Hillary Clinton's Bosnian Moments

Even as the nation commemorates the 40^th anniversary of the slaying of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., and Americans from coast-to-coast reflect on how far the U.S. has traveled in terms of race relations, Senator Hillary Clinton once again is trying to drag the country back into the 1960s.

Clinton acolyte, Harold Ickes, reportedly has been calling uncommitted superdelegates and urging them to publicly support Senator Hillary Clinton because, as Senator Clinton herself told Governor Bill Richardson, “Obama can’t win.”

Ickes, vilely, is reported to be telling superdelegates that the Rev. Jeremiah Wright incident has made Obama too “toxic” and that he would lose in the general election if he were to become the Democratic Party’s nominee.

What a deluded gang. In other words, the victories that Obama has built up so far (he's won 28 states to her 14; he has 1,419 total delegates to her 1,250) against Clinton are mere aberrations; or to borrow another Clinton favorite, “meaningless” victories.

When asked by a reporter today whether she had indeed warned Richardson not to support Senator Obama because “Obama can’t win,” Clinton answered everything except the question she was asked. “I have consistently made the case that I can win, because I can win,” Clinton said, at one point. Then, at the very end, Clinton pulled off a Bosnian moment, saying “that’s a no.”

She left reporters bewildered and confused. Did she mean to say she had never said “Obama can’t win” to governor Richardson? Later, her campaign “clarified” her remarks, claiming when the wily senator said “no” she was referring to the fact that she never discusses “personal conversations.” In other words, even though she did say "no" it depends "on what 'no' is."

Coming after the CBS News expose of her Bosnian lies, Clinton realized that Governor Richardson would have publicly denounced her as a liar. Already, in a Wall Street Journal poll published last week 29% of voters found Clinton most untrustworthy.

There is a good reason why Clinton’s 16-point lead in Pennsylvania has shrunk to a mere five points. Voters don’t like Bosnian moments. They have to be able to trust the Commander-in-chief; especially the one who will follow President Bush, who dragged this nation into an economically destructive war, based on a series of huge lies.

Meanwhile, in Pennsylvania, Governor Ed Rendell has also been following the Clinton scri pt. Weeks ago, he told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette's Editorial Board: “You’ve got conservative whites here, and I think there are some whites who are probably not ready to vote for an African-American candidate.”

The governor, again borrowing from the Clinton scri pt, claims he was merely making a “statement of fact”. That’s also a Bosnian moment.

Had this been the very first primary election in this year’s campaign, the governor’s explanation could be credible, even though the remarks would still be questionable.

Obama has already proven that he can win states with overwhelmingly white populations and even defeated Clinton among white voters in Virginia, a southern state.

Rendell’s comments amount to slick race baiting in the classic Clintonesque style.

The Clintons’ race baiting and Bosnian moments are almost making the presidential primaries too easy for Senator Obama.

Hopefully, they will stick with the strategy so Clinton can get knocked out of the race in Pennsylvania.