Hillary's racist strategy?

By Michael J.W. Stickings

For now, this is just one New Jersey superdelegate's word, but... well, you never know. Here's The Star-Ledger with the gory details:

A Democratic superdelegate from New Jersey said this week he is worried that unifying the party behind Barack Obama may be difficult because the Clinton camp "has engaged in some very divisive tactics and rhetoric it should not have."

U.S. Rep. Rob Andrews, who supported Hillary Clinton throughout the primary season, disclosed he received a phone call shortly before the April 22 Pennsylvania primary from a top member of Clinton's organization and that the caller explicitly discussed a strategy of winning over Jewish voters by exploiting tensions between Jews and African-Americans.

"There have been signals coming out of the Clinton campaign that have racial overtones that indeed disturb me," Andrews said at his campaign headquarters in Cherry Hill Tuesday night after he lost his bid for the Democratic U.S. Senate nomination.

"Frankly, I had a private conversation with a high-ranking person in the campaign ... that used a racial line of argument that I found very disconcerting. It was extremely disconcerting given the rank of this person. It was very disturbing."

So it's actually the word of a pro-Clinton New Jersey superdelegate. And so I think the word carries some credibility.

And it makes sense, doesn't it? That is, that Hillary -- or, more specifically, the Clinton campaign -- would have employed this sort of strategy in its "kitchen sink" effort to take down Obama. (Anything to win, even at great risk to the Democratic Party. Thanks for everything, Hillary.)

Let's see if this story goes anywhere -- and if more credible witnesses emerge to confirm Andrews's allegations.

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It may be somewhat presumptuous -- again, let's see if there's more to the story -- but I would tend to agree with Steven D over at Booman Tribune: "Obviously he's coming out now because his support for Clinton didn't help him win the primary and so he no longer has any reason to fear payback. And just as obviously it would have been a much more courageous move to disclose this call back when it happened in April, rather than now in June, when the race is over and it serves little point. Still, it demonstrates that Obama supporters were not delusional about all the racial crap coming from the Clinton camp. This is simply more proof that the tale being told among Clinton supporters that Obama was the one who played the 'race card' was as false as every other spurious charge they have slung at him and Michelle."

And with Ron Chusid over at Liberal Values: "The strategy, like so much of what Hillary Clinton did during the campaign, was what we would expect from a Lee Atwater or Karl Rove, not a Democrat.

(For more, see Jack and Jill Politics.)