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Ta-Nehisi Coates

Ta-Nehisi Coates - Ta-Nehisi Coates is a senior editor for The Atlantic, where he writes about culture, politics, and social issues for TheAtlantic.com and the magazine. He is the author of the memoir The Beautiful Struggle. More

Born in 1975, the product of two beautiful parents. Raised in West Baltimore—not quite The Wire, but sometimes ill all the same. Studied at the Mecca for some years in the mid-’90s. Emerged with a purpose, if not a degree. Slowly migrated up the East Coast with a baby and my beloved, until I reached the shores of Harlem. Wrote some stuff along the way.

Clinton Campaign Flailing

By Ta-Nehisi Coates
Feb 26 2008, 12:10 PM ET Comment

Interesting piece from Mike Allen and John Harris over at Politico, detailing the last stages of the Clinton campaign. Complaining about the media to the media is the surest sign of a looser:

Communications chief Howard Wolfson — echoing a strong belief of the Clintons themselves — blamed the news media Monday for allegedly tossing bouquets to Obama whenever he criticizes Clinton but writing that she is throwing low blows whenever she draws contrasts with him.

Hmm, I guess. But dude, do your job. You were hired to handle the press, if Clinton is catching more negative coverage than Obama, than, by definition, it's your fault. It's not that I think Wolfson is wrong--I think Hillary does get harder than Obama. But for much of the campaign she's been the front-runner. The front-runner ALWAYS gets hit harder, as I suspect Obama is about to find out. Plus the Clinton attempts at spin were always lazy--I mean really, the only state's that matter are the ones you win? What a joke.

Furthermore, it isn't that the media is bias as much as they're lazy. They're looking for cheap narratives. Obama has, at almost every turn, altered whatever narrative box the pundits put him in. Before SC, they said he couldn't black voters. He did it. Then they said he couldn't get white votes. Check, he did it.
They said he couldn't get working class votes. He did that too. Now it's down to blue-collar white women who are over 60. The message is simple. WInning makes everything go away. These fools need to go out, stop crying and win something. Winning spins itself.



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