Accussations against Bill Clinton
Mayo 13th, 2008 Posted in Barack Obama, Bill Clinton, Hillary clinton
There was yet another sign of racial disharmony in the Democratic Party today, as the leader of the influential black online advocacy group ColorOfChange.org lashed out at Hillary Clinton, calling her claim to owning the white, blue-collar vote “race baiting.”
“The politics of division now seems to be her core strategy” to overcome Barack Obama’s lead in the primary, said James Rucker, a co-founder of ColorOfChange who once worked for the liberal advocacy group MoveOn.org. “It’s a strategy where everyone loses; we can do better and we should be able to expect better from Senator Clinton.”
ColorOfChange, which has 400,000 members and relies on a large network of black bloggers to spread its message, recently circulated a petition warning the Democratic party that adopting rules that would allow Clinton to overcome Obama’s lead “could be the worst mistake the party has ever made.”
Clinton has vowed to press on with her nomination bid despite a decisive loss to Obama in North Carolina and a razor thin victory in Indiana that did little to boost her campaign. She leads polls in two of the remaining primary states, West Virginia and Kentucky. But pundits say should would have to win a higher fraction of the vote in the remaining states to overtake Obama’s popular vote lead than she has been able to win in states thus far.
Asked how she could win the nomination at a time when she trails Obama in the popular vote and pledged delegates by insurmountable margins, Clinton, citing an Associated Press article about North Carolina and Indiana, had said: “Senator Obama’s support among hard-working white Americans is weakening again, and … whites in both states who had not completed college were supporting me. And with Independents I was running even with him and doing even better with Democratic leaning Independents. I have a much broader base to build a coalition on.”
Clinton’s dominance among white voters goes without saying. White women, blue collar workers and the elderly pushed her to victories by sizable margins in Pennsylvania, where the governor said in a television interview that white voters there were not ready to vote for a black presidential candidate, and in Ohio, according to exit poll data.
By the same token, black political observers and activists have pointed out that Clinton cannot win the general election without the votes of African Americans, who favor Obama overwhelmingly. In general election contests dating back to 1968, black voters have favored white Democratic presidential candidates over Republicans by substantial margins, including former president Bill Clinton in two elections, Al Gore in 2000 and John Kerry in 2004. Black voters supported Clinton in the primary until she lost to Obama in the Iowa caucuses.
“We are tired of Hillary Clinton telling America that we are less than American simply because we refuse to vote for her,” said Francis L. Holland, an African American blogger. “Ironically, the Clintons embraced us, and even embraced Pastor Jeremiah Wright for support during their impeachment scandal.” Holland was speaking of the congressional trial that followed former president Bill Clinton’s liaison with White House intern Monica Lewinsky. “She has forfeited the black vote for the forseeable future with her color aroused appeals.”
