Hillary Clinton and the race card

Did she, or did she not, play the "race card?"

That's the question being hashed over in much of political Washington concerning comments Hillary Clinton made to USA Today in making her case for soldiering on in her bid to draw to an inside straight and overtake Barack Obama in the Democratic presidential race.

Here's the passage swirling the discussion:

" 'I have a much broader base to build a winning coalition on,' she said in an interview with USA Today. As evidence, Clinton cited an Associated Press article 'that found how Sen. Obama's support among working, hard-working Americans, white Americans, is weakening again, and how whites in both states (those voting in Tuesday's Indiana and North Carolina primaries) who had not completed college were supporting me.' "

"There's a pattern emerging here," she said.

Her defenders scoffed at the notion that she was sowing divisiveness, saying she was merely stating the obvious and that she resisted any mention of the almost monolithic support from blacks that has been central to Obama's successes.

Clinton herself, the article says later, "rejected any idea ...

... that her emphasis on white voters could be interpreted as racially divisive. 'These are the people you have to win if you're a Democrat in sufficient numbers to actually win the election. Everybody knows that.' ''

Detractors argued that she was taking an obvious step to casting herself as the "white" candidate.

Longtime Democratic operative Bob Shrum, who led John Kerry's unsuccessful 2004 presidential campaign, said that party leaders -- including convention superdelegates -- fear that Clinton may be adopting a strategy that unnecessarily fuels antagonisms within party ranks.

The result, he added, could be a political environment "in which Democrats lose the unlosable election."

-- Don Frederick

Comments

[Rain]

Tallahassee,

"Idiots"? How childish to resort to name calling.

and

Mona,

You don't have to define "Smurfs" for us.

Remember, guys...most of Obama's supporters are college educated. Most of Hillary's are not!

[Web Smith]

In other words, she's not trying to be divisive or turn this into a racial issue but uneducated whites vote for her and blacks vote for Obama. Geeze.

She's is just staying in the race at this point to drive more support McCain's way on behalf of the people who support him and her and pay her husbands exorbitant speaking fees.
Expect things to get really nasty over the next couple of weeks.

[DAPO OGUNDIMU]

It is time for Senator Hillary Clinton to throw in the towel. She has fought a strong convincing battle but people just kept telling her "No" for her old political ideas. Poeple need somebody with fresh ideas and Senator Obama has proved he will deliver. The earlier she steps aside the better for her and for the Democratic Party as a whole.

[Lisa Vives]

For those who think Hillary has sewn up the 'white vote', is this the same Hillary who was reviled after the Lewinsky business - because she didn't leave her husband, because she was involved with some funny business with her law firm and then some staffer commit suicide ... They couldn't find enough poop to throw at her! She could do nothing right! It was just to mention "the Clintons" and eyes would roll! By the way, Blacks are only some 13% of the U.S. population. Could Obama be winning all those states, delegates, superdelegates with just 13% of the country? Maybe a few white voters are in his corner as well.

[N.E. BodybutHillary]

Hillary is whatever she thinks you want her to be. She will say what she thinks you want to hear. Depending on where she is at and who she is interfacing with she will don any costume attempting to sway their support. Bill and Hillary invented "Governing by Polling". Her ideologies are bound to the wind. There not a single thing genuine about Mrs. Clinton. Is she a racist? perhaps, you would only find out from people who think they know her. Bill is, he let that cat out of the bag in SC. Does it matter? It will have no effect on most people because Hillary will not be president.

[alee21]

The race card has been played already, much earlier, by the Obamaites. They spread disinformation (vis a vis Clyburn) buoyed by the delusional such as Wright.

Hillary is stating the obvious - she has won the white vote and the blacks have gone to Obama 93%. So why say she is playing the race card? She is merely echoing what has been discussed ad nauseum in the media.

Obama doesn’t ever even mention the Asians (he did try to pander to the Hispanics who saw through him) – remember Michelle O and reseating an Asian at an Obama rally because they wanted Whites?

[alee21]

Rain (on your parade)
It's because of people like you that Obama will not win. You are arrogant and misinformed to make sweeping statements about Obama and Hillary supporters.

[Ellen Scheiner, M.D.]

One obvious element which has not been mentioned is that Sen. Clinton is female. The unresolved civil rights issue in America is not race, it is sexism. There are more women than African Americans. Women still earn less than men, bear the brunt of job plus family, and are then considered underachievers. My head hearts from banging into glass ceilings in my 46 year medical career. So, Hillary is bound to lose. She is a fighter and deserves to be President!

