Martin

Tuesday, it will be Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s birthday. And even though his signature is on the civil rights legislation which derived from Dr. King's leadership, LBJ is not the bulk of the reason we celebrate.

As Carl Hulse reported the flap over Ms. Clinton's now refined remarks, "'Dr. King’s dream began to be realized when President Lyndon Johnson passed the Civil Rights Act of 1964,” Mrs. Clinton said in trying to make the case that her experience should mean more to voters than the uplifting words of Mr. Obama. 'It took a president to get it done.'"

Once Representative James E. Clyburn of S. Carolina took public exception, to the point where he might not maintain neutrality in the upcoming primary, the story picked up momentum. But not until.

Two things seem to be going on here. For one, there's another wacky Clinton quote, sorely in need of massaging afterwards in hopes it goes away. (Husband Bill famously said he had opposed Iraq from the beginning, before his actual remarks, as has become custom, took their fifteen nanoseconds to become viral videos.)

This is not un-serious, but piddling compared to Dubbya's compendium of 'mis-statements.'

Secondly, what a testament to the memory of Dr. King it is that Rep. Clyburn is the highest ranking African-American in Congress and has the power to sway voters in South Carolina and elsewhere.

It's not an arrival, not by a long shot, but it has every evidence of progress. Martin should approve.

His taking umbrage found resonance within the black community, as witnessed by this editorial comment in the Wilmington Journal: "We need to become invested in this all-important election, and we especially need to hold the Democratic Party accountable for how Senator Obama is treated."

Up to a point, we should all agree.

But don't forget it was a Segreti operation from Nixon's CREEP which brought down Edmund Muskie before jumping to any conclusions about the origins of any 'treatment' and the direction to aim the 'accountability.' Dirty tricks aren't so easily tracked down sometimes.

So long as the Clinton camp insists on playing 'hot potato,' expect more of these gaffes. She was working backwards from experience trumps hope when it comes to change and wound up intellectually where reside those millions who say Reagan ended the Cold War.

As sure as I am that 'rip one' is an anagram of 'Perino,' the Clinton team knows how to wage the whisper campaign better than all but the last bunch.

If New Hampshire's result derives from Tom Bradley syndrome (wherein pollsters get a politically correct answer about voting for a black) then it's an even worse day for America than if a tearing Hillary (in ridiculously frequent rotation on the 24/7) caused it.

It was remarkable how little time it took for esteemed NBC anchor, Tom Brokaw's call to slow down and take stock of possible, just maybe, in-house errors, to go the way of gravitating to the same coverage which may have driven the outcome in the first place.

The reasons are considerably narrowed as far as General Electric is concerned. First, nobody polls when the election is about to be the poll, so it's understandable that everybody in the campaigns and the media had old information and got it wr... wr... wrong. These election results would have been in any overnight polls.

Then, there's the lie factor. Whether prejudiced by sexism, racism, or a generalized antagonism on the part of the locals to being pinned down too early, all polls got the result wrong because of some unanticipated variable.

The 24/7 went right back to projecting their voodoo ahead to Michigan, Nevada, S. Carolina and super-Tuesday. But what we may have witnessed would be the hardest thing for a news outlet to admit.

That instead of reporting on a story, it drove the story.

I have always found it significant that you can settle into the couch and watch a two hour documentary on an Indian film maker you were totally unaware of and, if it's at all well done, feel as though you know this fellow pretty well.

If a voter is to get the measure of a person, then most of this horse race and pettiness is a distraction, wouldn't you think?

Where's the personal profile, record and estimation of those who know this candidate well?

Why is the focus on crocodile/not crocodile tears, middle name Hussein, and the $400.00 haircut?

Too much vapidity for a country with elections looming, wouldn't you think?

No, please!

Next week: He's Our President, Dagnabbit

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