Obama Plays Race Card; Hillary Bluffs

July 2007, 16 months before the election, and Barack Obama has perhaps set a record: The earliest use of the race card in a presidential campaign. Hillary tried to play it, too, but as usual, she couldn't figure her bet and tried to bluff it.

It all happened at the National Council of La Raza convention, as reported by the Washington Times (neither the NYT or WaPo chose to cover the story).

Speaking to a group whose name means "The Race" for cryin' out loud, Obama said the recent Congressional debate on immigration reform was "both ugly and racist in a way we haven't see since the struggle for civil rights."

Was it? Here I thought it was about protecting the economy, increasing our security, and fixing a system everyone agrees is a mess.

Hillary sort of chimed in with Obama, saying she was offended by some of the tone of the debate, but she basically blamed the whole thing on "a poor economy" under President Bush (!).

Hillary summed it up in her typical style, telling a questioner that no, she wouldn't pledge to pass immigration reform in her first term, but would do her best. Mrs. Middle Ground.

Obama had no such quibbles; the immigration debate was about racism and he would "walk the walk," promising "in my first term we will make this a priority and get this done."

The "this" that he will get done is nothing short of amnesty for illegals and a strong move toward open borders, which is the position of La Raza:

NCLR supports comprehensive immigration reform that includes the following principles: 1) a path to citizenship for the current undocumented population; 2) the creation of new legal channels for future immigrant workers; 3) a reduction of family immigration backlogs; and 4) the protection of civil rights and civil liberties.

Unspun, the four points are: 1) amnesty, 2) open borders, 3) anchor babies' families become citizens and 4) "super rights" for non-citizen Latinos.

This is the agenda Obama is adopting as his own ... at least when addressing La Raza. Let's see what he sounds like back in Iowa and New Hampshire.