[tlsmith1963]

Hillary is only doing badly because she seems to be her own worst enemy. I really think she could've won the nomination if she hadn't decided that she wanted to run her campaign like George W. Bush ran his 2 campaigns. I've had enough of GWB's mean-spirited garbage, & I don't want my party to be like that, either. It's time for America to change. It's time for us to be better people.

[tlsmith1963]

Even though I am an Obama supporter I will not call Clinton supporters uneducated morons. Let's not do this, okay? The Republicans love to call Democrats elitist. We shouldn't fall into their trap.

[Julie, Burbank]

85% to 90% and more Black vote went to BILL CLINTON, AL GORE, JOHN KERRY -- even when they were running against blacks in prior presidential elections.

Guess we're only cool with black people when they're voting for WHITE MALES or else they're racist?!?

I'm so sick of this rude, false offensive stuff. Obama's just a better candidate - period.

Somehow I think if it were all Mexicans voting for Mexican-American candidate or all Jewish folks voting for Lieberman, no one would make such ugly comments about a group of people supporting a WORTHY candidate who happened to share an ethnic background or whatever.

Obama's as much White as Black so he had to win AAs over just like us. Blacks would've been Jesse Jackson, Alan Keyes, Carol Braun, Al Sharpton or one of the other black candidates a top contender long ago had they been racist.

Thank you Hillary for keeping this negative, sad pot stirred. Such bad energy. She's got to go.

[John]

Goodness! I think we all agree that Hillary will do or say anything to further her chances, but she has reached bottom and further attacks on Obama simply reveal her as even more disgusting than she has already shown.
Can it be that only white racist, blue-collar, uneducated voters support her? Peasants, I think they are called. I almost (not quite) hope McCain wins - they'll vote for him - just to see him "put it to them."

[john]

Inaru - Good for you! Very well put.

[SueinPA]

Hillary seems to be campaigning in a parallel universe. Bill has unfortunately forever sullied his legacy and can never be considered a statesman in the mold of Hubert Humphrey or even Barry Goldwater (who late in life rose above their particular political parties). If Hillary continues to insist over the next 4-8 weeks that she can still win, she will be regarded universally as delusional and rather pathetic -- and that is unfortunate for a woman who became the first serious and viable candidate for the presidency of the United States.

[Ann]

Shoot, and here I thought my husband and I worked hard, but I guess because he has a masters and I have a law degree, we really just sit by a pool, drinking daquiris all day and expecting some hard-working white woman with a high school diploma to raise our children.

[Larry]

If she didn't play the race card, then why did she use the pre-polling results to NC and Indiana vice the post exit returns that shown different information? And timing. Very nice "I'm the White Candidate" routine just before two of the most racially tolerant contests in WV and KT.

[NotSuprised]

The Clintons are out of control. The superdelegates should support Obama and make it clear that there is no path to the nomination. If these comments that are far worse than "bitter gate" are just glossed over and do not prompt the superdelegates to act, they are just cowards.

[helen]

The race card was put on the table by the "Clintons" unless,I missed it, when did "Obama" put the BLACK FOLKS as the sole reason for his fierce fight for the white house? How quickly racist dismissed the fact that
his mother was white, she was just written out of the ugly american picture. Further, I am apalled by Bill Clinton,
talking out of both sides of his wife-cheating mouth, he better watch out, a recent photo showed a young lady behind Hillary in a photo-op in a light blue dress, it might
be "Navy Blue" in the future. Maybe he owe Hillary the
White House , to those mentioning that out of respect, Hillary should be on the "Obama" ticket, are typical "Idiots",
As a Pennsylvania Mountain Woman, in my diverse neighborhood we were embrassed by this latest imported
racism into our beautiful town, and owe the "Clintons"
nothing, further, the folks in my town found the "Shot & Beer" as phony as the "Gas Holiday", what's next? Oh,
Hillary,"Dances with Snakes in West Va. Church after
a few slugs from the classic white Lightening Jug."
Cheers to Sen. Obama, we americans need to be real
and proud again. In closing, what's with this experience
candidate for president again..now you are really joking
with George Bush in office!!!
of the "UNITED STATES"

[Visionary]

I hope, Hillary will Run Independent if she is not the nominee. I heard from a lot of people, they will vote for her, If She do. American people with good judgement, needs a president who will look after the welfare of all Races. Who does not hold ill feelings towards a particular Race, Just because He has a Pervasive sense of Grievance and Animosity Against her Mothers Race ( Read Obamas book, DREAMS OF MY FATHER ) I think, He still have that Resentment towards White People. He will be lenient with his Race But opposite with the other Race. Because, He said, He has that Animosity Against his Mothers Race. I cannot Trust him to be the President of our Beloved Land. I heard him say, He is not Perpect, He admited it, So, When He does Something Wrong, The people cannot blame him for it, Because He was so Honest to Share it openly. Obama was already preparing the public for wrong Decision and Action, because He knows, He will End up Doing a lot of mistakes, due to LACK OF EXPERIENCE. If He became the President of our country, People will see the DEMISE OF AMERICA IN FRONT OF OUR EYES.

