Political Punch

Obama played the race card!!!

The Kennedys endorsement is a stab in the back

Al, YOU my friend, have got it EXACTLY right.

>

AGAIN.....
If Obama were a white male at the same age, with the same abilities that won SC by that margin and had gotten endorsed by the Kennedys 2 days later, he would be ahead in the polls by 15%......c'mon ABC, but I know you'll delete this anyway. So in denial.

I agree with your friend on the matter of how somewhat overblown the initial comments of Mr. Clinton were. The dismissive comment by Mr. Clinton comparing Mr. Obama's and Mr. Jackson's victories in SC is narrowly compartmentalizing Mr. Obama's candidature. This is an explicit attempt by Mr. Clinton to remind the racial overtones of this campaign. But, is only Mr. Clinton doing this? A number of "non-biased" media outlets repeatedly touted the large African-American turnout and vote that propelled Mr. Obama to victory. Was this not keeping us reminded of the racial overtones in this campaign? Were they helping or hurting Mr. Obama's cause? I do not know.

The main thing I find disturbing is that the democrats (politicians), who are supposed to be transcending race and gender, are not up to the task of unifying their own party. Why falsely profess that they want to unify the country?

We should have some honest discussion about race and gender and their roles (or the lack thereof)in political elections. Personally, any genuine comments or questions raised about a candidate gets nasty response from supporters, often condemning the presumed racial bias of the questioner.

This election (democratic primary) is not only about white or black, but about nearly 20% of others as well.

I have to agree with your friend's assessment, Jake. Give the Husband-Who-Will-Not-Shut-Up enough verbal rope and he will hang himself by a French-knotted noose! Again, it seems the Clintons believe in the damn-the-torpedoes, take-no-prisoners way of campaigning to win, and then they think all will be forgiven. I don't think it will this time.

I feel Bill has been out of line in all his comments attempting to set Whites vs.Blacks in this primary. Quuite frankly, among the three Dem Candidates, Obama has the greatest appeal, has the better chance of beating any Rep. nominee. I personally like his message of hope. This is my third time to participate in the presidential elections as naturalized American. Believe me, hope speaks to me more than the Clinton's back bitting. I am still undecided who I will vote for until I see how this Dem. Primary shakes up.

No one will have to "play" the race card in order for it to dominate the general election. If Harold Ford with all he had going for him couldn't win in Tennesee, it's not clear how any black Democrat is going to win any Red state any time soon. And the only Blue state he could count on would be the idylic ethanolland we know as Iowa. Forget about New York and California. The Big Blue states have a culture of inter-ethnic turf contention not seen anywhere else. Plus tons of first and second generation immigrants from China, Russia, Korea, Eastern Europe and yes Mexico, who didn't get here in time for the 60's, so all of Obama's inspirational JFK & MLK rhetoric is completely lost on them. Maybe that's why they tend to vote like white sheriffs in the Jim Crow South. Obama would be lucky to break even in the major cities while losing 2 to 1 in the suburbs. Say hello to President-elect Robot Romney or Field Marshall McCain or Police State Rudy. Like Ralph Nader before him, Obama's premature career move is going to be the best thing that ever happened for the GOP. And it is THAT, and not mere Hillary hatred, that makes the right wing pundits on FOX NEWs cheer his every move with so much enthusiasm.

{What do you think?

- jpt}

What do I think? I think that if you have to ask what I think, then Jake, you are part of the problem. A big problem, being that you represent mainstream media. Bill Clinton's remarks remind me of campaign ads ran by the Republican mayoral opponent to the late Harold Washington, who went on to win. Days before the election, Bernard Epton, a non-descript GOP candidate who was being secretly backed by Chicago's Democratic machine ran an ad that simply said "Vote for Epton. Before It's Too Late".

The mainstream media had no problem with nailing Bill Clinton to the wall when he said that he 'never had sexual relations with that woman'. Not to nail him now leads me to think that the media passively supports this sort of race baiting.

