Were Clinton’s comment on Obama racist?
By Amin George Forji
Two key issues have characterized the2008 Democratic Party campaign for the nomination of the next presidential candidate: experience and change. Hillary Clinton has been qualified as the candidate of experience and Obama as the candidate of change. But lets face it: the central of gravity has been on one single candidate-Barack Obama.
Prior to the last presidential elections in 2004, he was a relatively unknown person, beside his state of Illinois, where he was running for a Senate seat on the Democratic ticket. John Kerry and john Edwards may have won the eventual nomination, but it was Obama who emerged as the highest winner from the party, during that electoral calendar.
He was the major illumination at the Bolton convention that crowned Kerry and Edwards, after he delivered an emotional political keynote speech, in a rock star fashion; now considered being amongst the best political speeches ever in American history. Within minutes after the speech, the media rightly speculated that he may be the next front-runner during the next presidential elections, and the forecast turn out true. National polls put Hillary Clinton and Obama on the lead since the start of the 2008 presidential calendar as front-runners, or as some put it, the next President and VP, and vice versa.
Obama’s rise to political stardom has probably irritated no other family than the Clinton, and they show it each time they get a chance. A recent case in point is the latest comments by Bill Clinton on Obama. In a televised interview aired nationwide on Friday, Clinton questioned Obama’s experience saying:
“I was, in terms of experience, was closer to Senator Obama, I suppose, in 1988 when I came within a day of announcing… I really didn’t think I knew enough, and had served enough and done enough to run.”
The statement came within hours after Obama made a record feat by organizing a rally, attended by over 24,000 people in New York city-Clinton’s backyard, where both him and Hillary have until date since he electoral year only been able to attract a maximum crowd of 2,500 people.
The comments by Bll widely considered to be a respected statesman were seen as a strategy to create distraction, and prevent the media from commenting about Obama’s NY historic rally.
But above all, it severely backfired back on the Clinton’s family. Even fans of the Hillary campaign conceded that he remarks were embarrassing.
The Hufington Post and Yahoo news have even examined the comment in terms of race, and appear to qualify it as racist. The fact is this. When Clinton ran in 1992, he was the same age as Obama now-46 years old. He claims Obama’s experience can only near his when he was 42. When a white male says this about a black male, what is the likely implication? Probably, many are suggesting already that the white IQ is some years higher than the black. Is it not taking us back to the stone age? Was Clinton judging Obama in terms of colour or character? Ironically, Obama has been in public service for a much longer period than the wife (over 20 years-almost half of his life, serving as a community organizer, civil rights lawyer, constitutionally law professor, state legislator and US senator). In this race, Hillary’s years as first lady have been counted as part of the experience. So, will Laura Bush be the next experienced candidate for the Republican nomination in 2012?
The remarks are more damaging because to many, Clinton was considered as the first “black president”
Well, whatever the intended purpose of Clinton’s remarks, it has given Obama a window of opportunity he may have wished for-to cast imputation on the Clinton’s character, without appearing destructive or doing negative campaigning.
“I remember what was said years ago by a candidate running for President.” Obama said a rally on Saturday in Concord. “The same old experience is not relevant. You can have the right kind of experience and the wrong kind of experience.” He paused and then continued:“Well that candidate was Bill Clinton. And I think he was absolutely right.” He added to the applause of his audience. Obama was in fact quoting former president Bill Clinton’s famous answer to a debate question in 1992, about doubts of his own experience at the time, in the same way that his’ (Obama’s) has been questioned in the 2008 race by pundits; as he competed for the white House with the former President George Bush sr.
Below is a video link of Clinton’s speech:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eMlrSG1xb5k
“There are those who say we they can play the game in Washington. Well we shouldn’t be playing a game when young men and women are dying in the battlefields of iraq,” Obama told the cheering crowd. “We don’t need the kind of experience that leads people into war… the kind of experience that tinkers around the edges instead of doing something fundamental about how lobbyists operate in Washington.”
“We need the kind of experience that I think I bring to this race, of bringing people together to get things done,” he concurred.
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4 users commented in " Were Clinton’s comment on Obama racist? "
Follow-up comment rss or Leave a TrackbackThis is pathetic. I actually saw the first airing and the context that Clinton made the comments in were far from critical and not even close to racist. The race card against Clinton is like accusing Bush of being smart, totally absurd. Clinton stated matter of factly that he did not consider Obama unqualified and has constantly more than perhaps any politician of his stature shown that he respects and admires Obama even though Obama is challenging his wife for the nomination. The entire premise of this post is ridiculous.
very interesting, but I don’t agree with you
Idetrorce
What did Bill Clinton call himself back in 1992?
“The comeback K_d.” I don’t want to be called a racist.
Before we go too far with this thing we need to consider the main objective here. As a black male I do not condone racism, but we need to look at where the real fight should be at the present time. The real fight at this time should be to remove the present administration from the whitehouse, not stir up a division within the only party that can remove present administration. And then spoil that party’s ability to accomplish the main objective that needs to be accomplished. We must remember that the Republican party are some shrewd and underhanded fighters who will use any and everything they can to foil the democratic party, as has been clearly demonstrated in the last two elections. Let’s not give them another dagger to attack with.
Furthermore; if Obama is elected President, do we think he’ll help the country if he is spending all his time putting out racial fires or constantly trying to resolve issues where he or we think something racist was said. Let’s be real, whether a black man becomes president or not, racism is not leaving this country yet.
We have more issues to concern ourselves with than this issueat present time. Let’s secure the nation first and then deal with the racism afterwards.
Also, if he wins, Obama may not be the first black President of the U.S. If you review your history you will find that Warren Harding may have been a black man according the the U.S. definition of black. President Harding’s grand father was a black man from Jamaica. And look at what happened to him. We have more to concern ourselves with if we really want a black man in the Presidency, than what someone said that could have been construed as having racial undertones.
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