I Hate to Say It,

but Steve and Cokie Roberts are right. The Democrats shot themselves in the ass by frontloading the primaries before Obama could be vetted--and the media abetted this by trying to put off the vetting process for as long as possible--and the stupid proportional rules which made Clinton walk off with fewer delegates in states she clearly won than she would have if the rules weren't in place.

So why don't Democratic leaders and superdelegates face these facts and shift to Clinton? One reason is race. It's true, as Obama says, that being black in America has hardly been a political asset, given the fact that he's the only African-American in the U.S. Senate.


But at this time, in this party, being black is an enormous asset. Given America's long, torturous path toward racial justice, many Democrats simply cannot imagine denying the nomination to the first serious African-American candidate for president.

Some are afraid of offending the African American community and being called racist. It's silly as shit, since not all of them support Obama anyway. And considering what is at stake in November, I doubt many of them are going to sit out the election. However, other factions may switch to McCain if Obama is the nominee, and race has little to do with it.