage not just their campaign but their party as a whole. The Clintons have engendered much affection and respect within the party and within the black community, but even for the man called "the first black president," there may be a limit to the goodwill. Case in point, the woman who gave Bill that moniker is now endorsing Obama. And the fallout from the Clintons' hardball tactics may be spreading even wider. Following JFK daughter Caroline Kennedy's endorsement yesterday, Sen. Ted Kennedy's endorsement of Obama may be the most telling:

Kennedy chairs the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions atop both Clinton and Obama. He is (also) the senior Democrat on the Armed Services Committee...that has supposedly served as Clinton's home school for acquiring her widely praised military expertise. He is, in other words, not just the nation's most trusted and revered Democrat, but also, coincidentally, the one who's had the greatest opportunity to see the young candidates at work. And he came away supporting Obama.

All along, Hillary's campaign has billed her as the standard-bearing establishment Democratic candidate, but the Democratic establishment may be having other ideas.