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Can Hillary put the Democratic coalition back together?

James Forsyth

Sunday, 27th January 2008

Up until tonight, I always thought that Hillary Clinton would have little trouble in mending fences with African-Americans if she was the nominee. After this evening, I have grave doubts. First, the booing that accompanied the appearance of either Clinton on the TV screen at the Obama rally was prolonged and passionate. This was not pantomime booing but an outpouring of genuine anger and resentment. Second, the black community here feel that the Clintons played the race card and they are angry about it; one South Carolina state representative came into the press area to talk about Bill Clinton’s tactics and he was literally shaking with rage as he delivered his remarks. This was not spin or synthetic anger, these people genuinely feel betrayed by someone they considered their friend. Finally, Bill’s attempt to dismiss Obama’s victory by comparing it to Jesse Jackson’s shows that he has not yet realised how much possibly irreparable damage his approach is inflicting on relations between the Clintons and black voters.

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TGF UKIP

January 27th, 2008 7:20pm

If Hillary does win big enough on Super Tuesday, it's going to be interesting to see how much of this washes over into November. If McCain is the GOP candidate, in particular, I can see him, as a gentleman with not a racist bone in his body, not only picking up some black votes which would not normally go to a Republican but benefiting from a much larger black stay-at-home factor. Going forward, though, to Florida and Super Tuesday it probably all depends on how this plays in the US media where the Clintons have so many, many friends.