Bill Clinton is not a racist and has no need to play the "race card".

He was the most popular politician ever within the black community. Barack Obama knows that as well as anyone. However, there are a lot of black voters in SC and Obama wants their vote. It is not the Clintons that are playing the race card. Once South Carolina is behind him, Obama will resort back to his "unifying" message for America.

saying something racist.

And the Clinton's desperately need Obama to be seen as a black "fringe" candidate. Even better if they can work in Muslim.

Using race this way is racist. You can't be one or the other. This is for the idea of the original poster, not you, cryingshame. Although I will say I disagree that you can be evoke racist emotions without finding that racism. If you aren't repelled by that, Clintons, and find it good enough to use, then you have some 'splainin' to do.

of statements and evidence to say that the Clinton campaign hasn't played the race card.

It's pathetic to watch, frankly.

as a Nation/Party to remain united. It makes me question the media intentions by hyping this whole issue of race/gender. I'm certain we'll get the "are democrats divided beyond repair" garbage, ad nauseum when Clinton/Obama wins the nomination? UGH. :puke:

the backlash is coming..and Hills numbers are looking GREAT!

was telling people to knock it off. The Clintons, on the other hand, released numerous race-related comments.

that if she played the race card, she would be getting the majority of the black voters in South Carolina. I don't think that is the case? Also, I'm not sure she is "flagging" as much as you might think?

The Clinton campaign attempted to paint Barack Obama as a "black" candidate, by first race-baiting, and then deliberately conflating the remarks of non-campaign-affiliated Obama supporters with Obama himself, and then repeatedly whimpering about Obama's "playing the race card."

This entire thing is damage-control for her impending South Carolina thumping.

Corect me if I'm wrong......but isn't he black? Or at least half black? If Obama didn't want to call attention to himself being black, then why does he make references to MLK all the time? Maybe Michelle shouldn't have said; "black america will wake up and get it". Get what? That they have the first REAL chance to have a black president? So they should support/vote for him, because he's black?

That's a race card if there ever was one.

I think a lot of Obama supporters are in denial.

For every reference to MLK, he's made a reference to JFK.

:-) But that's politics.

Already we're seeing "of course he's winning SC--he's black!"

and both think they are deserving of the black vote. We don't need the "racist" comments from either side, quite frankly.

racially. It seems to be working, given the number of posts here referring to Obama's SC win as being a "black" thing.

By having supporters like Joseph Lowery proclaim to Blacks that it was evidence of a "slave mentality" to doubt that Barack Obama could be elected President and other such comments, not to mention continuing to recycle claims that Hillary disrespected MLK Jr. etc. You left that part out of your chronology.

Obama will win on Saturday but face a backlash on Super Tuesday.

Michelle Obama and the Slumbering Black Masses

Michelle Obama, shown speaking at a fundraising event in March, says her husband, Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Barack Obama, is lagging behind Hillary Clinton in polls of black voters because of a "fear of possibility."

Michael Nagle/Getty Images
There could be any number of reasons that Barack Obama trails Hillary Clinton among black voters. It could be Clinton's name recognition or her political experience. It could also be as simple as the fact that blacks are not automatons who will unthinkingly vote for a person of color.

To Michelle Obama, the wife of Sen. Obama, the reason that her husband is lagging in the polls is the "fear of possibility" owned by those blacks who are holding out — scared flesh in their racial memory from being told too often that we are "not ready" to achieve. Mrs. Obama holds, however, no fear. In an interview with MSNBC's Mika Brzezinski, she said she believes that soon the straggling blacks will "wake up and get it."

I don't disagree with the notion that for some people of color, there is a "fear of possibility." When Harriet Tubman ran the Underground Railroad, she used to carry a gun with her. It wasn't so much to use against bounty hunters. She used it occasionally to dissuade blacks so frightened by the journey to freedom that they wanted to run back to the plantation, thereby endangering all. But I would not say that fear of possibility or change is limited to blacks, nor is it the prevailing attitude among us. Were that true, we would all still be, at best, sharecropping — and, at worst, having our teeth checked prior to sale to the highest bidder.

For Michelle Obama to claim that one day black America will "wake up and get it" and support her husband is to imply that any person of color who does not vote for Obama is somehow slumbering or stupid. That Obama need not earn the black vote, but rather our votes must be given out of racial fidelity.

I would add that earning the black vote does not mean pandering to the idea of "black issues," as any issues that affect blacks — hate crimes and discrimination and lack of housing — are not restricted to a particular race. And to suggest that those are "black issues" is to intimate that the credit crisis and the war on terrorism and the rise in oil prices are of no interest to or do not affect people of color.

