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Obama was predicted to win South Carolina by about 12 points; He won by 28 points, more than doubling Hillary Clinton’s votes 55%-27%.

Many of the Obama romantics who would be quick to name this a “historic victory,” but not only doubt that there is anything exceptional about it, but I doubt that it will deter the Clinton machine from trucking on through Super Tuesday and to the nomination.

Long lauded as the campaign that transcends race, the Obama candidacy has difficulty claiming that title after SC. According to exit polls, the Senator won black voters, who are 55% of the electorate, 78%-19%. Among white voters however he did not fair well. At all. As a matter of fact he lost white vote to both Edwards and Clinton 40%-36%-24%, respectively. Voter turnout grew from about 300,000 in 2004 to 500,000 in ‘08, while black voter turnout more than doubled from 100,000 to over 200,00 in that time.

Of course, if that breakdown were to stand for the remainder of the primary, Obama would be crushed on Super Tuesday. And while there is no evidence that the same breakdown will be maintained across the country, it is still an indicative breakdown of race in the party.

The same pattern was not as apparent in Iowa and New Hampshire, those states may have been different. And South Carolina may have changed things. It was a very bitter race; it had certain racial undertones; and it featured a large black faction. All three of those “politics as usual” factors have their way of marginalizing lofty and idealistic fundament of Obama’s campaign. If Obama becomes the “black candidate” or this race becomes a dogfight, his transcendent status will become a transient victim of the Clinton dynasty. To some extent, this has already come true (as Dick Morris predicted).

Earlier today, the former President played off Obama’s win in South Carolina (video here) before it was even won, mentioning that “Jesse Jackson won SC in 1984 and ‘88…” the obvious implication being that Obama only made a showing in the state because he is black, further implying that his overall campaign is not very serious.

The Clintons know what they are doing. Better than anyone else. They are running a hard campaign against Obama; their basic goal is to frame his candidacy as impractical and not serious. Hence they are inclined to play petty political hardball, because hardball is a game the Clintons always win. And while they played it in South Carolina and lost, it was a small price to pay for the results it will return on February 5th.

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The South Carolina Votes Obama and Confirms Nomination for Clinton by New School Politics, unless otherwise expressly stated, is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.