Redstate

By Pejman Yousefzadeh Posted in 2008 | Barack Obama | Bill Clinton | Hillary Clinton — Comments (10) / Email this page » / Leave a comment »

So it is clear that the race between Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama has now taken on distinctly racial undertones. And the consequence is that the Clinton campaign is in quite the uncomfortable position:

Former President Bill Clinton said on Friday Barack Obama's bid to be president was no "fairy tale" and said his use of that phrase earlier in the week referred specifically to Obama's claims about his stance on the Iraq war.

The former president drew criticism for the "fairy tale" comment he made while campaigning in New Hampshire for his wife Hillary Clinton, Obama's main rival for the Democratic Party nomination in the November presidential election.

"Give me a break. This whole thing is the biggest fairy tale I've ever seen," Clinton had said in accusing Obama of distorting his stance on the war.

The most senior black in the Democratic congressional leadership, Rep. James Clyburn of South Carolina, told The New York Times on Friday that he may end his neutrality in his state's January 26 primary because of recent remarks by the Clintons, including the "fairy tale" comment.

Read on . . .

A whole heck of a lot more can be found here. To be fair to the former President, I saw a video of his comments and I agree that the "fairy tale" he was referring to was the assertion by Obama that he (Obama) had been consistently against the war in Iraq from the very beginning. Of course, that doesn't change the fact that making the "fairy tale" comment was a bad idea from the beginning and that it has made the Clinton campaign look insensitive in the extreme. This isn't hindsight talking; the Clintons have had ample warning that they need to be very careful in how they take on Obama and they chose not to pay heed to that warning. They are now suffering blowback as a result and they can't say that they didn't see it coming.

Meanwhile, and relatedly, there is this:

With Senator Barack Obama vowing to challenge Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton on her home turf, the Democratic presidential primary in New York on Feb. 5 is shaping up as the state's most competitive since 1992, when Bill Clinton took up a rival's mantra of change to all but cinch the nomination.

Mrs. Clinton was re-elected a little more than a year ago by better than two to one. Before the Iowa caucuses, she had so dominated opinion polls and endorsements by elected officials and powerful unions that many considered her home state impregnable to political interlopers.

But if Mr. Obama wins the South Carolina primary in two weeks, he could develop enough grass-roots support among young people, liberals and black voters in New York to pose a serious threat to her claim to the state's rich delegate lode, allies of both candidates say.

"The expectation is that Hillary should win in New York," said Assemblyman Adam Clayton Powell IV of Harlem, an Obama supporter. "As you know, expectations don't always translate into votes, and so we're going to fight in New York."

Now wouldn't that be something? I don't expect Obama to win New York, but if he does enough to make Hillary Clinton spend precious time and resources securing her own adopted backyard, that could prove pivotal in a race that has turned into a major battle.