Watching the primary news on MSNBC this evening, there was much talk about what appears to be Bill Clinton’s attempt to blackify Obama in order to make him an undesirable choice among white voters. Particularly, in response to a question about he and Hillary tag teaming on Obama, Bill made a non sequiter reference to Jesse Jackson as if to remind folks that Obama is black. You can read about this here. In saying this, he also downplayed Obama’s popularity by making it seem like the only reason why Obama’s big in SC is because he’s black.
Question 1) Does Clinton’s statement (and others like it) show that he is trying to exploit race and racism?
Question 2) If yes, will this strategy be successful in causing white voters to shy away from Obama?
I say yes to the first question. The Clintons know exactly what they’re doing, especially with Bill being the lawyerly wordsmith that he is. It’s to their advantage to have Hillary’s opponent be seen as being not just a friend to black people…but actually one of them. So he evokes the name of one of America’s most villified black men and relates him to Obama.
I’m not sure about the answer to the second question. One part of me says no, this attempt to blackify Obama will not work. But the other part of me says it will. The more the Clintons make their digs at Obama, the more visible and vocal black support for him will become and the blacker he will become in the eyes of the racially sensitive. Some whites are comfortable voting for Obama only because they see him as “not really being black”. If he loses that image because they see a lot of non-Oprah black folks rallying behind him, he will lose those voters to Clinton.
Yes. A strong YES. But as Russert has been pointing out on MSNBC, he’s been using code that southerners (particularly blacks) understand, as a wedge. He’d been doing it for a while.
Some, yes. But I think he’s annoying enough people that he might be driving them to Obama more than he’s driving them away.
All in all, this might be a good test for Obama, and a chance for him to find his voice on a BROADER level.
I think so. It’s inevitable, to some extent, I guess, after a win as big as we saw tonight.
I doubt it. It could have worked in the general election, but the media is calling him on it, and the Democratic primary voters are full of Blacks and white liberals, the two groups most likely to really resent and react against this type of thing.
The playing up of him being black I don’t think will have an effect- everyone with eyes knows what color he is. Now, if they play up the indirect Farrakhan connection, or start referring to him as Barack HUSSIEN Obama, that may have an effect. In fact what I think would be huge would be a simple add- who would you rather have as Pres, Hilary Rodham Clinton or Barack HUSSIEN Obama? I’m sure there are a lot of people out there who don’t know his middle name who would have a problem with it.
You’re mistaken on both accounts. John Edwards won South Carolina in 2004.
It’s not that his comment serves as a reminder of Obama’s race. It’s that it paints Obama’s race in a negative light. See, he’s just like Jesse. And I know ya’ll hate Jesse.
But I expect Slick Willy to accuse those of us who find this insulting to be “playing the race card”.
If it came down to Obama versus the Republican candidate, that approach might work, but I doubt they’d have the gall to air a TV ad bringing up his Islamic middle name. There’s something about it that’s too underhanded for me to imagine being publicly broadcast. They’d probably go about disseminating the information through grassroots channels.
Okay, not twice, once. What does it matter? His response to that question still didn’t follow logically. The reporter asked him about a Billary beat down, and Bill immediately starts going on about Jesse. I have a feeling that Bill meant to save that tidbit for some other moment but he dropped his guard and it pop out of his mouth too soon.
I’m not going to try to argue you out of your feeling. For all I know, Bill is a closet racist who is drawing a line between Obama and Jackson for other racists who are somehow incapable of drawing that line themselves, but I don’t think that’s the most likely explanation.
Yes, Bill is playing the race card, and he’s both a jackass and stupid for doing it. He’s a jackass because Democrats in the year 2008 should be aspiring to something higher than racially divisive politics. He is sullying the party, and his own reputation in the bargain.
He’s stupid because he is only harming Hillary in the long run. Even if playing the race card works (and I don’t think it will) it will create serious resentment among black voters. Hell, it’s done that already. Does Hillary really expect these voters to forgive her and turn out in the fall?
Anyway, I don’t think it will work. Bill has been in New York too long. He is trying to play racial politics in the South in a way that is outdated by 20 years. Look at the numbers in South Carolina. I think Obama’s 55% (more than doubling up on Hillary) is a pretty good repudiation of Bill’s tactics.
Obama’s victory speech was beautiful, hitting all the right notes to rise above Bill’s foolishness. That sort of message will allow Obama to continue to draw support across racial lines, and for that matter, party lines.
I look for Obama to get a big bump in the national polls betwen now and Super Tuesday, partly in response to his SC victory, and partly revulsion at Clinton’s tactics.
I saw an exit poll for SC that asked voters if Bill’s actions are influencing their vote. 6 of 10 said yes, and over half of those said they preferred Obama. So, it kinda sounds like it might be affecting people in a direction the Clintons wouldn’t choose.
I have been on the record in years past as not being a fan of Hillary Clinton. Recently, I had softened in my opinion and was content with the possibility of her becoming the nominee. Now I’m sliding back into that dislike again. I find that extremely worrisome because I’m on her side. I can’t imagine how swing voters would feel this year.
I was listening to Rush Limbaugh (know your enemy) and he predicted that Obama would win big in the heavily black state of SC, then Hillary’s people would begin whispering that “of course he won, the blacks like him”, which would scare the whites in the upcoming primaries into coming out for her.