Mary Landrieu: I’m Struggling Because My Constituency Is Sexist and Racist

Mary Landrieu seems to be losing that old Landrieu touch—she has come up with a new campaign tactic: insult the voters.

The Democratic Louisiana senator, engaged in a battle to hang onto her Senate seat, says she is in trouble because the South remains a sexist, racist place. Unworthy Louisiana voters, Ms. Landrieu says, are to be faulted for failure to make her re-election a cinch.  

Here is what Ms. Landrieu said:

To be very, very honest with you, the South has not always been the friendliest place for African-Americans,” she said. “It’s been a difficult time for the president to present himself in a very positive light as a leader. It’s not always been a good place for women to present ourselves. It’s more of a conservative place, so we’ve had to work a little bit harder on that.”

Hey, Mary, we didn’t deserve that.

I don’t like the politics of taking umbrage, but I, as a native Southerner, am taking offense at this insult. I acknowledge a dark past but the past is not the present—unless you are a losing Democratic politician who can’t face it that the policies of the Democratic Party are not as popular as they were six years ago.

In effect, Landrieu is saying that she is too good for her racist, sexist state.  But it is not only white voters who are threatening to deliver a rebuke to Ms. Landrieu. Long taken for granted by the Democratic Party, black voters look like they just might disappoint Ms. Landrieu this time.

Economic conditions in the U.S. are so bad that, after six years of ever-growing government, the GOP may have an opportunity to begin attracting African American voters.  Elbert Guillory, the black Louisiana state rep, who is a Republican, made a video attacking Ms. Landrieu for not having made a real difference for black Louisiana voters. This may well be a harbinger of things to come.

As for the “war on women,” it’s not playing so well either for the midterms.  Senator Landrieu was first elected to the Senate in 1996, helped not inconsiderably by riding the coattails of her father, legendary New Orleans mayor and HUD secretary, Moon Landrieu.  Her brother is now mayor of New Orleans. She has her noive calling the voters sexist and racist.