The Clintons are dividers not unifiers. I've followed every election since 1952. The parties have always fought hard during elections but worked together between elections until the Clintons took office. Bills approach to destroy everyone who opposed or disagreed with him has turned the democratic party into a party of hate for everyone who disagrees with them.

At first it seemed that Obama might return to a party of opposition to the republicans instead of a party of hate. It is becoming obvious that anyone who disagrees with him will be labeled a racist. If every Senator or Representative who oppose him on an issue is labeled a racist we will have a more divided country than ever. I can't vote for either of these two. I will have to vote republican this year.

As bad as many of you feel Bush is, he has more "people of color" in his administration than ANY previous President. Put that in your "hate-Bush" pipe and snort it.

i am one of those who thought hiliary will have an easy run, but a lot of things are happening to show that this will not be so. A man like obama with his charisma and appeal to the common people may not be the best president, however if the clitons should continue to make these insensitive speeches , they are surely taken obama to the white house.i love obama and i want him to win

There is an important difference between being "racist" and being "race-baiting." By race-baiting is meant attempting to divide the population by racheting up people's racial animosities, of whichever side. That is what I think offends people about the way the Clintons have been behaving, expecially this most recent remark by former President Clinton. It's not going to work, though, because we white people don't buy it any more.

People are saying that Bill slapped black folks in the face. As a black man the slap came when thin-skinned Obama put White people behind him in his victory speech. It was blacks that voted for him. 75% of whites did not. Yet, the photo op is of whites. There is no difference in a white token and a black token.

No one is buying the act. He belongs to a church where the pastor is a racist. If John Edwards went to such a church he would be a racist. Obama proudly maintains his membership while trying to distance himself from the pastor. That's double talk!

When he says that he was always against the war. He was actually against it in his mind before he joins congress then proceeds to support it on every vote thereafter. There are people who were against this war from the start. He's not one of them.

He says he has a health care plan that is universal but leaves off atleast 1/3 of the same people who don't have it now.

The way you honor my people is to not placate me. Don't dance around his color. Challenge him like you would any other candidate. The media wants this to go long so that they get the advertising dollars and improve they're resumes.

Istead of reading Bill Clinton's mind and putting out his own racist propaganda and photo ops, Obama needs to figure out how to get more than 30% for white votes. The Republicans can't wait to get Obama. Don't believe the hype. If Rebulicans are saying they want Hillary. It's because they don't.

Black folks are eager to call Hill-Bill racists and to deny that whites did anything in support of equal/civil rights. At what point will all of these good white folks that are supporting Holy Obama be called upon to prove they are also not racists!!!

Get smart!

America is going downhill and will continue to do so. Thank you George Bush for lying to the American people for your and Cheney's won selfish gain, to Christians who you brainwashed into thinking that a vote for the Republican elephant was a vote for Jesus.

And now we have all this race talk in a campaign with a bi-racial (YES - Barack Obama is both black and white) and a white woman whose white husband took pride in being called this nation's first "black" president. PLEASE. This is all incredible nonsense based on ignorance, fear, oneupmanship and an ambitious hunger for power.

While the United States of America continues to major in minor issues and is more concerned by the exploits of Britney Spears than our troops in Iraq, terrorism is as strong as ever, and the dumbing down of America's skills continue.

It's time for effective change. Who will bring that effective paradigm shift necessary to bring all Americans into a more positive dynamic instead of all this polarization?

I say it's Barack Obama. I have high regard for John McCain, but he's 71 years old. Hillary Clinton is not the person for the job. Her baggage precedes her. I'm a NYer and frankly, Chuck Schumer has done more for our state than she has or ever will. Let's be real here. We all know that this will be Bill Clinton's third term in office if Hillary is elected. She is a competent woman in her own right, don't get me wrong, but the Clinton era needs to end. Thank you, Bill Clinton, for being a great president. Your 2 terms are done and I supported you with no reservations whatsoever. I am not interested in having Hillary be the president of the United States, and yes I am a woman. She can add better value to the party in a statesman role. But not as the leader of the free world.

