So now what?

On This Week with George Stephanopoulos, super liberal Katrina vanden Heuvel likened Bill Clinton's recent tactics in New Hampshire and Nevada to those of a little league dad who just can't stay above the fray. Panelists on multiple networks agreed that it was the Clintons who were attempting to lower the discussion. On Fox News, Juan Williams expressed a clear disappointment that the Clintons would paint Barack Obama as the black candidate, even though Obama's campaign has been anything but a "black campaign".

Until proven otherwise, it is still my sense the Clintons are the most skilled politicians on the planet. They must have made a calculation that they can afford to push around some core Democratic constituencies in January and February with no fear of reprisal in November. They likely see Hispanic voters as America's largest and fastest growing demographic, particularly in several states that could swing red or blue in November. The tensions between the country's largest and second largest minorities have been brought into plain view for rural and suburban America. The Clintons could and should cool it. But as Mara Liasson likes to point out, the Clintons have a tendency to use two sets of brass knuckles when one would do just fine.