[Imc-chicago-audio] David Sirota on "The Clinton Firewall" at InTheseTimes.com

[Jeff Allen]

Press Contact: Jeff Allen<br>
Phone: 773.772.0100, x225 <br>
Fax: 773.772.4180 <br>
Email: jeff at inthesetimes.com<br><hr>

IN THESE TIMES 

This Week's Featured Article at InTheseTimes.com

"The Clinton Firewall" by David Sirota

The Clinton campaign has hailed one scenario after another as  
the firewall that will halt Obama's drive for the Democratic nomination. 
First it was the New Hampshire primary. Then Super Tuesday. Then 
Texas. Now it's Pennsylvania and Indiana.

Obviously, whatever firewall Clinton may have erected hasn't stopped 
Obama.  Less obvious is what the firewall consists in. What precisely is 
Clinton's strategy for defeating Obama? Sirota argues that it has two 
elements: exploiting racist attitudes and subverting democracy.

The Clinton campaign and its surrogates have increasingly injected 
race into the contest. The latest example is their protracted 
criticism of Jeremiah Wright, Obama's former pastor. Sirota argues 
that such efforts to foreground race can be effective in what he calls 
"Race Chasm" states. To isolate black-white race dynamics, Sirota 
examines 33 of the 42 states that have already held their primaries
or caucuses. Charting Obama's wins and losses against the 
percentage of blacks in each state, Sirota shows that Obama won
all the states where blacks are either 6% or less--or 17%
or more--of the population. Clinton, on the other hand, won most 
states where blacks are between 6% and 17% of the population. These 
latter are the Race Chasm states. Sirota argues that these states tilted heavily 
towards Clinton because they have both a culture of racial politics and too
few black voters to counteract white voters receptive to Clinton's race-baiting.
Stirring up racist attitudes can therefore be a powerful weapon for Clinton in 
the primaries of the remaining Race Chasm states.

The second element of Clinton's firewall involves the subversion of 
democracy. Obama will most likely maintain his pledged delegate lead 
going into the convention. Nonetheless, Clinton seems intent on pressing
Obama's pledged delegates and superdelegates to switch their support to her
at the convention. But this is to urge them to run roughshod over the will of the 
voters, and hence is undemocratic to the core. 


David Sirota also discusses the Race Chasm in his nationally 
syndicated newspaper column in "Is Wright Right About Racism?" This
column is available at http://ent.groundspring.org/EmailNow/pub.php?module=URLTracker&cmd=track&j=201789188&u=2061586
is-wright-right-about-racism.html.









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