The Clinton camp’s spin on Obama’s likely victory in South Carolina is already clear: “He only won it because of black votes, so it doesn’t really count.”
I’m not sure why, but NPR’s commentators seem to have decided to lend their credibility to the Clinton campaign’s decision to racialize the contest. Daniel Schorr’s commentary is hard to decipher, but if it means anything it means that Obama’s decision to speak about civil rights from the pulpit of the Ebenezer Baptist Church on Martin Luther King’s birthday was somehow in conflict with Obama’s claim to be the “unity” candidate.
(Of course, Obama’s sermon was about much more than “civil rights,” but that’s a separate question. Schorr’s point seems to be that Obama sounded awfully … well, black. )
Meanwhile, Cokie Roberts seems to think that if a white candidate gets white votes, that’s natural, and if a white candidate gets black votes, that’s wonderful, but if a black candidate gets black votes then he’s no longer a “unity” candidate and becomes ineligible to get white votes. Or something.