Social proximity and the size of the niche. The chances of Clinton or Dukakis competing with the figures in the narrow niche of radical black identity politics are next to nil. This cannot be said about Obama - he can be plausibly seen as a radical (of a sort) black identity activist, and thus he represents competition if not a threat to the figures already occupying that niche. That explains the opposition to his candidacy coming from those quarters.
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This is very dismissive of the arguments black activists such as Glen Ford have put forward re: Sen. Obama.
You're accusing these people of pettiness and a kind of professional jealously instead of taking their concerns at face value. Those concerns are straightforward and should be examined on their merits alone. If you disagree, parse the arguments, not your notions of their social interactions. At base, there's absolutely no need to bring sociological analysis into it.
In fact, doing so only makes things murkier and returns us to the fruitless game of competitive motive hunting we've been enduring for weeks.
Are the women who've questioned Sen. Clinton's record jealous because they'd like to be in her shoes? Or, are they looking at the available facts and reaching supportable conclusions about HRC's long list of shortcomings?
Not helpful Wojtek; not helpful at all.
.d.