Chickens Coming Home to Roost in New York?

In a perhaps unanticipated bit of fallout from Hillary Clinton’s caustic battle with Barack Obama, reports are circulating that her adopted hometown support among black voters may be under some strain. This just in from the LA Times.

Even as she continues her longshot presidential bid, Hillary Rodham Clinton faces a political rift in New York, where black leaders say her standing has dropped due to racially charged comments by her and her husband during the campaign.

African American elected officials and clerics based in New York City say Clinton will need to defuse resentment over the campaign’s racial overtones if she returns to New York as U.S. senator.

Arguments about sexism in the campaign not withstanding, back here in New York it seems that some prominent black leaders are less than fond of Bill’s comments in North Carolina and Hillary’s chatter about “hard working white middle class voters.” Senator Clinton just stood before the wheel in 2006, so she certainly has time to mend fences before her next election, assuming she even wants to do that. But, as some are fond of saying, there may be some explaining to do before one of the signifcant and most loyal portions of the base is mollified.

It would be ironic indeed if the stepping stone Ms. Clinton selected in 2000 to launch her long range White House plans turned around and rejected her as a result of that run. Then again, should she not find a seat at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. next January, we may find ourselves looking at the question of whether or not she wants to remain in politics at all.