Hillary Clinton’s Appeal to African-American Voters: I Won’t Make Promises I Can’t Keep

Anyone who missed Thursday’s Democratic debate in Milwaukee could have tuned in to Hillary Clinton’s event in South Carolina for the highlights.

In fact, it might have been clearer what she was trying to accomplish.

Lines met with gentle nods in Wisconsin were greeted with vigorous applause Friday by the residents of Denmark, South Carolina, a rural town with a population of less than 4,000. At the heart of her message was a phrase that Clinton repeated multiple times during her remarks.

“I want you to understand, I will not promise you something I cannot deliver,” Clinton said. “I will not make promises I know I cannot keep.”

The pragmatic vow was a subtle dig at her opponent Bernie Sanders, who has campaigned on platforms of free college and universal healthcare. But it also functioned as a reminder to communities like this one – rural, poor, and overwhelmingly African American – that voters here have been burned before. In 1993, Denmark’s local school district was one of 39 to file a lawsuit against the state for underfunding rural areas. It took more than 20 years for the case to be resolved; in the meantime the area became known as the “Corridor of Shame.”...

“She’s being real, and that’s what we need,” said Annie Rowe, a Denmark resident who is studying to be a medical assistant. “Everybody makes promises, you’ve got to live up to them.”

http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/hillary-clintons-appeal-african-american-voters-wont-make/story?id=36910700