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.
McCain Has Two Standards on Drug Abuse
The GOP candidate is a hawk in the drug war, yet his wife got no penalty
Stanton Peele
Much has been made of allegations of possible youthful use of illegal drugs by Republican presidential candidate George W. Bush. Meanwhile, his chief GOP opponent, Arizona Sen. John McCain, has admitted that his wife not only illegally used drugs but walked away from criminal charges. The McCains have worked to make Cindy McCain’s addiction into a political asset—despite the fact that she stole the drugs from a charity she directed and used them while mothering four young children.
John McCain
In 1994, Mrs. McCain admitted that she had solicited prescriptions for painkillers from physicians who worked for an international charity that she founded, the American Voluntary Medical Team. She then filled the prescriptions in the names of her staff.
There are two ways to react to this behavior. According to the Betty Ford model, people can sympathetically respond to the oppressed and ignored wife of a busy politician who has bravely come forward to admit her overpowering addiction. Mrs. McCain took this posture when she first tearfully confessed her addiction. She and her husband repeated this performance in October on the NBC program “Dateline.”
The other possible public reaction is one of anger. Americans are prosecuted every day for such drug use. While most drug abusers purchase their drugs from street dealers, Mrs. McCain used her status as a charity director and senator’s wife to cajole the drugs she wanted.
In fact, Mrs. McCain was investigated by the Drug Enforcement Administration after the agency was approached by a former staff member of her charity. The investigation resulted in no charges or prison time for her, and she entered a diversion program. While these records were not made public at the time, Mrs. McCain eventually confessed her drug use when she learned that a reporter was investigating the story.
Is Mrs. McCain to be judged as a pitiable victim or as a criminal felon? This debate is at the heart of the discussion of American drug policy. Should we deal with illicit drug users as victims or as criminals?
Let’s examine Mrs. McCain’s position in these terms. She was the privileged wife of a prominent family and spouse of an important politician, a person who had her own position of prestige and power. Should she not be held at least as accountable for her actions as an uneducated inner-city drug user? After all, she could enter drug treatment at any time she chose, unlike many drug users who find themselves in prison.
Moreover, Mrs. McCain was violating a position of trust by stealing from a charitable organization, using its money and medical expertise to fuel her drug use. Is this not morally more reprehensible than simply purchasing drugs illegally?
Finally, Mrs. McCain was the mother of four children at the time she admits to using drugs—between 1989 and 1992. Her children were born in 1984, 1986, 1988 and 1991. In other words, Cindy McCain was using drugs while raising small children, one of whom she adopted while she was an addict. In most states, family services will remove children from a woman who is known to be an active drug addict, and she would certainly not be allowed to adopt a child while addicted.
John McCain is a hawk in the drug war. He advocates stricter drug laws, penalties and enforcement against drug sellers. He has had nothing to say about redressing our punitive approach toward drug users. Of course, McCain also supports family values. Yet if John and Cindy McCain were not well-off and influential, they might not have a family at all. McCain’s lack of concern for street drug users contrasts sharply with the support and understanding his wife received. It’s the old American double standard. For “straight-shooter” McCain, charity begins at home—and ends there.
While I’ve never met Obama’s parents, I have read in numerous articles that his mother is Caucasian, and his father is African. Yet in so many hundreds and perhaps thousands of references Obama is referred to at “The Black Candidate.” It seems that he is no more black than he is white. Does anyone know what happened to the white half of him?
Ron, give me a break, I bet you are stupid.
If you want people to call Racist wait and see what happen if it goes the DNC Campaign and probably will,and the final vote with super delegates vote for Hillary and Obamer will see what real superpolitics are all about between now and then the back room deals made will all be call racistism because some did not get there way they thought the game sure have played
Well…all I can say is that it is times like these I am pleased not to be a democrat!
What a choice the Dems have!
Why not have a HillBilly Whitehouse again? It would certainly make great fodder for the likes of SNL! We could have a laugh…unfortunately we would be joining the rest of the world laughing at this great country. For all you HillBilly lovers…is this what you want for the future? Oh…don’t forget that the apologies will stop when the Whitehouse keys are handed over…remember “I did ot have sexual relations with that woman”? Not an apology….lol
Or, you could have the self proclaimed agent of change….but what change? Agent of hope? For what? Maybe we could hope that the agent for change will in fact change between now and November and actually say what it is he is hoing to do? Every time he makes a substantive statement, he shows just how socialist he is…and he simply doesn’t have either the experience or knowledge to “spin” it…if the Obama’s get the Whitehouse…maybe the new found “pride” Michelle has will allow her to change the curtains? Or will Obama change the faucets? What change are we to expect?
SO…Hillbilly’s or Obama….lies and deceipt or unknown change?
Oooops… and then there is the question of race or gender…first black….or first woman?
Such important decisions….lol
A coin toss….I am glad I am not making that choice! lol
I THINK OBAMA AND THE BLACK FOLKS BETTER BE CAREFUL ABOUT THE WAY THEY ARE TRYING TO USE THE RACE ISSUE HERE. EVERYBODY HERE KNOWS THE CLINTOS HAVE FOUGHT HARD FOR THE RIGHTS OF MINORITIES, AND NOW YOU WANT TO CALL THEM RACISTS. WHAT’S GOING TO HAPPEN IS WHITES ARE GOING TO LOOK AT THIS AND SAID THA’S UNFAIR MAY BE “OBAMA AND BLACKS ARE THE RACIST” AND VOTE FOR HILLARY OUT OF ANGER.
At first , I was very excited about the presidential race………..(at first)…….now I am very discouraged. I am extremenly sadden about the tone the race has taken on. I, like Ms Obama, have to admit, that this is the first time in ( my entire life ) that I have been this excited about an election. Now…. this is not to say, I have never been interested in the race before, just not to this extent. I am a 53year old African Amercian female, who had been torn between Hillary and Obama, but made my choice last month. In all honesty, on policies, I don’t see a lot of difference…and I feel they’re equally qualified. On a deeper and more rooted reason, a reason that maybe, one cannot fully understand unless you were Black, helped me make my decision.
Now, I know that there will those of you who will respond back with negativity and backlash, but I will accept your comments, because that is all that seems to be going on these days. I am praying for our Nation and our Country, asking God to heal the bitter battle that is taking place. What’s happening now is truly sad, finger pointing, name calling, and forgetting about the big picture…..economy, war, and the uninsured. I am now so discouraged….I sit and listen everday to MSNBC, CNN and FOX…….and I have to tell you, I’m getting tired of it all. I keep wondering how they’re going to settle this mess. May God have mercy on (all) of our souls.
And yet another sacrificial lamb has succumbed to the Clinton machine.. Hill and Bill have their people go out and say things detramental to the opponent, and then they apologize.. Ever been told to ignore that last remark made in court ? Pretty hard if not impossible to ignore a comment made.. Its said, damage done, and they only need to apologize to hopefully make it go away.. They got the comment publicized and on national TV..Come on people ! Cant you smell the roses by now ? Don in Chico
Sen. Clinton, stop pandering to the black voters. Bill isn’t black enough, you have, for the most part, lost them this year. Get over it. There are a lot of angry white soccer moms out there, go get them.
Yet another illustration that dealing with race in America is like walking in a minefield with mines three inches apart. Ferraro should have said it in a better way, but her basic point is accurate: it’s ridiculous to think that Obama racking up 90% of the African-American vote doesn’t have anything to do with his skin color. The fact something that obvious can’t be openly acknowledged shows how pathetically sad race relations remain here.