[Rajiv]

Racial sensitivity is so high among Democrats that no one will state the obvious - that if African Americans did not vote in a unanimous bloc, then Obama would have very victories. Run the numbers, a count of the non-black population would have Clinton ahead 60-40 in North Carolina. Even if 33% of blacks voted for her, she would have won the primary. This is a troubling trend given that African Americans make up 10% of the voting population and typically vote overwhelmingly Democratic.

No one would deny the right to vote as a bloc but the data is very clear.

Many of the working class whites are voting for experience, something Obama will have an issue with in the general election.

The real question is: if Obama is so strong, why hasn't he been able to close the deal?

[Joe]

Of course she plays the race card and denies it immediately - her name is Hillary Clinton. Just look at the consistent pattern: "what an honor to be sitting here with Obama", then "shame on you", then "was under sniper fire in Bosnia", then "I misspoke", helped pushed Nafta on record, then "was against it" and on and on and on. Don't we get it? When will the American people get the point?

[Eric Scott]

Race card or no, Hillary's comments are divisive as heck. And even if one accepts her contention that Obama cannot win over "hard-working Americans, white Americans" in the general election - which I don't - one has to wonder what sort of leader she would be if she's willing to divide America this way for her own benefit. America has had almost eight years of division and strife under GW Bush, all for the sake of promoting his agenda and stroking his ego. We don't need another four years of the same thing from the other side of the aisle. I'm a hard-working white male voting for Obama. Hillary doesn't need to leave the race - it ain't over 'til it's over - but she should see reason and work towards unifying her party. However, with comments like these she's made to USA Today, I doubt that will happen.

[collegegrad]

i guess to her we are back to the 3/5 compromise. What about the black vote that she isn't getting & the "smart" vote? If Obama said anything CLOSE to this, it'd be all over the six o'clock news. Amazing what she gets away with.

[JTK]

May I ask, why is being an elite wrong?

John McCain was elite solider!

Clinton and Obama are elite lawyers!

When you go to a doctor do you wish to have an elite physician? If you need a lawyer, do you want an elite attorney? Why ONLY in politics is being elite WRONG? Maybe people want to believe that any ol person can be president; meaning the average Joe or Julie, i.e., themselves! Please STOP!!!! The President is not someone to hang out with, the President is the main representative of the United States of America. The President should be elite! Otherwise all the criticizers of that word SHOULD from this point forward go to a non elite physician and attorney and breathe a sigh of relief that at least you don’t have the best practitioner of law or medicine.

[JTK]

OK let’s play the race card voting factor game!
The 1992 & 1996 Bill Clinton’s Presidential Demographics:
1992
Bill Clinton received the following percentage of votes:
Blacks = 83%
Whites = 39%
Asian = 31%
Latino/Spanish/Mexican/Puerto Rican = 61%

1996
Bill Clinton received the following percentage of votes:
Blacks = 84%
Whites = 43%
Asian = 72%
Latino/Spanish/Mexican/Puerto Rican = 43%
;
In 1992 African American & Latino/Spanish/Mexican/Puerto Rican voters were more white than whites because their support for the white Presidential candidate was higher than the white vote.

In 1996, Latino/Spanish/Mexican/Puerto Rican, Asians and African American voters where more white than the white voters because their support was more for Bill Clinton than the white voter.

I am highly confused by the illogical mathematics of convenient racism. Oh wait, illogical math helps defend Hillary’s wild statements earlier. The assumption that Obama only won black votes because he is black is lunacy at best. Historically speaking, black voters have OVERWHELMLY voted for the white candidate(s) even when they were running against a black candidate (PLEASE read a history book, it is in there!). Now the problem is that there is a viable black candidate so NOW it is racist for blacks to vote for him. Therefore, by this logic, blacks should only vote for a viable white candidate when it suits whites and not for a viable black candidate when it suits blacks because that will make people uncomfortable? Absurd!!!!