I was wondering why no prominent Democrats have come out to repudiate Hillary Clinton’s ‘Plantation’ remark made on MLK day. It became clear to me that there’s one simple reason.

Fear.

What else could explain this?

Sen. Barack Obama and other black Democrats are defending Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton’s description of the House of Representatives as a “plantation.” First lady Laura Bush says Clinton’s remark was “ridiculous.”

Clinton, D-N.Y., a potential presidential candidate for 2008, did not retreat from the “plantation” remark, telling reporters the term accurately describes the “top-down” way the GOP runs Congress.

Obama said Wednesday he felt her choice of words referred to a “consolidation of power” in Washington that squeezes out the voters.

The Illinois senator told CNN’s “American Morning” he believed that Clinton was merely expressing concern that special interests play such a large role in writing legislation that “the ordinary voter and even members of Congress who aren’t in the majority party don’t have much input.”

“There’s been a consolidation of power by the Republican Congress and this White House in which, if you are the ordinary voter, you don’t have access,” Obama said. “That should be a source of concern for all of us.”

New York Rep. Gregory Meeks also defended Clinton.

“There was no race card played here. If any card was played here it was a joker, because that’s who seems to be running the House right now if you look at the leadership,” said Meeks, a black Democrat.

How can two black congressmen agree with what Hillary said and not consider the remark blatantly racist?

It’s all about politics, naturally, and many will sell their souls for the promise of a successful political career.

It is for this reason that these two Democrats are cuddling up to Hillary. Obama is clearly a future candidate for president, and he wants access to Hillary and her money machine. Meeks probably believes that Hillary will be president someday and he’s hoping for a cabinet position, or some other role in her administration. As such, they turn the other cheek and brush aside the racism in the hopes that they’ll benefit in some way.

If I could ask Obama a single question about his defense of Hillary, it would be this:

Would Martin Luther King have done the same thing?