Political Diary

Hillary's Vast Right Wing Conspiracy

What was Hillary Clinton doing sitting down for an hour-long interview with Fox News' Bill O'Reilly this week? For years, the aggressive Mr. O'Reilly has been dismissing her as a "socialist" and slammed her for not appearing on his program.

Mrs. Clinton had one goal in mind: outreach. Independents and Republicans can vote in next Tuesday's Indiana Democratic primary, and North Carolina still has many registered Democrats with conservative views. Make no mistake, it was the Clinton campaign that reached out to Mr. O'Reilly this past Monday and offered sit-down time.

It was hardly a coincidence that her opening to Mr. O'Reilly came the same day Rev. Jeremiah Wright grabbed the national stage with his controversial National Press Club speech -- which Barack Obama had to distance himself from the next day. Mrs. Clinton used her time on Fox to make clear that she thought Mr. Wright's comments were "offensive and outrageous."

Mr. O'Reilly said he felt a little badly that Mr. Obama's "whole campaign has been derailed by some loony guy" and asked Mrs. Clinton if she, too, felt sorry for her rival. Her decision not to answer spoke volumes. The Rev. Wright gives her a chance to close the sale with voters nervous about Mr. Obama's inexperience and choice of associates. Should she win Indiana and make a surprisingly good showing in North Carolina, doubts about Mr. Obama among the superdelegates will only grow. And the remaining primaries -- in places such as Kentucky and West Virginia -- are on turf largely friendly to her.

Don't be surprised if Mrs. Clinton's next stop on Fox is with Sean Hannity.

-- John Fund

Belaboured

You have to go back to the 1960s -- when the Beatles were still together and shilling coins were still in circulation -- to find a British election in which the Labour Party did as badly as it did in yesterday's voting for local offices.

It looks as if Labour will come in third nationwide, with 24%. It was trounced not just by the Conservatives with 44%, but by the hapless Liberal Democrats who won 25%. Results from the London mayor's race between Ken Livingstone and Boris Johnson aren't complete, but BBC political editor Nick Robinson says it appears likely that the Conservative Mr. Johnson has also won. The reign of "Red Ken" over London appears to be drawing to a close.

So what do the local results mean for the fate of Labour Prime Minister Gordon Brown, who only took over from Tony Blair last year? Beset by scandals involving government mishandling of personal taxpayer data and a botched tax hike on lower-income Britons, Mr. Brown must be nervous looking at the local results. Thursday's vote presents almost a mirror image to the infamous 1995 local elections when Conservative Prime Minister John Major suffered severe losses and won only 25% of the national vote. That result was followed by defeat for the Conservatives in the 1997 general election. The next general election in Britain will also follow today's results by two years -- in 2010.

-- John Fund

Quote of the Day I

"Obama's newest attempt to save himself after Wright's latest poisonous performance is now declared the new final word on the subject. Therefore, any future ads linking Obama and Wright are preemptively declared out of bounds, illegitimate, indeed 'race-baiting' (a New York Times editorial, April 30). On what grounds? This 20-year association with Wright calls into question everything about Obama: his truthfulness in his serially adjusted stories of what he knew and when he knew it; his judgment in choosing as his mentor, pastor and great friend a man he just now realizes is a purveyor of racial hatred; and the central premise of his campaign, that he is the bringer of a 'new politics,' rising above the old Washington ways of expediency. It's hard to think of an act more blatantly expedient than renouncing Wright when his show, once done from the press club instead of the pulpit, could no longer be 'contextualized' as something whites could not understand and only Obama could explain in all its complexity. Turns out the Wright show was not that complex after all. Everyone understands it now. Even Obama" -- Washington Post columnist Charles Krauthammer.

Quote of the Day II

"Did the skew to Obama indicate a 'Bradley Effect' [in Pennsylvania exit polls that exaggerated the closeness of the race]?.... Pollster John Zogby connect[ed] the dots: 'I think voters face to face are not willing to say they would oppose an African-American candidate.' The problem [with this explanation] is that exit poll interviews are not conducted with a 'face to face' interview. Interviewers recruit random respondents, hand them a 'confidential' paper questionnaire, a pencil and a clipboard and allow the voters to cast a 'secret ballot' that they deposit into a 'ballot box.' The paper questionnaire mostly eliminates the presumed 'social discomfort' that might lead some voters to be less than honest about their choices" -- Mark Blumenthal, National Journal's Mystery Pollster, suggesting that concealed voter racism does not explain why exit polls overestimate Barack Obama's voting support.

A Day to Leave Politics at Home

HONG KONG -- Nearly an hour before the flaming Olympic torch was supposed to pass along Nathan Road, the main shopping drag in Kowloon, the subway station and sidewalks were already crammed with enthusiastic Hong Kongers. Spectators occasionally erupted in patriotic slogans, and Chinese flags big and small were in abundance. I speak barely any Cantonese, but could make out the chant "Hong Kong, China!" in the mix.

A few pro-democracy protesters showed up. After the torch passed amid wild cheering and frantic photo-shooting, a particularly brave soul waved a Tibet flag about the size of an 8.5 x 11 sheet of paper. Bystanders shouted him down. Another group of protesters demanding universal suffrage were swarmed by people waving large Chinese flags and a peaceful -- but fierce -- shouting match ensued.

Hong Kongers generally harbor ambivalent attitudes toward Mainland China. Chinese patriotism is strong for cultural, historical and geographical reasons. But there isn't much affection for the communist regime and polls suggest that the public strongly supports universal suffrage. Yet it's telling that Hong Kongers have opted for patriotism when it comes to the Olympics. The majority seem to view the event as the wrong venue for airing grievances with the government. The games are an important moment for China -- and too important a celebration of China to be disrupted by politics. That's why, even as many Chinese have their own disagreements with the mainland government, foreign attempts to exploit the Olympics politically resonate poorly with many here.