The basic idea here is to lose your nose to save the whole face. The plan in Hillary's camp may actually be a strategy to lose South Carolina on Saturday in order to take the whole nomination.
This is insane, at first, then it starts to sink in. Yeah, they might actually be doing this. It's crazy enough to work, too.
Obama is running a double digit lead over Hillary (right now) in South Carolina. I've heard these polls before and they were nothing close to what really happened. Mostly because people in these "hotly contested primary states" are SO sick of their phone ringing off the hook, and political ads for - hell - every commercial break! - they lie just to throw everybody off. Radio, TV, news paper, emails, random friends all the sudden asking who you're supporting -- it's a non-stop onslaught. Enough about faulty poll numbers for a second. Let's pretend that they're accurate right now. The polls are showing that the African community of South Carolina - Obama support is 4 to 1 over Hillary.
What if Hillary and Bill make an impassioned plea to appeal to the strong African community of South Carolina that they have a better relationship with the community than Obama does? This message will fall on deaf ears, and there will be a large number of African Democrats that will vote for Obama...
All according to plan.
If/When Hillary is defeated, it'll post a giant sign out front that it's a racial fight. It'll look like bloc voting. This will, in theory, turn away or sway voters on SuperDuper Tuesday to Hillary's camp.
If the race becomes about race, then Obama will begin to lose. Obama has been trying, and so far succeeding, in keeping race out of this contest. Bill and Hillary desperately need it so they can split the Democratic faithful. Look what Bill and Hill already have done: When Hillary tried to downplay Dr. Martin L King Jr's role in the Civil Rights movement by suggesting that it was LBJ who did all the heavy lifting (no really, she did!) - they appear to be reaching out to the African vote, losing it - and in the process creating a Caucasian back-lash -- a clean getaway for her to boot.
Polarizing is what The Hill does best, and it will work well for her... but in traditional Clintonian and Democrat form, her short sited strategy will be her undoing in the general election. The split party will show apathy and distrust in The Hill for what she did to poor Mr. Obama - and anyone with an "R" on their name-tag can, and will, win the White House.
BTW - I think I'll start calling her The Hill here on out.
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