Obama Slips, Hillary Clawing Back; Dems Are In The Tank With this One

In the latest two Indiana polls, Barack Obama has definitely lost some ground. Note this PPP poll, as well as this poll from Survey USA. Clinton now enjoys an eight and nine point lead, respectively.

Most experts are thinking it's the Rev. Wright Rampage Tour. I happen to think it's a combination of this and the elitist comments - some of which were made in a room with a bunch of San Francisco elitists, when he thought no ears but theirs would hear.

But just what makes this Rev. Wright thing so concerning, to many of us in the mainstream?

Part of this can be answered in this essay by Heather Mac Donald, from the City Journal. Much of it has been said and debated, but there are some new twists and angles that should be looked at carefully.

Take this for instance:

At the NAACP meeting, Wright proudly propounded the racist contention that blacks have inherently different “learning styles,” correctly citing as authority for this view Janice Hale of Wayne State University. Pursuing a Ph.D. by logging long hours in the dusty stacks of a library, Wright announced, is “white.” Blacks, by contrast, cannot sit still in class or learn from quiet study, and they have difficulty learning from “objects”—books, for example—but instead learn from “subjects,” such as rap lyrics on the radio. These differences are neurological, according to Hale and Wright: whites use what Wright referred to as the “left-wing, logical, and analytical” side of their brains, whereas blacks use their “right brain,” which is “creative and intuitive.”

Looks like Rev. Wright is making statements very similar to some contentions that are presented in the book, known as The Bell Curve. Mac Donald doesn't use these exact words in her analysis, but she does in so many words:

One would hope that Wright’s audience was offended by the idea that acting out in class is authentically black—it was impossible to tell what the reaction in the hall was to the assertion. But one thing is clear: embracing the notion that blacks shouldn’t be expected to listen attentively to instruction is guaranteed to perpetuate into eternity the huge learning gap between blacks on the one hand, and whites and Asians on the other.

Instead of using overall intelligence as the marker of Wright's flawed assertions, he focuses on how blacks learn best. His contention that blacks cannot be expected to sit still in class and learn by reading, thinking, and discussing, is flawed and Ms. Mac Donald calls him on it. For this reason, I think her article is a good read.

But Rev. Wright is not the only reason for Obama's slip in the polls.

More than all of this, many have refused to recognize the fact that at this moment in time, there is a battle for the heart and soul of the Democratic Party going on in this election. Everyday, the split is looking more and more like a battle between both the elitists and hard left-wing factions of the party (supported by George Soros and the likes), and the working class Democrats. Obama represents the one and Clinton other.

This is becoming very divisive and causing a lot of hard feelings in the ranks.

Hillary does not have the support of the money machine that has been operating as the base of the Democratic Party. Howard Dean and the other Soros puppets are trying everything they can to deny Hillary a chance at the nomination. They are pressuring super-delegates to commit, before more damaging material about Obama's "pastor disaster" and more elitist statements can be brought to the forefront.

They want Hillary out, even though she is making some ground among Democrats (and despite the fact, Obama is looking more and more like a the more flawed candidate of the two). The longer this goes on, the less attractive he is looking to moderates (some of which were enamored with him early on, before his hard left connections were brought to light). Many have already had some second thoughts, despite the party elite being under intense and widespread pressure to nominate him.

If they strip the nomination from Obama at this stage of the game, they are in trouble deeply. They do not want to lose the black vote. (They won't lose it to McCain, they just won't get it. Blacks traditionally stay home when they are unhappy.) But with so many people having these second thoughts, how can Democrats overlook this late surge by Clinton?

They can't, but they will. It's already been decided.