Obama Wins South Carolina

I'm obviously glad that Barack Obama won the South Carolina Democratic presidential primary handily, but now he has to go beyond that. The Clintons have been very effective in painting Obama as "the black candidate" in the 2008 presidential campaign, and Obama's heavy reliance on South Carolina's black-dominated Democratic party vote re-enforces that perception. Obama has to find a way to re-position himself as the Democratic anti-establishment candidate, with his blackness as an incidental matter, so he can broaden his appeal to non-black voters in the crucial February 5 primaries and caucuses. He also has to remind people that to nominate Hillary Clinton will only make it easier for the Republicans to retain the presidency in November - or usher in a rerun of the contentious, vicious Washington politics of the 1990's if Hillary gets into the White House. Not to mention the mendacity and duplicity associated with the Clinton name.

In case you, dear reader, need a reminder of that latter point, bear in mind that it was ten years ago today that Bill Clinton uttered those immortal words: "I did not have sexual relations with that woman, Miss Lewinsky."