The overwhelming consensus in the nation is that a change is surely needed at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. A year ago, the Democratic Party was well positioned to occupy the world’s most influential and powerful avenue in Washington, D.C..

The dire consequences of the war in Iraq, the economy and foreclosures are all issues that play to the Democratic gallery in getting a win. But looking at the state of the party today makes me wonder if the Democrats really want a victory.

The fight-to-the-death campaign that Sen. Hillary Clinton has waged against her opponent, Sen. Barack Obama, coupled with her husband Bill Clinton’s racial remarks about the Obama candidacy in South Carolina, threatens to paralyze the party.

Democratic National Committee chairman Howard Dean indicated in an interview with ABC’s “Good Morning America” that one of the two Democratic contenders should bow out in June.

Mr. Dean, that’s easier to say than do. The party has already been fractured by the nasty campaign and the negative tone it’s taken recently.

At one point I thought it was Bill who was running for president. Perhaps Hillary would have done better if the former president had stayed out of the race and allowed his wife to define herself to the nation instead of him.

Once revered in the Black community, he basked in the title Toni Morrison gave him: “America’s first Black president.” Bill Clinton came into his wife’s campaign with a lot of respect from Blacks, but will now leave with much less respect. The myth around him and reverence is diminishing and by the time we get to November not many Blacks will still admire him.

James Clyburn, the third-ranking Democrat in the House of Representatives and one of the nation’s most influential Black leaders, came out last week against Bill Clinton chastising his conduct in the presidential race.

“Black people are incensed over all of this,” Clyburn said, warning that the persistent push by the Clinton campaign to portray Obama or render him unelectable could have devastating consequences in the Black community. That result could perhaps mean the Dems paying a huge price in November.

Obama’s campaign has not only energized Blacks, but young people of all ages and races. To his credit the Illinois senator has brought new people to the Democratic camp that the veteran eggheads of the party had no clue were out there or were, in plain simple terms, not interested in reaching out to.

The Republican playbook campaign tactics the Clinton camp has applied against Obama as their way of testing his strength may not be good after all. When Sen. Clinton suggested that Republican candidate John McCain was more equipped to become commander-in-chief than Obama, it betrayed the spirit of unity that should drive all Democratic candidates no matter their differences.

In that regard I do not see either candidate campaigning for the other after the nomination has been decided. The soul of the Democratic Party is being tested with the Denver nomination. It is not a road paved with gold.

In fact, in my view chairman Dean is coming out late on the campaign. Where was he when the candidates were tearing each other apart? It’s pretty convenient, Mr. Dean, to make a rule that by June one of the candidates should drop out. But the real question is, can you get your party together when it is so badly fragmented?

A colleague of mine said I was enabling a McCain election in November by writing a column about an investigative report BlackCommentator.com wrote about former president Bill Clinton’s congratulatory letters to the United Daughters of the Confederacy, a group the respected Southern Poverty Law Center said is affiliated with hate and Ku Klux Klan groups in the nation.

My friend said he doesn’t believe Obama can win the general election. He thinks Clinton has a better chance of winning. He insists racism would prevent Obama from occupying the White House. So any report that is critical of Hillary Clinton according to him only serves the pleasure of the McCain camp and further makes Blacks more skeptical of the Clintons.

I disagree. This nation is at a critical crossroads. The Clintons had already damaged their relationship with Blacks before BlackCommentator released their investigative report. If the 2008 presidential campaign is going to put racism on trial in this nation, let it be.

If he is leading and has more delegates, why steal the nomination from him? Racism was alive when Iowans voted for Barack Obama over Hillary Clinton. Racism was alive when overwhelmingly White states like Washington and Kansas preferred him over the wife of an ex-president.

The reality is that this election is going to be closely watched and written about by historians. I hope that when the history of these fascinating campaigns is written it would not be said that once upon a time, there was a Black candidate (with a White mother) who had significant chances of capturing the presidency, but was prevented and destroyed by the Clintons, the presidential dynasty that had been so close to Black people.

Thompson’s latest book, “A Matter of Black Transformation,” pushes the frontiers of Black socio-economic empowerment in the light of globalization. Read his blogs at michronicleonline.com or e-mail bthompson@michronicle.com.