It's so funny how political preferences and passions alter our perception of facts - including me - all of us. But at least give me this much:

I remember the 90s fondly as the good ole days when we had a good president who had alot of personal problems, but I didn't care because the economy was good, and he Clinton was kind of cool. I didn't understand all of the people who couldn't stand the man - saying that character, integrity, and values mattered. I figured, "let the man do a good job and leave him alone!" (remember that sentiment?)

So I figured that I couldn't wait for his wife to do the same. And considering that we have had in my opinion one of the worst adminitrations in history with the Bush Administration, I figured that having her in the White House was better than the alternative. But a few things changed my mind along the way. The main change came when she voted for authorization for use of force in Iraq, in what I believe was a politically motivated vote ("I'm going to run for Prez, so I need to appear tough after 9/11, even this may not be best). I looked to see who would stand up, and she didn't.

The second thing that happened was Obama's emergence - someone who changed my thinking from partisian politics and appeals to the better instincts in people. His vision of America is the one we first learned about in history textbooks - a great nation with so much greater potential - one in which states may be individual, but unite as one; and people do the same. Awesome but simple concept - that that's why he already draws comparisions to Abe, and JFK - two men who understood that the States are so much stronger when they are United.

To see Bill Clinton (I used to love ya Bill) act the way he has lately (can you say RACE BAITING and DIVIDING)has shown me why so many Republicans didn't like him, and why they prefer to see Hillary win the nomination. The Clintons will do anything to win, and play victim while doing it. Republicans can play partisian divide politics with Hillary, but what can they do against inspiration? Only offer their best statesman of their party: John McCain - which would totally elevate the nature of our politics - Obama's intention.

But with that said, I WILL NOT VOTE FOR HILLARY. The Clinton-Fatigue has gotten the best of me, and everytime I see Bill and Hillary; I think "here we go again". This country will be SO divided if she wins. If Barak loses the nomination to her, I will wait for Bloomberg to come out for President. If that doesn't happen, I may even vote for someone who may not agree with issues like I do, but has integrity; someone naive people passed on to vote for Bush: McCain. But if Obama loses, I will really feel a personal sense of loss for this country, because his judgement about the ills of this country, and his character is greater than Hillary's.

an unoriginal MSM meme

Former President Clinton's statements are even more transparent because, in reaching back 20+ years, he has to skip right over the more recent example of Al Sharpton lost to Edwards and Kerry in 2004. So, I guess "the blacks" aren't quite as monolithic as the race-baiters would like to portray us as being.

Yes, the Clintons' want race to be the issue because there are many more whites than blacks. Liberal whites are latent racist. They pander to blacks to get their votes as long as they fall in line.

I guess when black people vote for another black person, their votes somehow are worth less?

That is a pretty disgusting viewpoint to take.

The media has double standards about race issues.If a candidate that is white can't even speak a blacks name without it turning into an issue of race how are you going to run aginist them if you can not even say his name.look at Michelle obama saying blacks better open there eyes,what would the media do it Bill or Hillary or John Edwards said whites better open there eyes?I AM DISPOINTED WITH HOW THE MEDIA IS HANDLING THE RACE ISSUE,but i expected it.

No black is going to win as president as long as people know they will have to deal with 4 years of being branded as a 'racist' every time they oppose the black president. You call his opposition to the war as 'fairy tale' and that's a racially incendiary comment? No-one is going to put up with someone (or someone's supporters) who are so thin-skinned, regardless of the color of that thin skin.

The media is the only one who cares anything about this election. There are no outstanding candidates from either party. AND WHY DID WE HAVE TO BE SUBJECTED TO ALL THIS ELECTION B******* SO FAR AHEAD OF THE ELECTION!!?? I've always hated election year because nobody focuses on anything but that but this time we've had an extra 6 months plus of all the posturing. We need to throw everyone out of Washington and start over. They're all alike under the skin.

