Stop the ugliness: vote for the Southern white guy

I kid, of course. But when you look at how ugly the Clinton/Obama race is becoming, reinforcing the worst right-wing memes about identity politics, wouldn't it make sense to completely disarm the Tweetys of the world by nominating a southern white guy running on an unabashedly progressive agenda?

But the Clintonistas don't care if they end up passing the White House back to the Republicans, as long as Hillary gets the nomination. Here's the kind of company they're keeping these days:

From the moment he took the microphone at a Clinton town meeting at Columbia College, Johnson came across as an accident waiting to happen. He started off referring to Barack Obama as "a young, articulate black man" before explaining, "As a black person, I can call him articulate." Johnson ended up sniffing that Obama is "a guy who says that: I want to be a reasonable, likable Sidney Poitier [in] 'Guess Who's Coming to Dinner.'"

But these were not the lines that gave Johnson Sunday honors for self-inflicted political wounds. What did it was Johnson's riff that Bill and Hillary Clinton were "deeply and emotionally involved in black issues when Barack Obama was doing something in the neighborhood ... I won't say what he was doing, but he said it in his book." Despite the laughter from the largely white crowd sparked by the obvious cocaine reference, the Clinton campaign later released a statement from Johnson claiming (warning to readers: Be prepared to giggle) that he was "referring to Barack Obama's time spent as a community organizer."

It is implausible that Clinton (or anyone else in her campaign) whispered to Johnson backstage, "Bob, be sure to mention that coke thing." As political surrogates, billionaires -- just like big-name actors -- are the sort of ego-driven figures who are far too self-assured to follow the make-no-waves scripts provided by a campaign. But what Johnson's off-message comments may reflect is the larger frustration within the Clinton campaign over how to challenge Obama, a candidate bathed in non-stick coating.

Normally, the afterglow from winning the New Hampshire primary lasts more than five days. But Sunday was a day unlikely to be commemorated in Hillary's personal highlight reel. In addition to Johnson's gift of gab, Clinton had to endure an hour of jousting with Tim Russert on "Meet the Press," complaining on six separate occasions that her words were being "taken out of context." She was buffeted over her earlier maladroit comment that Lyndon Johnson had more to do with passing civil rights legislation than Martin Luther King Jr. (It is never a good sign when a Democratic candidate feels compelled to stress, "Dr. King ... is one of the people I admire most in the world.") And once again Clinton had to justify her 2002 vote authorizing the use of force in Iraq. (It is never a good sign when a candidate for president complains to Russert that he is pursuing a "Jesuitical argument.")

After facing off with Russert, Clinton found blessed refuge at Sunday services at Northminster Presbyterian Church in Columbia. Speaking from the pulpit to the largely black congregation, Clinton declared, "This is a moment worthy of celebration. Many of our parents and our grandparents -- and, I dare say, probably many of us -- never thought they would see the day when an African-American and a woman were competing for the presidency of the United States." John Edwards is, of course, still in the mix, but it is a telling symbol of change that the white male is running third.

The Daily Background has more on Bob Johnson and his habit of reinforcing right-wing talking points.

I'm not black, so I can't speak for how it feels to have a white woman campaigning on an "I'm blacker than he is" platform. But isn't it just possible that all this identity politicking is going to turn off not just the sanctified independents that pundits think are so important, but also Democratic voters who want to hear candidates talking about the issues? The Clinton attacks put Obama into an untenable position in which he has to respond, but not too angrily, lest he feed white people's "Angry Black Man" fears.

Is this what it's come to? Are the Clintons so hungry for a restoration that they're willing to jeopardize the best chance for a Democratic sweep in a generation? And if so, doesn't that make them just like the Bush family with whom they're so chummy?