Fun in Democrat Land

Did you hear that Barack Obama won the South Carolina primary? Or, more to the point, that Hillary Clinton lost?

Dave Winer heard:

It was an interesting election until the Clintons started calling Obama the nice young African-American candidate. Yeah, I lived in the south long enough to understand what that means. When I went to Tulane I was often explained as soandso's Jewish friend Dave. It meant that I could come over for dinner, but there would never be a marriage.

I should say The Old South. The problem for the Clintons is that the country has changed, as recently as the generation that's now in its early 20s. Because of my experience at Harvard, I know quite a few of them, and I promise you, race doesn't mean to them what it meant when I was their age.

And Antonio Villaraigosa may have problems when he leaves the campaign trail, when you think about the ramifications of this article for Villaraigosa's city:

Sen. Hillary Clinton is relying on the big Latino vote as her firewall to prevent losing the California Democratic primary Feb. 5, the most important of 22 states contested on Mega Tuesday. But that reliance, say both pro-Clinton and anti-Clinton Democrats, is fraught with peril for the Democratic Party's coalition by threatening to alienate its essential African-American component.

OK, I'll grant that Robert Novak may be gleeful at the possibility, but it is a real possibility.

But I'll note that Jon Swift had the best line in his post this morning about all of Kennedydom (even Ted) flocking to Obama:

Kennedy's speech writer Ted Sorenson asked what he could do for Obama last year, hoping no doubt that after the election Obama will ask what he can do for Sorenson.

But Swift has a theory.

But it is not just that Obama reminds them of Kennedy, it is also that the Clintons remind them of Lyndon Johnson. And if there is anything that the Kennedys don't like, it's a bunch of hillbillies in the White House, which is being kept in trust until a competent Kennedy can be groomed to take it back for its rightful owners. Until that time Obama will do.

As for dirty tricks:

Like Johnson, the Clintons play politics like it was mud wrestling or the roller derby, while the Kennedys have always believed that politics should be like a friendly game of touch football or beanbag. They never had to get down in the dirt with their opponents. Their father and his friends always took care of that for them.

But Jon Swift wasn't the only one having fun with this endorsement. Check out Eye of Polyphemus:

Sen. Kennedy: "Obama Inspires Me"

Even more than Wild Turkey? I am impressed, Sen. Kennedy.

But then Jamie looks at Obama's opponent. I mean, opponents.

The endorsement is a definite slap against Hillary Clinton. [Kennedy] specifically said he believe Obama was the candidate who would transcend race and other traditional barriers to untie the country in a common cause....I am certain the mention of race was a direct reference to Bill Clinton’s statements in South Carolina last week.

But ponder the irony of this line:

Kennedy is making it clear the Clintons are stuck in the past. Obama is the future.

In 1992, could anyone have predicted that the sage from Camelot would one day seem more futuristic than the man from Hope?

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