What Obama is up against

According to polls after West Virginia's Tuesday primary, twenty percent of voters felt that race was an important factor in their decision. The real percentage is probably higher. Eighty percent of those voters opted for the primary's victor, Hillary Clinton. Critics accused her of "race-baiting" last week when she claimed that "hard-working, white Americans" were not in Obama's camp. She has since admitted that those comments were unwise. It remains, nevertheless, tempting for Obama's opponents to court the coarser, subterranean passions of American society. Obama claims to appeal to the best in Americans, while Clinton surreptitiously appeals to their worst.

Subliminal racism + blatant misinformation = blissfully bigoted ignorance. See this email reproduced by Andrew Sullivan from a reader in California:

I live in SD [San Diego] and I am a candidate for the State House. I was out walking my district last month and spoke to a woman about the primary. She has a statue of the Virgin Mary in her front yard and was wearing several crosses around her neck. Here is our conversation:

Woman: "I don't know about that Obama guy."

Me: "I'm an Obama supporter, do you mind if I ask what you're unsure about."

Woman: "He's a Muslim and there is a biblical prophecy that a Muslim will take over our country and destroy the world."

Me: "You're aware he is not a Muslim."

Woman: "He can say anything he wants."

Late update: Harold Meyerson in the Washington Post argues that a new TV ad foreshadows McCain's eventual strategy against Obama - one that plays up race and identity to the detriment of the issues.