Hillary Clinton just seized the political moment on Flint, Mich.

[DemocratSinceBirth]

By Janell Ross January 18 at 9:52 AM









Clinton might also have been propelled to mention Flint for reasons not directly connected to the incredible assault on human health and safety described above. Sen. Bernie Sanders — an independent from Vermont — is now beating her in Iowa. Back in 2008 when the conventional wisdom leaned toward a Clinton victory in Iowa and Clinton as the eventual Democratic Party presidential nominee, a one-term black senator from Illinois who ran to Clinton's left beat her. That set off a chain of primaries that included some Clinton wins and some Clinton losses. That mix damaged the idea that Clinton was the inevitable, singularly electable nominee. Soon enough, Obama became the favorite.










Clinton knows that voters of color are a real weak spot in the Sanders coalition. She also knows that no Democrat can win without these voters. And no, Sanders supporters, simply insisting that voters of color will eventually see the Sanders light won't magically change the fact that most non-white Democrats are Clinton supporters. Those kinds of condescending claims have been made by camp Sanders for a long time. The results are clear. Just look at the chart below.

Bringing up Flint gave Clinton an opportunity to emphasize to voters of color — limited as they are in Iowa and New Hampshire but much more prominent in the states that follow — that she does understand the ways that race and class continue to sometimes boldly, sometimes insidiously distort almost every aspect of American life. Clinton deployed her seemingly newfound comfort talking about structural racism in a political setting. Then, she pretty much elevated Flint and the specter of environmental racism to a presidential campaign issue.



Janell Ross is a reporter for The Fix who writes about race, gender, immigration and inequality



https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2016/01/18/hillary-clinton-just-seized-the-political-moment-on-flint/

[Baitball Blogger]

1. She did very well with that.

Would like to see more of that kind of action against Wall Street and campaign donors who deserve to be put on ignore.