Hillary claims she has the right vote (wink, wink) to win the WH

ProSense

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Thu May-08-08 03:14 PM
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Hillary claims she has the right vote (wink, wink) to win the WH

Edited on Thu May-08-08 03:54 PM by ProSense

No matter how often Hillary's divisive tactics have been pointed out, the criticisms have been met with excuses and spin.

Hillary's latest comment via Josh Marshall:

"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 who had not completed college were supporting me."

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

Expect a slew of excuses and spin offered suggesting that it's okay for a Democratic leader to point out that Americans, specifically most "hard-working Americans, white Americans," will not vote for Obama. They will say that it's just reality, and Hillary is simply a plain talker. Here's a good example of spin in defense of Hillary:

As quoted, that's a dumb thing to say which seems to imply that non-white voters or perhaps all Obama supporters are lazy. But add a pinch of charitable interpretation into the dynamic, and I think Clinton's meaning is perfectly clear -- she really does do better than Obama among white working class voters in Democratic primary elections. I don't buy the argument, often made by Clinton supporters, that this edge among white working class Democratic primary voters indicates a substantial Clinton electability edge in the general election (it's one part fallacy, two parts baseless speculation, and then a grain of truth) but it's a common argument and not an offensive one.

link

To the inevitable apologists, note that this is calculated sentiment coming from Hillary's campaign.

Hillary Chief Strategist: North Carolina Loss Represented Progress Because We Won Among White Voters

Black voters don't matter, not to Hillary. At the very least, she is diminishing their value as voters. What happened to "every vote counts, count every vote"? After the record disenfranchisement of black voters in the 2004 election, Hillary has chosen to send a message, loud and clear, that despite Obama's success in the primary, he can't win without the white vote as defined by her.

Like the small town folks to whom Hillary proclaimed "bitter" offensive, like those who spoke out to defend Hillary against the misogynistic media, there are many black voters, some women, who are angry, bitter and sad about Hillary and the media's attempt to smear Obama.

Even as most people realize that there is little difference between both candidates on policy, Hillary has decided to portray Obama as unelectable. For the most part, her campaign's overt criticisms and distortions have focused on Obama's so-called lack of experience. In more subtle ways and in private, we know that she has tried to make race the case, arguing to superdelegates that America will not vote for a black man.

As a leader in the Democratic Party, it was incumbent on Hillary to use her platform to attempt to bridge any divide resulting from a woman and black candidate being the front runners in this primary. Instead, she chose to exploit these divisions (among women too) to win at the cost of unity.

For all the cries from her supporters that she is a victim of sexism, her campaign seems to care little about trampling on the hopes and concerns of many black voters, some women, who are undoubtedly angry, bitter and sad about Obama being forced into a situation of trying to overcome the blatant race baiting and racist untertones of this primary.

With the primary winding down, and more people acknowledging that Obama is the presumptive nominee, Hillary decides to ratchet up her appeal, not for unity or to Democrats or all Americans on the issues, but to "hard-working Americans," you know, the "white Americans," who, you know, are turning away from Obama. At this late stage (game over), Hillary has decided to make a strong public appeal for herself (damn the party), emphasizing her ability to attract white voters.

Before the IN and NC primaries, and Hillary's recent comment, an WSJ op-ed piece suggested that Hillary make a speech to help bring about unity:

April 29, 2008, 6:48 am

Clinton Could Ease Racial Tensions

Gerald F. Seib, executive Washington editor of The Wall Street Journal...

Maybe it�s time for another speech on race relations in America � this time by Sen. Hillary Clinton.

As fears of a racial divide move from the wings to center stage for Democrats, it has largely been Sen. Barack Obama who has been called upon to address the subject. And he has � first in a high-profile speech a few weeks ago, and recently this past weekend in an extended conversation on race and the campaign on �Fox News Sunday.�

<...>

Yet it is Sen. Clinton who now has the greater ability to ease racial tensions within her party. Arguably, she also has the greater need to do so, for her long-term standing.

<...>

And there is some evidence that the split is getting starker. The two most recent primaries, in Mississippi and Pennsylvania, in some ways may have been the most racially divided of all. In Mississippi, exit polls indicate, 70% of the white vote went for Sen. Clinton, and 92% of the black vote for Sen. Obama. In Pennsylvania, 63% of the white vote was for Sen. Clinton, and 90% of the black vote for Sen. Obama.

Yet the broader picture isn�t quite as clear as that suggests. In two states that have voted since Super Tuesday � Wisconsin and Vermont � Sen. Obama won a majority of the white vote. In a third, the important bellwether state of Missouri, the white vote split almost evenly between Sens. Clinton and Obama.

Earlier, when Sen. John Edwards was still in the race, exit polls indicated that Sens. Clinton and Obama got almost exactly the same share of the white vote in California, the nation�s largest state. And Sen. Obama has won caucuses in a number of largely white states, perhaps precisely because race isn�t much of an issue in those states.

(emphasis added)

Wonder why?

Hillary's "white Americans" comment causing a quick firestorm

Enough!

Editorial

Clinton's end: time to yield and unify

Dogged, determined Sen. Hillary Clinton smacked into turbulence somewhere over Indiana. In the incongruous rules of politics, she won the state narrowly but lost the battle for the nomination.

It is time for Clinton to do something she is not wired to do: yield the nomination to Sen. Barack Obama, the candidate with the best chance to win and unify Democrats.Clinton is not campaigning to be the Energizer Bunny, which, against all odds, keeps mechanically bobbing forward and backward because, darn it, the batteries still work. She has talked in recent days about being a fighter. Fighters may never give in, but sophisticated leaders do.

There comes a time to acknowledge the electoral math and step aside. Hillary cannot reach the required number of delegates without ripping the Democratic Party into pieces in a fight over delegates from Florida and Michigan. Those delegates may not be seated at the convention because their states violated the calendar for staging primaries.

If Clinton presses on to the bitter end, as is her misguided right to do, she will carry the burden of ruining the Democrats' best chance in years to change Washington, D.C., end the war in Iraq and move the country forward internationally and domestically.

In the longest nominating process on Planet Earth, it is hard to say one state's results are more important than another's. When looking for an end point, however, we know it when we see it. Clinton has tenaciously exhausted her options.

more

edited typos, fixed title

Hillary claims she has the right vote (wink, wink) to win the WH

Clinton Could Ease Racial Tensions

Clinton's end: time to yield and unify

Pretty Black and White

Sen. Clinton and the Campaign