Before Mr. Obama's win on Saturday night, Mr. Clinton was at a polling place in Columbia, S.C., and was asked by a reporter, "What does it say about Barack Obama that it takes two of you to beat him?" referring to Mr. Clinton’s full-time campaigning for his wife.So essentially Clinton said "Look, this other black guy didn't become the nominee, so it probably won't happen this time either. Put your support behind a white person instead!"
Mr. Clinton laughed and replied, "That's bait too." (He had just responded to a question about Senator John Kerry by saying he would not take the bait.) He then added: "Jesse Jackson won in South Carolina twice, in '84 and '88, and he ran a good campaign. And Senator Obama is running a good campaign."
There is video of Mr. Clinton's response to that one question but not of the entire exchange with reporters. But Mike Memoli, a campaign reporter for MSNBC and the National Journal, wrote the most complete account of the exchange, and it contains no other reference to Mr. Jackson. Mr. Memoli said in an e-mail that no one had mentioned Mr. Jackson until that point.
I mean, how else are you supposed to interpret that? Jackson wasn't mentioned until this point; the only reason I can think of to bring him up is because he was also a black candidate. Even if Bill wasn't intending to imply that Obama won't win because he's black, he's still being condescending: "You're doing a good job! Just like that other black guy!"
Sheesh. Can we just get past the race thing, please, and evaluate candidates based on the issues?
9 comments:
That just shows the perpective of politicians as they look at their constituents who vote along race lines. I don't think it is condescending, just another perspective.
Jasmine
I'm not following; could you explain what you mean?
A few bad things about "the race card" being such a mistrusted and dubious thing for politics, are the facts that:
1. Maybe Bill FULL WELL believes in racial equality, and was MERELY mentioning a candidate who had previously done well in SC primaries, but hadn't made it to the White House.
2. We can personally SAY we want racial equality in politics, but when something happens like this, we as observers immediately run screaming "RACIAL DESCRIMINATION!" I'm not singling you out because of your post, I'm merely making an observation on society.
3. Candidates KNOW that race is one of those "silent" issues, and they're going to try to say what they need to say about it, to win people to THEIR side about it, whether it's to use "they descriminate" against another candidate, or "I don't descriminate" about themselves.
((And yes, it would be LOVELY to be able to trust that NO CANDIDATE was using such an unreliable and cheap way to get ahead.))
So who can REALLY say WHAT Bill meant by ANY of it?!
I want to point out that I'm not saying Bill Clinton was consciously being racist. It was an off-the-cuff remark. I think random comments can say a lot about subconscious assumptions, and I think people should evaluate things they say to try and find the subtext that even they are not aware of.
I don't know if Jesse Jackson is the only candidate to ever win South Carolina and not win the nomination, but if he is, then apologies to Bill. That is the only way race would not have been a factor in Bill's remark, however.
I'm also not saying that we shouldn't vote for racist people, because then there would be no one left to vote for...;P
I strongly believe that there is mistrust and misunderstanding in all of us to a certain degree, and I think until we all start thinking about it more, and not just reacting with anger whenever the subject comes up, the problem will never go away.
I'm feeling ya on that.
((My captcha "word" was diphkut.
Used in a sentence: "All this political stuff is really diphkut to work out when you start thinking about it.")
ROFL
It seems like he was not trying to be political and "clever," at the moment, just direct. Candidates start to get in the habit of looking at how constituents vote, in racial blocs, etc. For example, when George W. Bush catered to Hispanics back when. I think Clinton very realistically views it as the voters thinking in terms of Hilary being the first woman and Obama being the first African American, and he is looking at that past political fact as something to be encouraging, like "it isn't necessary that he's going to win, this other guy in a similar situation didn't."
Jasmine
I see what you mean.
I think what annoys me is that his comment boils down to "You won't win because you're black", and I don't want that to be true ;P
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