I think the idea is the Clinton campaign is deliberately goading Obama into making explicitly racial defenses/appeals, something he hasn't done in the past and (so the theory goes) something that could cause him to lose support among whites.

Not sure this is what they're actually doing, but it's an interesting theory.

There's definitely a pattern here.

Bob Kerrey's comments...the smear e-mails...the NH co-chair's comments. And more recently, MLK comments and the "imaginary hip black friend" comments.

There is clearly a pattern of racially insensitive and bigoted attacks. As usual with these kinds of subtle attacks, white commentators are blind to them, but black folks know exactly what's going on.

Translation:

Clinton is now cutting back into the massive majority support Obama had corraled among African American voters in South Carolina before New Hampshire. The Obama campaign will use any means at their disposal to arrest that erosion. This is definitely going to get ugly.

It's obvious to me that they have decided that their only viable strategy left is to draw out Obama in a racial discussion, making him less attractive to mainstream voters. It is disgusting, particularly in 2008 and serves to show just how desperate the Clintons really are and why they can no longer be entrusted with leadership of our country.

The Clinton campaign wants nothing more than to bring race front and center in this election. There is nothing that could help her more politically. If she prods Obama to point out how her remarks about (how MLK needed Johnson to actually accomplish anything) or her campaigns several other remarks are racist she wins over support of the remains of racism in the Democratic party. At the same time, she wins over support of all whites who aren't following the issue and immediately see Obama as making it about race. Since there are many more whites than blacks in the democratic party, Clinton knows that this will help her (as discusting as it is).
At the same time, Clinton can also make the race about gender as much as she wants (ie. making it look like the "boys" are ganging up on her). Since women outnumber men in the democratic race, this also helps her win.
In conclusion :) if the race becomes about either race or gender, Clinton wins.
Who loses (besides Obama): The democratic party, who will have sucessfully alienated: men, african americans, inteligent people who can see this, and younger voters.

Who wins (besides Clinton: The republican party, who will win the best chance the democrats have ever had at a real majority party because the Clintons (and their campaign staff) will do anything to stay in power

wow. now it's partisan and biased to merely quote someone and ask what they meant by what they said.

tough crowd.

The pattern?

- HRC's comments suggesting that LBJ did more for civil rights than Dr. King - and by implication, suggesting that Obama couldn't actually accomplish anything

- Bill Clinton's repeated references to Obama as unqualified, too risky, etc

- Billy Shaheen's drug comments, followed by Mark Penn's repeated reference to "cocaine" during a national television program

- Andrew Cuomo's "shuck and jive" comments

- The "imaginary hip black friend" line quoted today in the Guardian

-- The Bob Kerrey comments about his middle name, followed up with a comment about a "madrassa"

A pattern? A set of unconnected dots?

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Look, I don't think Hillary or Bill Clinton are racist, nor do they want to run a racist campaign (not a good way to win a Democratic nomination) - but they face the unprecedented and challenging position of running against a series African-American candidate -- the media and the country will be watching for code words, people will be sensitive to remarks, and going negative carries significant risk.

The same applies to the Obama campaign facing the first serious female candidate for President -- many potential places to say or do the wrong thing.

We live in a country that is still horribly divided by race and sex (and class, and....) - at such a historic time, all of the candidates (and their campaigns and surrogates) need to take great care to avoid saying and doing things that will divide us further (or, worse get, attempt to subtly take advantage of those divisions).

We're facing a few weeks of intense campaigning that will inflame passions. Let's not let it tear the Democratic party and key constituencies apart. We're going to have to pick up the pieces after it is all over.

Previously, I wouldn't have taken seriously the idea of Obama and Clinton on the same ticket -- but I'm increasingly coming to think we will need to do that to heal the internal struggle (as well as take advantage of the tremendous strengths both candidates have)/

Jeez, and Dan Abrams wonders why everyone hates the Clintons so much!

most of you have no idea how much the Clintons have done for the African American community - Let Obama's surrogates cry "racism" because then they will have to go up against the Clinton record of DEEDS for that community vs. Obama's false accusations of racism.