Democrats: Confront your racism now or never

In this Sunday's newspaper column, I use the space to write about Sen. Edward Kennedy and the difficult choices imposed by modern cancer treatment. Be sure to look for it at reviewjournal.com. But there was one more point I needed to make on the Clinton campaign's shameless descent into racial politics. And it's important to make it now rather than later.

Leaders of the Democratic Party who condone by silence the racial politics of Hillary Clinton will have no credibility to complain when "working class" Democrats (as Hillary slyly calls "low-income white people") cite race fears and cross party lines to vote against Barack Obama this fall.

When that happens, Democrats will have reaped what they have sown.

When polls in October (as I suspect they will) show the improbable John McCain in a statistical dead heat with The Big O, there will be much wailing and gnashing of teeth. "What happened?", Democrats will ask. Why aren't all those Hillary voters sticking with the party? And the answer is plain: Democratic silence gave voters permission to use skin color as a determining factor in the voting booth. Look for it in swing states like Florida, Ohio and Pennsylvania, especially.

No better example than last week's Nevada Democratic Convention in Reno. Former President Bill Clinton, a chief perpetrator of the race-based political strategy in the primary, spoke at the convention. Not one state leader mustered the gumption to even note, much less protest, how the Clintons have subtly and overtly played the race card against Obama.

I'm tellin' you, as with all parts of life, there's a penalty for spinelessness in the presence of bad behavior. The Clintons released the racial genie out of the bottle in the primary election. Silence won't get the beast back in the bottle.

When that happens, don't blame John McCain or Republicans. This is all on Democrats. Shameful.