The fact that the black vote was almost identical in Nevada and South Carolina discredits what most of the media has been talking about for the past few days. If you compare the Nevada and South Carolina stats, Hillary gained black votes in South Carolina.

I wouldn't say Hillary didn't care about the SC primary. She knew Obama would win it. The black vote was almost identical in Nevada and South Carolina. She decided to campaign intead in the Feb 5 stats where she's ahead. On Super Tueday Hillary is ahead in 20 out of the 22 states that will vote that day. You can see why Hillary decided to campaign in those states and leave South Carolina for Obama. Even before Iowa the media knew that if Obama won Iowa that blacks would flock to Obama. Everyone knew that Obama would in South Carolina, unfortunately you can't mention this because if you do you're labeled a racist.

The Bill Clinton Jessie Jackson comment was a slap in the face to the black voters who did support Hillary. It was like he was saying Obama was going to win any way, weather you voted for Hillary or not,so it was like your vote was wasted.She did not care enough to even rally her supporters after the SC Primary!

I don't understand you people who are saying everything that Clinton says is racist, have you all lost your mind. If
you think the remark about Jessie Jackson was racist, then you all are quilty liberals, who pretend that racism
is no longer an issue, because Obama doesn't face the fact that racism does exist, whether he has had to endure it or not. Most likely he hasn't personally been faced with the lynching or crosses burned in front of his home, or today a Jena like incident, which Obama ignored, until pressed to say how horrible the incident was. Obama doesn't represent both races, he doesn't represent any race, he is a non-person, saying nothing, addressing nothing and imitating others. I am sorry you people here see him as some savior of the US. But he is not, and only time will tell, if he gets to the White House, all I can say is think of GW Bush, is comparing Obama to Bush better, same personality or maybe Reagan, who lied to the country to get people to vote for him.
Obama, says change, the change is him, no real change, he votes to fund the war over and over but says he is against war. Isn't he against people dying? He's just another greedy corporate elist leading the people by the nose, he will accomplish nothing. I will not vote for him in the primary or general election, period. Hopefully
all those black votes in SC will be wasted along with the quilty bleeding heart white liberals and uninformed hispanics and every other minority, who
have no idea what a mess they are putting this country in when they go into the voting booth.

The American public is so weary of the Clintons and their negative politics. It is incredibly heartening to see the South Carolina results. It's remarkable that Obama got so much of the white vote in light of the fact that Edwards was born in South Carolina and the Clintons have southern roots and the support of the Democratic establishment. Americans of all races, gender, ethnicity, economic class are hungering for a political leader who can change Washington. As a white 44 year old female, I'm supporting Obama!

Please folks, quit with the "black" vote in S. C, . I'm sure all those who went to obama, are aware of his white mother.

This was a rejection of the b,s of the clintons and the sad efforts of the hair boy.

The people who went with Obama were of multiple shades and mind.

Knowing that whoever wins, will have to do what necessity demands regardless.....

I would much rather wake up to see any proclamations emerge from an attractive warm personality, than the cold and vacant eyes , and totally self serving personages of the " ####" creature.

As an independent thinker....and Romney and McCain on the horizon...I hope only for someone who brings unity to our hearts and minds on a national and global basis.

The ecomomy wil ultimately take care of itself...and remember folks,,,if the big boys lose...everybody loses.

Besides we surely need to be grateful ...it could truly be a whole lot worse....think Europe/ America in the very early days.

Thank you, Pityman

I can't believe that Bill Clinton made the comment in regards to comparing Obama to Jesse Jackson. Comparing the fact of reminding the black people to remember "Jesse Jackson won South Carolina, and still failed to win" I'm a Hillary Clinton fan, but I'm trying to be open on both sides for the best of our country. I want to be fair, and hear what both have to say. I'm African American, and I know this country need a huge change. But throwing race cards, and inmature comments..is really making me see where the truth lies.

