Vicious Politics

I was very bad in office politics. I tend to underestimate the dishonesty and cunningness of people to achieve their goals, and miss the long-term consequences of their moves and positioning. The tactics of the Hillary Clinton campaign in the on-going 2008 Primary elections, are giving me a chilling picture of how politics can be played with devastating results. After their unexpected loss in Iowa, the Clinton camp made a change in their strategy which I could not figure out. They made some statements insulting the black heritage of Barack Obama. To me, it looked like a stupid move, especially with the election coming in South Carolina where over 50% of the population is blacks. Guess what happened? The resulting uproar by the Afro Americans, put the limelight on the ‘blackness’ of Obama. In a quick few days, he became a ‘black candidate’, not the messiah of unity and change where race did not matter. The whites, who were mesmerized by the oratory of Obama, started to wake up and look Obama as an Afro American. The result? His popularity among the whites in South Carolina plummeted by 50% in one week! Obama may still win South Carolina. But that win will be attributed to blacks - further validating that he is the candidate of the blacks. Despite of the strides in racial equality, the whites and Latinos in this country are not open to electing a black person as their leader. Obama is done for.

(My prediction is that it will be a Hillary versus Romney election, with Romney winning. Democrats have done it again!)