Clinton Apologizes to Black Voters for Racial Comments
WASHINGTON — Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton did something Wednesday night that she almost never does. She apologized. And once she started, she didn’t seem able to stop.
The New York senator, who is in a tight race with Illinois Sen. Barack Obama for the Democratic presidential nomination, struck several sorry notes at an evening forum sponsored by the National Newspaper Publishers Association, a group of more than 200 black community newspapers across the country.
Her biggest apology came in response to a question about comments by her husband, Bill Clinton, after the South Carolina primary, which Obama won handily. Bill Clinton said Jesse Jackson also won South Carolina when he ran for president in 1984 and 1988, a comment many viewed as belittling Obama’s success.
“I want to put that in context. You know I am sorry if anyone was offended. It was certainly not meant in any way to be offensive,” Hillary Clinton said. “We can be proud of both Jesse Jackson and Senator Obama.”
“Anyone who has followed my husband’s public life or my public life know very well where we have stood and what we have stood for and who we have stood with,” she said, acknowledging that whoever wins the nomination will have to heal the wounds of a bruising, historic contest.
“Once one of us has the nomination there will be a great effort to unify the Democratic party and we will do so, because, remember I have a lot of supporters who have voted for me in very large numbers and I would expect them to support Senator Obama if he were the nominee,” she said.
The Clintons long have enjoyed overwhelming support from black voters, but that has been eclipsed during the primaries and caucuses by enthusiasm and support for Obama, who has pulled huge margins among black voters. Arguments over the role of race and gender have flared up repeatedly throughout the contest between Obama, who would be the nation’s first black president, and Clinton, who would be its first female one.
Earlier in the day, Hillary Clinton supporter and fundraiser Geraldine Ferraro gave up her honorary position with Clinton’s campaign after she said in an interview last week that Obama would not have made it this far if he were white. Obama said Ferraro’s remarks were “ridiculous” and “wrong-headed.”
Of Ferraro’s comment, Hillary Clinton told her audience: “I certainly do repudiate it and I regret deeply that it was said. Obviously she doesn’t speak for the campaign, she doesn’t speak for any of my positions, and she has resigned from being a member of my very large finance committee.”
As first lady and senator, Clinton rarely cedes an inch to her critics. On the issue of her vote to authorize the Iraq war, for instance, she steadfastly has refused to apologize, coming close by saying she regrets it, despite calls from many anti-war voters in the party to make a more explicit mea culpa.
Her third conciliatory statement of the evening was more in keeping with that fighting stance.
Asked about the government’s efforts in the Gulf States after Hurricane Katrina, Hillary Clinton turned an apology into a criticism of President Bush, who happened to be speaking at a Republican event in another room at the same hotel.
“I’ve said it publicly, and I say it privately: I apologize, and I am embarrassed that our government so mistreated our fellow citizens … It was a national disgrace,” she said.
The hypersensitivity of some who look for any opportunity to be offended combined with the ignorance and insensitivity of others, makes it easy for the media to fan the dimly glowing embers of past inequality and strife hoping for a ratings boosting flare up. It’s hard to believe that in the year 2008 that we still haven’t grown up and gotten over this stuff. I think the candidates have done the best they can to keep this poison out of their campaigns. For the sake of future generations, it’s time to put the past to rest.
Its too late to apoligize
Perhaps this time the white folks need to do more than just a simple, (and insincere), apology. Perhaps New York’s Senator Clinton should do the honorable thing, just as the soon to be former Governor of New York is doing. She should resign from the race. If she is nominated by the super delegates, I have no doubt that in her acceptance speech she will invoke the name of Rosa Parks just after the Democratic Party has sent Barak Obama to the back of the bus so that this unpopular white woman can be seated, thus restoring the white liberal elitist sense of harmony in the universe.
Regarding the APOLOGY, Congrats to Hillary Clinton on being a smart and skilled polilitician. She has however been missguided on several major issues and makes no apologizes or changes in direction for being wrong. She is not he kind of leader you want looking out for the country’s interests.
Due to the race card, Business is curbed………DOH!!!!!!
Hillary apologizes. Ho hum.
Why? Why is it necessary to apologize for just stating the facts. Ferraro correctly pointed out that the ONLY reason that Obama is enjoying his celebrity status is because he is an elogquent speaker and he is black, a white man or woman with the same credentials would be just another person but Obama is a superstar, why, because he is black. It is NOT because he has any qualifications or accomplishments that would have propelled him to his current political standing.
Does this mean that if he is elected president then no-one in the whole world can ever mention that he is a black man or criticize his actions for fear of being labeled a racist? This is an absurd situation.
I think Clinton really owes an apology for the black voters, an apology from her is just right, black should accept her apology, even though other blacks are making racist still an issue, result did really shows, almost majority of them are voting for black candidates. Its really sad that its still present nowadays, I thought americans are strongly united. Since some blacks making it still an issue, in my opinion, others might thinking its an objective to bit someone who has an unfinished business for them.
More shallow rhetoric from HRC. The Clinton strategy from early on in the campaign was to divide and conquer. Divide the African Americans, Hispanics and Whites. Create a racial divide creating a backlash that all the white votes would be cast for her. After the blood was red and deep HRC would be back to beg forgiveness just to get the minority votes in November. She continues to be one of the most polarizing, despicable politicians over the past 50 years. HRC needs to get over her notion of entitlement to the Democratic nomination and the presidency. The American people have more than enough Clinton fatigue. Hillary, we are disgusted with your deception, corruption and scandalous approach to all things for your own selfish ends. If you really do care about the American people and this country, then do us all a big favor and step aside and let the real work begin in unifying the party and healing the deep wounds of this country you and your husband have inflicted.
I’m sorry IF anyone was offended is NOT an apology! Why can’t politicians, and anyone for that matter, simply acknowledge the fact that someone was offended. They should say, “I know these comments were and are offensive to many, and I am sorry. Please forgive me.”