Instead, I would say that Obama needs to earn his votes through consistency of message. He can't pass himself off as an agent of change, then pander to the homophobic crowd. He can't claim to stand against the war, then continually vote for its funding. He can't send mixed messages as to whether America would actually use its nuclear arsenal to protect itself.

Like most black people, emotionally I want Barack Obama to be president yesterday. However, also like most blacks, I'm awake enough to know that Obama deserves to be evaluated on his merits, not just on the color of his skin.



who's playing WHAT...She has been out there for months along with Oprah..jjj...sharpton...pushing the race card! then turning around to accuse the Clinton's if doing it..sounds BUSH LIKE!

you know better than that. Any white person who talks about blacks, and the race issues, are racist.:sarcasm:

beginning to notice...


http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=132&topic_id=4182032&mesg_id=4182032

And knows quite well how voters respond to particular issues and the raising of particular issues. He also knows damn well how classes of voters respond to styles of campaign. Specifically, if a campaign seems ugly and negative, it will turn off young voters, new voters, independents. Hmmm. That's an interesting voter class. Why would anyone want to turn off that constituency at this time? Oh. Right.

The whole thing is a straw man. One need not assume that Clinton is a racist in order to posit that he will utilize the positions and feelings of the electorate to best advantage. One only need assume that he is cynical and calculating in the extreme, or, to phrase it positively, that he's a brilliant politician.

Not Obama. But that does not mean that Obama is not a brilliant politician either. :-) He is playing to the black voters in South Carolina. Which is perfectly legit ... But we need to keep it in perspective that neither of them is a racist but both want the black vote very badly.

depress numbers in the OTHER class of voters I mentioned. The black vote is neither here nor there. The Clintons are smart enough to know that Obama's going to take the black vote overwhelmingly. They literally don't care about it, from a numbers standpoint, except maybe to peel off 5% here and there. What they care about is new voters, independents, and young voters. They can depress those numbers by making this seem like a politics as usual and nasty campaign. That's what they're doing. What you think about that (cynical/despicable, brilliant) is up to you.

As usual.

the legacy of distrust of the Clintons that the Right Wing Noise Machine infected the body politic with during their 15 year battle to eliminate the threat posed by the first Democratic President to serve two full terms in office since FDR. As in grudgingly acknowledging that Hillary is likable enough, but just barely.

He may not be a racist. After all, Andrew Young stated a while back that Bill has "bagged" more black women than Obama.

But Bill sure knows how to triangulate and made racism an issue in 1992 when he ran in South Carolina. It depends on what the meaning of "racism" is.

:crazy:

Clinton's speech was against virulent racism in all forms, and from those of all colors.

Q: A lot of people look at the violence that was unleashed and
say... let's talk now about white America and middle-class black
America-- will see the videos of the looting, the burning, people
with their kids walking away with merchandise, people shooting at
firemen, and think, you know, "Thank God for the police, because
the police is what separates us and our property and our safety
and our lives from them, because look what they're capable of."

A: They do not represent the majority of
black people, number one. Black people from the underclass and
the so-called lower class do not respect the institutions of
white America, which is why you can cart as many black people out
on the television as you want to tell people in the lower and
underclass that that was stupid, but they don't care what you
say.
You don't care about THEIR lives, haven't added anything to
the quality of their lives, haven't affectuated anything for the
quality of their lives, and then expect them to respond to your
opinions which mean absolutely nothing? Why would they?

Q: But even the people themselves who were perpetrating that
violence, did they think it was wise? Was that wise, reasoned
action?

A: Yeah, it was wise. I mean, if black people kill black
people every day, why not have a week and kill white people? You
understand what I'm saying? In other words, white people, this
government, and that mayor were well aware of the fact that black
people were dying every day in Los Angeles under gang violence.
So if you're a gang member and you would normally be killing
somebody, why not kill a white person? Do you think that
somebody thinks that white people are better, or above and beyond
dying, when they would kill their own kind?

Q: I'm just asking what's the wisdom in it? What's the sense
in it?

A: It's rebellion, it's revenge. You ever heard of Hammurabi's
Code? Eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth? It's revenge. I
mean, that seems so simple. I don't even understand why anybody
ask me that question. You take something from me, I take
something from you. You cut me, I cut you. You shoot me, I shoot
you. You kill my mother, I kill your mother.

Q: And the individuals don't matter?

