She Goes There
- 05.08.2008 - 11:45 AMThere has been a lot chatter (and some indications from her staffers) that Hillary Clinton isn’t going to fight to the bitter end and burn down the Democratic Party along the way. But then there is this interview with Clinton herself:
“I have a much broader base to build a winning coalition on,” she said in an interview with USA TODAY. As evidence, Clinton cited an Associated Press article “that found how Sen. Obama’s support among working, hard-working Americans, white Americans, is weakening again, and how whites in both states who had not completed college were supporting me . . . There’s a pattern emerging here,” she said.
Has she ever come right out like this and said “Whites aren’t voting for him” before? She’s talked about “working-class” voters and women seniors, of course. But not once, in my recollection, has she spoken openly of any racial divide.
Why on earth would she do this if she’s not still committed to trying to scare superdelegates and whip up the vote in West Virginia? There doesn’t seem much point, if she actually has the Democrats’ best interests at heart. (And it won’t help her get the VP slot, either.) Frankly, it makes about as much sense as her “3 a.m.” ad or her remarks touting John McCain’s preparedness as commander-in-chief. All those suspicions about her preference for a potential one-term McCain presidency rather than a two-term Obama one are only going to increase with comments like this.
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May 8th, 2008 at 11:50 AM
working whites is the new buzzword/ s
hey lady, thanks for telling him who he needs as vp. we’ll find a working white somewhere!
May 8th, 2008 at 11:51 AM
Here is what I don’t get about everyone whining for Hillary to drop out. Obama supporters don’t want to count Michigan and Florida because of the “rules”. Obama supporters don’t want to count big states more than small states because of the “rules”. Yet Obama supporters want to entirely discount the independent judgment of superdelegates even though this is in the “rules” that are allegedly so sacred. It’s ridiculous. Hillary should keep competing. She’s clearly established now that she is the more centrist and formidable general election candidate. She should have more time to make this case to the superdelegates, who are supposed to take the best interests of the party into account.
May 8th, 2008 at 12:17 PM
“All those suspicions about her preference for a potential one-term McCain presidency rather than a two-term Obama one are only going to increase with comments like this.”
Duh. An Obama presidency means the Clinton hold on the party is over and she will never be president. An Obama loss means the Clintons can still say that they’re the only ones who know how to win the White House.
This actually plays very well for her in the long term. Inexplicably, she is now viewed fairly positively by the blue-collar voting base of the party, who would surely have abandoned her for McCain in the general (as they are going to abandon Obama in November). So next time she’ll have their support, and in the most shameless move in political history, she’ll convince black voters that Obama lost because of Republican racism, to get back the other fundamental pillar of the Democrat coalition (the moveon/academic component of the coalition will come slinking back to her on their knees).
May 8th, 2008 at 12:29 PM
She is still in because she actually believes Obama cannot win in Nov. She believes that there is no way a black man can be elected Pres - its a fairy tale.
So now she goes for the nuclear option - to play the race card every way possible to show everyone that white america will not elect him - the fear factor, stirring up hatred, stirring up violence.
Of course she will fail because the party will eventually come to its senses and eject her - but she will do untold damage in the process.
Only the Superdels can prevent this final madness by backing Obama now.
May 8th, 2008 at 1:02 PM
The fact is, the anomalies that suggest racism is not in the white voting blocks, it’s the groups that are voting in 90+ percentages for Barack Obama. Yet she isn’t allow to talk about it explicitly. She must feel a profound sense of betrayal.
May 8th, 2008 at 1:18 PM
Ya know dg sir, I wholeheartedly agree that one of the reasons that Hillary is sticking it out is that she does believe Obama doesnt stand a chance, and I’ll tell you what….the superdelegates quietley agree with her.
I do take note of your comment on Hillary playing the race card everyway possible simply because she makes the statment that deals with white voters not voting for Obama, which is true and then being branded a racist for saying it and there may be something to be said of Hillary making moves to submarine Obama but no, no, no, no…It is OBAMA and his camp(this includes the MSM in total) that are playing the race card or at the very least trying to taint simple statments with racism every chance they get and I tell you what…..It will only continue to hurt Obama the more they hit the race button and I personaly find it delicious.
There is absolutley no reason for Hillary to bow out of the race being “neither” of them have the delegates to officially “by the rules” win it.
May 8th, 2008 at 3:02 PM
@Dellis - Love the scare quotes around “rules” - those unimportant things that have inconvenienced Clinton. Don’t forget, she herself said on multiple occasions that the Michigan and Florida delegations wouldn’t be seated because they broke the rules. Maybe she was mis-speaking again, a la Tuzla.
@Drider - another howler: “I wholeheartedly agree that one of the reasons that Hillary is sticking it out is that she does believe Obama doesnt stand a chance …” The reason Hillary “sticks it out” is because of her own blind ambition. And regarding the white vote, please back up your claims with some facts (and explain away Obama’s wins in Idaho, Iowa, Alaska, Vermont, Wisconsin, Utah, Wyoming, Nebraska, Minnesota, Kansas, Colorado, Maine, North Dakota). Looks like Clinton’s the one with the white problem.
What she’s doing right now is taking the first steps in her new campaign for President of the Aryan Nation. But, hey, she’s a fighter!
May 8th, 2008 at 3:12 PM
The fact is, the anomalies that suggest racism is not in the white voting blocks, it’s the groups that are voting in 90+ percentages for Barack Obama
I’m glad to see that white people are now supporters of “disparate impact” view of racism. I take it you also support racial quotas in other things as well — or is it just in the democratic primary?
May 8th, 2008 at 3:29 PM
Face it…she’s running for President in 2012 right now…why not keep tearing Obama down, whipping up racial animosity, let McCain win, and have 4 years of I told you so…
May 8th, 2008 at 3:40 PM
The fact is, the anomalies that suggest racism is not in the white voting blocks, it’s the groups that are voting in 90+ percentages for Barack Obama.
“The groups” have supported white democrats in equal numbers. GWB got less than 10 percent of the black vote in 2004. Let’s face it, you don’t get much whiter than John Kerry. Now they’re racist for supporting Obama?
Clinton’s case is that blacks will come back into the fold and the “working whites” won’t desert her. Between the damage that Bill has done to his “first black president” mantle and Limbaugh’s Operation Chaos, I question both premises.