Swing Low, Sweet Hillary

It was Toni Morrison who once famously called Bill Clinton "the first Black President." She was referring primarily to his background and upbringing as the son of a single mother in rural Arkansas, but the former President has a remarkable ability -- almost certainly unique among white politicians -- to connect with African-American audiences.

Maybe such a connection was what Sen. Clinton was going for when she spoke before a mostly African-American audience on Martin Luther King Day Monday. And, who knows, maybe she even got it. But her remark that the House of Representatives "has been run like a plantation, and you know what I am talking about" -- although being defended by Democrats -- really is shameful.

It is not just that such a comment made before such an audience is so obviously couched in unnecessarily racial overtones. Rather it is that the statement is just so ridiculous. The House is run like plantation? You mean like the ones where so many of the ancestors of her audience members used to work? I guess that, except for the votes, the majority rule, the gym, the free parking and, oh yeah, the pay, maybe there is a resemblance.

Hillary should leave the metaphors to Toni Morrison.