READIN

🦋 A fragile coalition

This story just gets me down. My first reaction (well after the inevitable "WTF are these people thinking?!!!1!") is, aw crap, does this mean I need to support Hillary now because Obama getting the nomination means McCain wins the election? or words to that effect. And obviously (a) my support is in no way crucial to a presidential candidate, indeed if history is any guide it's a liability; (b) extrapolating from a headline to a visualised course of the entire rest of the campaign is silly, and I'm no political scientist to begin with. But the whole narrative seems to have shifted from Democrats triumphant and united, to a slim, shaky majority of Democrats which can be broken apart by a minor news story pumped up by the Republican machine. (Of course I blame Hillary.) Unhappy about this development.

posted afternoon of Wednesday, March 26th, 2008

I wouldn't worry too much about it; there's seven months to the election, and a lot can happen in that time. Besides, Obama seems to be better at getting out the vote, so this may not matter at all. Of course, I am agnostic between the two Democratic front-runners which makes it easier for me to say! My sense, generally, is that Clinton's constituency has a large number of women, especially older women, and this group seems to have been abandoned by Obama.

Save us Al!

posted afternoon of March 26th, 2008 by Randolph Fritz

this group seems to have been abandoned by Obama

Maybe true -- that is, anyway, part of the media narrative of the race. I reckon you're right about this not being something to worry too much about, I just had a quick negative reaction when I read that headline.

The subtext of the headline as I read it is, "Hillary's supporters [maybe particularly in the Northeast] are working-class whites who will not vote for Obama because he is a black man." But that is probably reading too much into it.

posted morning of March 27th, 2008 by Jeremy

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