West Virginia Primary: Stop Equivocating

That Hillary Clinton blew Barack Obama out of the water in West Virginia Tuesday was not the least bit surprising. That pundits have spend so much time and effort circumnavigating the obvious reason has been.

Everyone knows the reason.



The three interviews with voters from the above clip:

I guess because he's another race. I'm sort of scared of the other race, because we have so much conflict with 'em.

He's a Muslim, and that has a lot to do with it. [Really, all of the Reverend Wright air time and people still think he's a Muslim?]

I don't like the Hussein thing. I've had enough of Hussein.

The cultural make-up of West Virginia isn't a secret, and there's no reason every single pundit on television has to pretend it is. The state is 95% white, and only 15% have a bachelor's degree. Only three-fourths have graduated high school. ["White persons not Hispanic: 94%, US Average: 66%"]

And while we're at it, stop using the term "working-class." What is that phrase a euphemism for, because it certainly isn't meant to be taken literally. Even college grads have to work for a living, so quit suggesting that anyone who's read a book in the last year is an effete intellectual who doesn't work hard. The only thing I can gather from the context of the coverage is that "working-class" is synonymous with "uneducated whites." Enough already. You know one person who is most decidedly not working class? Hillary Clinton.

So, maybe "working class" actually means, "those people working in factories that we remember exist about every four years for a couple months before returning to one of our six houses."

If Hillary had a monolithic white vote--other than in West Virginia--she would have won already. How exactly is Obama supposed to "court White voters," anyway? Reinstate Jim Crow?

Tuesday's primary meant precisely nothing. The writing was on the wall well before the vote. To pretend otherwise is to be dishonest.

Appended 5/15, 1530:

If labor unions fit the bill as working class, then here's some of those backing Obama:

the United Association of Plumbers and Pipefitters; UNITE HERE; Transport Workers Union; UFCW; SEIU; International Brotherhood of Boilermakers; Teamsters; and Utility Workers [as of February 25th, via Obama's homepage]

A more up-to-date list.

Just today, the Obama campaign announced the backing of superdelegate and Communications Workers of America President, Larry Cohen, and gained the endorsement of the United Steelworkers.

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