The problem isn't Obama or his supporters, it's "the Clinton moment"

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Wed Apr-02-08 09:38 AM
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The problem isn't Obama or his supporters, it's "the Clinton moment"

The series of comments Clinton critics’ cite began in mid-December, when the chairman of Hillary Clinton’s New Hampshire campaign, Bill Shaheen, speculated about whether Obama had ever dealt drugs. In the final days of the New Hampshire campaign, however, the discomfort of some black observers intensified as Bill Clinton dismissed the contrast between Obama’s judgment on the war and Clinton’s as a “fairy tale” and spoke dismissively of his short time in the Senate. And the candidate herself, in an interview with Fox News, stressed the role of President Lyndon Johnson, over Martin Luther King Jr., in the civil rights movement.

“I would point to the fact that Dr. King's dream began to be realized when President Lyndon Johnson passed the Civil Rights Act of 1964, when he was able to get through Congress something that President Kennedy was hopeful to do, the president before had not even tried, but it took a president to get it done,” she said, in response to a question about how her dismissive attitude toward Obama’s “false hopes” would have applied to the civil rights movement. “That dream became a reality, the power of that dream became real in people's lives because we had a president who said we are going to do it and actually got it accomplished.”

more

Bill Clinton Accuses Obama Camp of Stirring Race Issue

By KATHARINE Q. SEELYE
Published: January 24, 2008

KINGSTREE, S.C. — Former President Bill Clinton defended himself Wednesday against accusations that he and his wife had injected the issue of race into the Democratic presidential primary in South Carolina, and he accused Senator Barack Obama of Illinois of putting out a “hit job” on him.

Scolding a reporter, Mr. Clinton said the Obama campaign was “feeding” the news media to keep issues of race alive, obscuring positive coverage of the presidential campaign here of Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York.

“They know this is what you want to cover,” Mr. Clinton told a CNN reporter in Charleston, in an apparent reference to the Obama campaign.

“Shame on you,” the former president added.

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Videos:

Clinton on Obama 'fairy tale'
http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/2/23/14417/7638/731/434555">Hillary to Obama: 'Shame on you'
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2008/1/28/151833/251/473/443966">Bill Clinton on Barack Obama
Hillary Clinton Addresses Nevada Caucus Lawsuit
http://tpmelectioncentral.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/01/audio_listen_to_bill_clinton_alleged_that_he_personally_witnessed_vote">Bill Clinton's Claims of Voter Suppression
Bill Clinton gets upset with CNN reporter
http://talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/065200.php">Hillary: Sorry for Any Offense Campaign (Bill) Has Caused
Hillary On Obama's Copying: Change You Can Xerox
Hillary Reiterates Criticism of Obama's Ties to Wright

Hillary shills are still pushing this false claim: Obama was the first to play the race card

More facts:

Look at the dates in this memo:

Earliest date: DRUG USE (ABC News, 12/12/07)

(Here is a link)

Latest date: SHUCK AND JIVE (Newsday, 1/11/08)

That memo was obviously written after Jan. 11, days after Hillary's MLK comment and a full month after the drug use comment by the Clinton campaign.

Asked for evidence of the Obama campaign's role in fomenting the controversy, a Clinton aide cited a staff memo, leaked to political blogs, that compiled quotes by Clinton and her allies that seemed racially insensitive.

link

So after injecting racially charged comments into the debate and accusing Obamas's campaign of race baiting, Hillary's campaign's proof is a memo written after all her campaign's deliberate race baiting, which has continued:

Drug dealer, fairy tale, imaginary hip black friend, gang bang, cult, shuck-and-jive, Hispanics don't vote for black people, Obama is Somalian, Obama meets with former terrorists, all from Hillary's campaign and surrogates.

What now?

Hillary's top donors threaten Pelosi: Endorse Hillary's view that elected delegates can abandon Obama or we're pulling our money from the party.

Which leads to:

the Clinton moment

by kid oakland
Tue Apr 01, 2008 at 08:49:09 PM PDT

<...>

Conclusion

This is, for all of that, a Clinton moment.

I find myself, as a Democrat, leaving the California Party convention with huge respect for every last Democratic activist. I was floored by the new energy and the youth energy present in San Jose. I think a great deal of that energy comes from Obama's campaign in 2008. But, clearly, Senator Clinton, for as much as the facts on the ground and the party leadership have lined up against her, has the bedrock support of some of the most experienced activists in the Democratic base.

Obama and the Party need every last one of those activists. Dailykos does too. And we need them sooner rather than later. There is so much at stake in 2008. There's too much at stake to be divided going into Denver. My concluding thought coming from San Jose is this. Obama needs to solidify his coalition. He needs to win over doubting Democrats and include those who have yet to feel fully included. To win, Barack Obama will need every last experienced activist the Demoratic party can muster and those experienced activists need feel utilized and included as respected equals.

Senator Clinton is in a powerful position. Her supporters are among the best activists the Democratic Party has. I do not doubt that every last Clinton activist in the party will work for the nominee. The question is when that will happen, not whether they will support the nominee. I like and trust Clinton's activist supporters. These are good people who deserve our respect. If Clinton continues down this path, her choice will shape our party's chances in November up and downticket. Bill Clinton famously told California Democrats to "chill out." I don't agree. Jerry McNerney and Charlie Brown can't afford to chill out. Scott Kleeb and Darcy Burner and Larry Kissell can't afford to chill out.

We need to come together. We need to get on the same page. We need to get positive and stop fighting each other. And at some point, Senator Clinton will have to make up her mind. If she chooses to be divisive, we have to resist the urge to be divisive to her supporters in return. They aren't Hillary, and we need every last one of them.

Standing in the midst of Senator Clinton's sign-toters I felt at home. These were Democrats I recognized from the fight to defeat Richard Pombo in CA-11. These were party activists I'd worked with before. I do not doubt for one second these folks will be fighting John McCain in November.

My biggest question is when do we start.

That's something on all of our minds. It's something that Senator Clinton has a powerful say over.

The problem isn't Obama or his supporters, it's "the Clinton moment"

Bill Clinton Accuses Obama Camp of Stirring Race Issue

the Clinton moment

Show Us the (Primary) Money

Clinton: If you can’t stand the heat, don’t run for president