"I'm Not a Racist" Is Off-Message

Following up on last night's post about the recent, ugly race-baiting in the Democratic primary, Clinton was on Meet the Press this morning and put on the defensive on this from Russert's first question. (Video.) She handles the questions well, at least at first, but of course she does—the entire point of the race-baiting strategy is to be attacked over it, deny everything, and get sympathy from white voters as a result. As I said last night, it's a dangerous game, but that's the one they're playing, and in America in 2008 it could still pay off.

Because the Obama camp (rightly) hasn't hit back as hard on this as the Clintons might have hoped, they've even had to go ahead and voluntarily flagellate themselves. It's a strategy of playing the victim to tap into white anger and anxiety over race and racism, and it's just too early to tell whether or not it's going to work.

UPDATE: Via TPM, the Obama response to her appearance on Meet the Press is pitch-perfect:

Senator Clinton made an unfortunate remark, an ill advised remark, about King and Lyndon Johnson. I didn’t make the statement. I haven’t remarked on it and she I think offended some folks who felt that somehow diminished King’s role in bringing about the Civil Rights Act. She is free to explain that, but the notion that somehow this is our doing is ludicrous.

I have to point out that instead of telling the American people about her positive vision for America, Senator Clinton spent an hour talking about me and my record in a way that was flat out wrong. She suggested that I didn’t clearly and unambiguously oppose the war in Iraq when it is absolutely clear and anyone who has followed this knows that I did. I stood up against the war when she was voting for it, at a time when she didn’t read the intelligence reports or give diplomacy a chance.

For this to be a winning skirmish for Obama, it needs to be about positivity and unity, not about his race, and I think this statement hits exactly the right note on that. I'm also gratified that it points out the central contradiction in the Clinton attack on Obama's war record—even if you agree with everything the Clintons are saying, which most people won't and which no one should, the best you could conclude is that he was just as wrong as they were. (UPDATE UPDATE: See also Ezra Klein.)

The Clinton response to the Obama response is here. I'm unimpressed—it's like they decided to go out of their way to prove Obama right.