"The last thing we need is a President who encourages festering racial controversies."

Writes Glenn Reynolds, observing Barack Obama.

You know, I've noted before that if Hillary attacks Obama too hard she risks losing black supporters -- and others who've invested in Obama. But it works both ways -- if Obama looks too much like Al Sharpton or Jesse Jackson, or even like he's too close to those two politically, he'll lose a lot of people who've rallied to him precisely because he promised "a new kind of politics." You can't run as a uniter, and engage in racial politicking at the same time. Well, you can -- but it won't work very well.

Unless it does. You just have to get enough people to think you're not really the one raising the subject — which is the game Hillary herself is playing. Oh, but politics isn't a game. It's about people.