A: What individuals? If you killed my mother, that mattered to
me. That's why I killed yours. How could the individuals not
matter? You mean the WHITE individuals, do they matter? Not if
the black ones don't. Absolutely not. Why would they? If my
child dies, your child dies. If my house burns down, your house
burns down. An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth.

As for Sister Souljah, her response to Clinton's pandering to whites is pretty interesting:

Bashing Clinton's drug use, infidelity, and draft-dodging? I see she didn't miss a single one of Rush's shows.

The lobotomy comment is bizarre. I couldn't find any reference for it.

Her remarks on "no substantive, comprehensive agenda"--in defense of Republican VP Dan Quayle, no less--were proven completely wrong, given Clinton's overseeing of the largest sustained economic expansion in history.

And since Jesse Jackson became Bill Clinton's spiritual advisor, she's talking through her hat there, too.

Obama is the biggest fake to come to American politics since George W. Bush!

Hillary Clinton and John Edwards came to American politics before George W. Bush.

and lots of his allies and former allies are pointing it out and telling him to back off.

After Bill Clinton was the best friend they ever had? What has Obama done for them? Is it enough just to be "black"? How did he persuade all those former Clinton "supporters" to get on his bandwagon? I'm sure race had nothing to do with it??

:-)

In actuality, both the Clintons and Obama poll very high among black and white voters, and the gap in black support predates the racial fracas. Obama began sharply rising after he won Iowa and was seen as "viable" to the black community. Clinton lost the bulk of her black support there; black voters simply decided that they'd rather go with the first viable black candidate ever, while meaning no harm to the Clintons. She took further hits after she played the race card, but it's impossible to know exactly the effect it had; there are many reasons to support or not to support a candidate. Obama's white support has remained pretty much constant in SC (land of the confederate flag, so no shock there), while Clinton has been slowly losing supporters to Edwards.

the lives of poor inner city African Americans in Chicago both as a community organizer and civil rights lawyer. Up until less than a month ago Hillary had the edge when it came to black voters- including in SC. Then came two things: Obama won Iowa and the Clinton campaign started using certain tactics against him. And what the heck are you talking about saying that Bill Clinton was the best friend they ever had? That isn't only patronizing in a rather distasteful way, it's patently false. MLK was a far better "friend". LBJ was a better "friend". Who do you think was most adversely impacted by Clinton's welfare reform?

Yes, race is a factor. So is gender when it comes to Hillary, but it's hardly the whole story.

and more blacks entered the middle class than ever before in history. Right or wrong, they give him a lot of credit for that. He was not called the "first black president" for nothing. Tell us again why so many blacks are supporting Obama?

It hardly reflects the diverse opinions of the African American community. They don't think as one, anymore than any other group. And how do you know that some AA voters don't blame him for the lousy welfare reform bill or NAFTA or any other number of things? I already gave you possible reasons that people might support him; here's another: African Americans were more against the war than white Americans. Maybe that's a factor.

Frankly, I find your insistence that AA voters are only supporting Obama because he's black, as offensive as people insisting women only support Clinton because she's female. It's pretty disgusting stuff.

of the candidate, but they do vote as a bloc in a way women do not.

Both type of people tend to tell lies.

Long term cannot be considered now - because if he loses SC, there is no long term.

race card. They report on anything said by Barack or Hillary with a lot of speculation on whether or not it was a racist comment. I suppose it's good for their ratings and circulation to keep some kind of nastiness going between the frontrunners. Frankly, I don't think either of them are racist.

I don't there is anything "racist" about the disagreements between the Obama and Hillary camps. Unfortunately, it has been portrayed that way. But in the same vein, people could ask "Do women vote for Hillary just because she is a woman?"

is just as sexist as someone votes against her just because she is a woman. By the same token I would consider someone who votes for Barack only because he is black to be just as racist as someone who votes against him just because he is black.

It's really a disappointment that for the first time that we have a black candidate and a woman candidate in serious contention for the Democratic nomination and eventually the Presidency that people want to dig up all of the sexist and racist crap that we have fought for so long to overcome.

Before BHO had Bill or Hillary EVER been accused of being RACISTS??? NO! There is your answer...BHO is a worm~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

No offense to you, kentuck...and I thank you for pointing out the obvious
to anyone who isn't simply bashing Bill or Hillary, but I think this whole thing shows the flaws
in our whole media ratings driven election drivel...and it is so destructive
to our cause here.

Hillary's campaign.

Yeah sure.

Rove knew Kerry was very strong on his military record and support of vets, so Rove attacked there.
Obama knows the Clintons are very strong with their support from, and their support of, the African American community, so Obama is attacking there.

Lets Hope Democrats don't let it happen again.