Among certain of the hard core left, the reason Obama has not wrapped up the Democratic nomination is racism. They ask: “Can there be any doubt but that if Barak Obama were white, he would have beaten Hillary Clinton by now?” The fact that Hillary Clinton is a tenacious campaigner with a huge war chest and a well oiled machine behind her is completely beside the point. As is the fact that Obama has expressed a desire to be judged based on his merits. What is true is that were Obama white, he may not have had the opportunity to showcase his political skills. Very few junior senators receive such opportunities. Further, some of the allure of an Obama candidacy is the excitement of breaking the color barrier. That is not the substance of his campaign, but to deny it is a part of his success is to simply be dishonest.

While this pitch is currently directed at Democrats, the tactic is clear. Once Obama receives the nomination, these same racial gamers will routinely point to the fact that many have judged Obama and found him wanting as a certain sign not only that racism exists (it does so please don’t write) but is the food on which Americans feed. To oppose an Obama presidency is to engage in racism, which means of course that the opposition candidate has now been appropriately defined as a card carrying member of the Ku Klux Klan.

John McCain has been traveling the country on a biography tour, stumping in cities and towns that have played an important part in his life. For Matthew Yglesias writing in the Atlantic, McCain’s biography tour is an appeal to racism. He writes: “…it’s the best way I can think of to try to take advantage of older people’s potential discomfort with the idea of a woman or a black man in the White House that doesn’t involve exploiting racism or sexism in a discreditable way.”

The card has been played and either McCain is a racist or as Bill Maher put it when referring to him, “he just appeals to racists.” Still unclear is how saying that Martin Luther King was a “transcendent figure in American history” appeals to racists. What is also unclear is how an actual former Klan member and a man that voted against the civil rights act (as opposed to a holiday) is able to glad hand with black “leaders” with impunity and even had the “Post Racial” candidate Barack Obama raising money for him. It would appear that this particular racist “get out of jail free” card only has value if you are, well, if you are a Democrat.

If Obama loses the general election, it will not be a signal to the left that America is not buying what the Democratic Party has been selling. Rather it will be proof positive of the intractable nature of racism in America. I often wonder if in spite of the cheers and tears, there aren’t those Obama supporters that are deep down hoping for him to lose. A win might signal the beginning of a new era of race in America and for many, the current game is just too much fun.

Of course, even if he were to win it would not prove that America has progressed beyond “Amerikkka.” Numbers will be parsed and any group – white men, Hispanics, working women, etc. – that do not vote in overwhelming numbers for Obama will be branded with a scarlet letter “R”.

Wideman was right. The fix is in.