Civil Rights Tone Prompts Talk of an Endorsement By Rep. James Clyburn

Civil Rights Tone Prompts Talk of an Endorsement
By CARL HULSE


WASHINGTON — Representative James E. Clyburn of South Carolina, the highest-ranking African-American in Congress, said he was rethinking his neutral stance in his state’s presidential primary out of disappointment at comments by Bill and Hillary Rodham Clinton that he saw as diminishing the historic role of civil rights activists.

Mr. Clyburn, a veteran of the civil rights movement and a power in state Democratic politics, put himself on the sidelines more than a year ago to help secure an early primary for South Carolina, saying he wanted to encourage all candidates to take part. But he said recent remarks by the Clintons that he saw as distorting civil rights history could change his mind.

“We have to be very, very careful about how we speak about that era in American politics,” said Mr. Clyburn, who was shaped by his searing experiences as a youth in the segregated South and his own activism in those days. “It is one thing to run a campaign and be respectful of everyone’s motives and actions, and it is something else to denigrate those. That bothered me a great deal.”

In an interview with Fox News on Monday, Mrs. Clinton, who was locked in a running exchange with Senator Barack Obama, a rival for the Democratic presidential nomination, over the meaning of the legacies of President John F. Kennedy and the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., tried to make a point about presidential leadership.

“Dr. King’s dream began to be realized when President Lyndon Johnson passed the Civil Rights Act of 1964,” Mrs. Clinton said in trying to make the case that her experience should mean more to voters than the uplifting words of Mr. Obama. “It took a president to get it done.”

Quickly realizing that her comments could draw criticism, Mrs. Clinton returned to the subject at a later stop, recalling how Dr. King was beaten and jailed and how he worked with Johnson to pass the landmark law. Clinton advisers said her first remark had not captured what she meant to convey. And they said she would never detract from a movement that has driven her own public service.

“She has spent the majority of her life working for poor families, poor children, fighting for the principles that Martin Luther King stood for,” said Minyon Moore, a senior adviser. “The Clintons have a track record.”

Mr. Clyburn, reached for a telephone interview Wednesday during an overseas inspection of port facilities, also voiced frustration with Mr. Clinton, who has described Mr. Obama’s campaign narrative as a fairy tale. Mr. Clinton was not directly discussing civil rights, but Mr. Clyburn saw the remark as a slap at the image of a black candidate running on a theme of unity and optimism.

“To call that dream a fairy tale, which Bill Clinton seemed to be doing, could very well be insulting to some of us,” said Mr. Clyburn, who said he and others took significant risks more than 40 years ago to produce such opportunities for future black Americans.

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http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/11/us/politics/11clyburn.html?_r=2&oref=slogin&ref=politics&pagewanted=print&oref=slogin

at least it ought to.

what he's hearing.

The backlash is indeed coming and it's exactly what the Clinton's deserve. When they attack Obama the way they do, they attack the movement and the countless nameless and faceless folks who, had they not put their LIVES on the line, there would be no Obama.

It's all over black radio, which I try to listen to on a daily basis, and it seems like every caller is not just livid, but hurt and disappointed.

And not to mention the black blogs, where it's hard to find a comment defending the Clintons.

:thumbsup:

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Clyburn is using this as an excuse to join Kerry, Tim Johnson, reportedly Ben Nelson and other status quo figures in getting on the Obama bandwagon.

and then some!

lazy. I picked up on the implications of that, as did many other DUers, but Rove saying that made me realize what has been bothering me so much about one of Sen. Clinton's main themes.

Every speech, she talks about the foolishness of "hoping" for something, and each time follows that with how it's all such "hard work" to achieve things - which is something that only she in this race, apparently can manage.

So is she playing tag with Rove on this "lazy vs hard work" theme?

think Clinton would do that, but they'd best change their tune at how they're approaching this. Like you said, people are definitely noticing. Someone said tonight Rove's ed. is right on the edge of being a racist screed.

Rove is personally devoted to the neocons and the neocons appear to have cut a deal with the Clintons. This is IMHO of course.

meaning, was she baiting this issue? But then what would she have to gain by doing so, just a thought.
I thought the Clintons were dearly loved by the blacks..wasn't Bill deemed the 'first black pres', at one time?
I believe Hillary & Obama are in a cutthroat game here, and MSM and the GOP frontrunners will appear very grey and subdued compared to what is yet to come from these two powful players.

I really did not believe that Bill & Hillary were racist. Afterall Obama is not 'just Black nor just white..Isn't he a bit of both?' And wtf does it matter.
I am an Edwards supporter. First.
I will support the Dem ticket against the GOP. Who ever it ends up being.
This hateful shit by BOTH Obama & Hillary is set to divide the party. I do recall Obama dishing some low-slung digs at Hillary also. Son-of-a-bitch if they dirty the waters with this kind of crap, and allow the party to split.
All their talk of change & unity isn't going to carry the Dem party anywhere if they forget who they are REALLY running against, and WHY.
They both fuckin disgust me at the moment.

What hate speech has he thrown her way?

did it, or did it not, take a "president to get it done"?

to get the president to sign...

?

are not as important as the president who made it official is not a good thing to say.

It almost seemed like Bill was trying to prey on the fears of blacks, that a black man becoming Prez is a fairy tale so don't turn out to vote. Hillary's gaffe is unpardonable; that was just idiotic. She's probably the only Democrat who could make herself seem racist in comparison to her Repub opponent.

when did THAT happen?

My thoughts were , that Bill's fairy tale remark referred to Obamas lack of political experience, compared to Hillary's.
I really never thought for a minute it referred to his black & white skin color.