I am a retired engineer and a non partisan senior citizen and I think that both, President Clinton and the media should back off from mentioning race or gender in this election. This election is much more important than previous elections because we are in a mess due to the Iraq war and a looming recession. Senator Obama is much above this business as usual dirty polits. After a very long time, we are witnessing the rise of a truly inspiring statesman, an honest and decent person, whom we badly need as our president to lead us out of this mess and move us towards peace and prosperity. In my own humble way I will do what I can to help Senator Obama win the primary and the general election.

Comparing Barack Obama's victory to Jesse Jackson's victory in the 80s is the most naked race baiting from the Clintons. He will pay dearly for this insane stupidity. He fails to realize that Clinton FATIGUE is REAL.
We are tired of BUSH-CLINTON-BUSH-CLINTON merry go round dynasties. If we don't correct it the Independents will do it for by staying or voting for the GOP nominee.
Obama is no Jackson!

Jake,
I am a middle aged, white, midwestern, working mother that will be working night and day to help Obama become President. Not because he is black but because he is what this country needs. He know what hard work is, can identify with the working class and can deliver a speech that inspires everyone to look at what they need to do to contribute rather than take from our country. I teach high school students in a small rural town. When I posed the question of, "Who do you want to be President?" 95% of these teenagers coming from prodominetly Republican homes responded, "Obama". Now, for someone to get high school students excited about politics that takes inspiration. By the way, they do not know that I support Obama. Being a democrat here is not a very popular position! So to answer your question, people are ready for change and looking to Obama to provide the opportunity even in Republican Midwest America they really do not care what color he is!

Your pal is absolutely right. The media really needs to stop talking about race (or identity politics as a whole for that matter) and start focusing on important things like fact-checking candidates' claims rather than reporting he-said-she-said horse race stuff and blathering about demographics. Your job is to give voters an accurate picture of the candidates, and to shine the spotlight on anyone who tries to cheat in the shadows.

Jake: I am a 50 year old white democrat who has never been so moved, and so hopeful as I was tonight at Senator Obama's victory speech.

To your black friend who worried: "I think the real question is whether white people will backlash against Obama simply because he won so many black votes..."

I say to him, please have some faith. What Clinton has done with that Jesse Jackson remark is despicable. It indeed is worse than his previous attacks.

Senator Obama appeals to our better angels. He's would be the President that I want my children to know.

It isn't a surprise - or even relevant - that he took 80% of the black vote. For what's much more heartening is way so many voters in Iowa and New Hampshire and Nevada looked past race, and voted for the man.

I sincerely believe Bill Clinton will have precisely the opposite effect that you fear.

I have never been so proud to be an American as I was tonight, watching that speech.

Your friend is 100% right. You should have heard the angry outbursts among Democrats in the room I was in -- a mixed crowd, some even Clinton people -- when Clinton's Jesse Jackson line was announced. I think a lot of people who were sort of sitting this one out, are coming off the bench now, to make sure Obama, and not the Clintons, goes to the White House.

I am glad that Ms Kennedy endorsed Senator Obama. He represents hope and compassion in the best tradition of JFK. We are in dire need of leaders who will embrace the light and curse the darkness, instead of the reverse.

I am glad that Ms Kennedy endorsed Senator Obama. He represents hope and compassion in the best tradition of JFK. We are in dire need of leaders who will embrace the light and curse the darkness, instead of the reverse.

I'll be convening my precinct caucus Feb. 5th and hope to again be a state delegate. I continue to be one of those "they're all good candidates and I'll work for whomever is nominated" people, but Bill's making it difficult. All his recent huffing and puffing has got me thinking about what it'll be like having him back in the spotlight for four more years, and I decided I really don't want to go back there. In two Saturday political meetings I attended I had conversations with Dem women who raised the same point--they were basically "All Dem Candidates Good" people, they favored Hillary because of feminist solidarity if nothing else, but Bill had now caused them second thoughts. I suspect the results in SC will prompt more voters to realize the dis-ease they've been feeling is Clinton fatigue.