I’ve been pretty dismayed by some of the interviews with Hillary supporters that’ve made it onto the evening news. I know it’s good modern journalism practice to head into the backwaters of Kentucky to interview some poor woman at a lunch counter about her uneasiness with Obama being a Muslim, and I’d probably dismiss it as sad sensationalism were it not for figures like these, reported today in the Wall Street Journal:
In Kentucky, seven in 10 whites said they voted for Sen. Clinton Tuesday, and just four in 10 said they would vote for Sen. Obama in November if he is the nominee against Sen. McCain.
It’s going to be a major victory for business as usual in this country if Obama becomes the Democratic nominee just to lose to McCain in the general election. Business as usual in the sense that we’ll have four more years of Republican rule, but also in the repudiation of a better-qualified candidate based on race. And also in the sense that a selfish pursuit of a perceived right will have divided a political party and frittered away a tremendous groundswell of solidarity against the current administration in the service of perpetuating a personal dynasty.