Is Clinton taking the Tonya Harding option?
Political careers can be made or broken by how candidates handle major crises. During the March madness, U.S. Sen. Barack Obama soared above one crisis while his rival Sen. Hillary Clinton appeared to sink beneath hers. The contrast could turn out to mark the beginning of the end of the Democratic Party’s primary. On March 18, Obama delivered a brilliant speech on the role of race in modern America in response to the inflammatory, antinational and racist remarks of his longtime pastor, Jeremiah Wright. He thereby elevated the discourse to a higher level by successfully changing the conversation. But the potential for long-term damage to his candidacy remains. Wright’s sermons negate Obama’s central message of hope, optimism, unity and reconciliation. Having first claimed not to have heard the raging sermons, Obama quietly let slip that he had indeed heard some of those statements. They undermine his claim to judgment in his choice of pastor and failure to walk out. Clinton is right to
