This Ism business in the primaries.

I have gotten tired of dealing with it. It is ugly you have some saying nasty (about Obama's youthful indiscretions), stupid (jive), painfully misquoted (fairy tale), or misconstrued things (MLK). It is a mess. And following NH, some Obama supporters had begun trying to play up questions of race (Clinton wins only with racist help). It is bad.

So I have to applaud Obama's move.

Barack Obama takes steps to defuse the racial and political tensions that have been uncorked by the battle between Hillary and himself over the meaning of recent remarks by the Clintons...

It is bad enough, what is being said in, and read into, the Clinton camp. But if Obama, and company, help create resonance...well, I remember what happen when Arafat tried to play with his people's anger a decade ago...

So Obama needs to take this step, if we things devolved into a sexism vs racism fight in the Democratic primaries, things will be quite bad come November.

Now what is needed is Clinton making sure she plays straight, and making sure her people, such as the BET fellow, stop it or face exile. And Obama needs to be sure. I'd hope for Republicans to not play on sexism or racism, but maybe somethings are too much to hope to be possible.

Firedoglake:

...

Journalists like Bai inflame these things to the detriment of the political environment and the Democratic party without any consideration of the cost involved. I realize destroying any kind of coalition that could win against the Republicans next November is an acceptable price for some people, but some of us actually do care what happens to the country going forward.

Both Clinton and Obama have issued statements calling for an end to the pie fight, which is a good thing. The responsible thing to do is to refuse to let people like Bai egg them on. We'll see if it's all rhetoric or if their actions back it up. But barring an Edwards resurgence, I frankly don't see how we win the next election without both Clinton and Obama on the ticket in some order. If the antagonism we see online is any evidence, coming together again as a party without it is going to be awfully difficult.

If no decisive victor emerges before the convention, the superdelegates could force both Clinton and Obama onto a ticket. While I'm sure neither would be happy with that situation, it may be the best thing for the party as a whole. It certainly would be an unbeatable and historic combination, ushering in an era where we can hopefully begin to talk about these things. And after the damage that their mutual mud slinging contest has done to any kind of future coalition, the onus may be on them to suck it up for the good of the country.

...

That is a reason to not really care for primaries. It is nice to see the large group debate and argue and share differing philosophies, but it quickly wears down to a few fighting and bickering like this. If they can get above this garbage, then it would be a benefit to the party and country. Heck, it could help their individual chances of winning. But if someone feels damaging the party and the important work is a secondary concern to a personal win, it is a concern.