Clyburn Fears Clinton Conduct Could Doom Dems’ White House Chances
Rep. James Clyburn says Bill Clinton's conduct in the Democratic primary could hurt the party come November. (AP Photo)
The highest ranking black member in Congress issued grave warnings to the Democratic candidates Friday, saying the racially charged contest could turn away black voters and doom the party in November.
South Carolina Rep. James Clyburn, in an interview with FOX News, singled out Bill Clinton for comments he said were not “seemly” and could damage his wife’s presidential campaign if she becomes the nominee. Clyburn on Thursday had told The New York Times that the former president’s “bizarre” conduct had “incensed” the black community.
“I am concerned … that the conduct of this campaign could very well make the nomination not worth having,” Clyburn told FOX News. “Our party is much bigger than Bill Clinton. It is much bigger than Sens. Clinton or Obama. It is a party that is here to serve the American people. … And I don’t want to see us conduct a campaign in such a way that it does irreparable harm to our being able to do that.”
Clyburn voiced concern that if Hillary Clinton beats Barack Obama, she might do so at the expense of the party’s usually loyal black base.
“When this campaign is over, if Hillary Clinton is the nominee, she cannot get elected president if 25-30 percent of black people vote for (John) McCain. She is going to have … to have that same 92 percent of black people that Obama (has) now,” he said. “And if (Obama) is the nominee he is going to need her help and her husband’s help getting white voters that he is not now getting.
“And I don’t see how you can go back to these people and get them to vote for the nominee if you have done all these things and said all of these things about him during the campaign … because you are not going to be able to reverse field in the middle of general election,” he said.
Bill Clinton took heat in late January for equating Obama’s victory in the South Carolina primary to Jesse Jackson’s win in the state 20 years ago. Obama supporters said the remarks were demeaning since they compared him with a black candidate whose appeal was more narrow.
But the comments came up again Monday, when Clinton told a Philadelphia radio station that he believed Obama “played the race card on me” during the incident.
Clyburn said he didn’t understand that.
“Many of the surrogates in the Clinton campaign of recent days have been saying things that have been angering African American voters over again,” he said. “I mean, who played the race card on President Clinton? … What does he mean by that unless he is trying to send some kind of signal on race?”
Clyburn, an influential superdelegate, says he hasn’t taken sides in the Obama-Clinton race, but analysts say he, like many other prominent black politicians, has been swept up in the near-lockstep support that Obama’s historic bid for the presidency enjoys among black voters.
“Jim Clyburn … is squarely in the corner of Sen. Barack Obama,” FOX News contributor Juan Williams said. “Jim Clyburn and a lot of the older black politicians started out with Hillary Clinton because of their long standing ties to the Clinton camp, but as they saw black voters overwhelming going to Barack Obama they have run to the front of the parade.”
Clyburn stressed Friday that he still hasn’t declared whom he will support at the Democratic convention in August.
Obama himself disputed the notion that the contentious tone of the race is doing irreparable harm to the party.
“I never believe in irreparable breaches,” he said Friday. “I’m a big believer in reconciliation and redemption.”
And Hillary Clinton has repeatedly said it’s Obama who’s running the negative campaign.
Asked about a mailing that criticizes her trade stances during a round of local interviews Friday, she sharply rebuked him.
“He’s done this repeatedly and I don’t why he keeps doing it. It’s misleading, it’s factually wrong,” she told a Louisville, Ky., station. “He’s running a very negative campaign below the radar screen with all of his mailings and phone calls.”
FOX News’ Major Garrett contributed to this report.
let Hillary & Obama destroy each other. It will be good for the country in November. Will save us from becoming a socialistic country.
I am no fan of Bill Clinton but his remarks were on the money. The race card was played. I was a registered Democrate but I switched to Independent. I cannot with good consience vote for Obama, a borderline racist or Clinton, an accomplished liar. It sickens me that McCain is the only viable candidate. I pray that the Democrates pull it together in my lifetime.
I think there is a big problem with the press continuously asserting that we’ve been having a discussion about race this cycle. The fact is, we have NOT had a discussion. We’ve had a speech from Obama. The last I heard, that’s one-way communication from only one person’s point of view. And we’ve had the rantings of Rev. Wright. And it isn’t just the anti-American venom in his words, or the hateful and undeserved words about the Clintons, there is also his own racist rhetoric. There is also the continuing attempt by the Obama campaign to smear the Clintons as racists, calling Ohio voters “Archie Bunkers,” and Pennsylvania voters xenophobic.
For me, that is the elephant in the room. It seems to me that this country has been more than gracious to Mr. Obama. The press has been nauseatingly servile in its attempt to excise even the appearance of any racism in anything that is said about him. Hillary has been continually gracious in her comments to him and about him. People have went to hear him speak with open minds.
And what is continuously coming from the Obama campaign? Racism, classism, and sexism. I’m sorry, just because it’s directed at white people doesn’t make it any more palatable. Racism is racism is racism. It isn’t any prettier coming from a black person than it is from a white person.
And I think this is the crux of what will really sink Obama in the general. Oh there may be plenty of ivory tower liberals who want to prove they are not racists by voting for him. But ordinary people can feel it, even if they won’t acknowledge it is there. And they aren’t going to want that in their lives for the next 4-8 years. The sorry truth is that Obama was never post-racial at all. He is still filled with his suspicion of the other. And it is all to easy for him to ascribe his motives on them, without bothering to get to know them at all. This is not someone who needs to be president. This is someone who needs to work out his feelings about his parents and who he is. He doesn’t need to be running a country.
And its funny how Obama supporters think everyone who doesn’t support Obama is a Republican. Way to unite the party.
clyburn is a fast learner. maybe he wants to make sure he gets re-elected,reminding his 92%+ loyal voters!!!,how he stood up against a racist. what a phony this guy is, he lies about being neutral.
I think america will never see or get another candidate like OBAMA for about fifty years if the miss this opportunity. He is sent by God to lead America of the mess they are right now. You could be rich and powerful but when a ordinary man don’t regards you, that’s your doom. He posses all the inner qualities that American have been looking for. Remember that the Jews could not even recognize their messaiah the prayed for. Yet Christ dinned with sinners. So where is America’s faith,hope and the change the believe and prayed for? They did not accept him (christ) because he came from bethlehem instead of Royal Family.
Let us all stop being proud and recognize God’s answer to our unification and progress.
Hillary is playing the politics of the experinced and America’s problem will not be solved. Mccain means that America will be fighting in more than 5 countries before his tenure ends and that will be the end of America.
If you can predict tomorrow, it is time to make a choice and forget sentiment, He is sent by God to redeem America but they can choose to go on the contrary because alot of people has been blinded.
THEY CHOICE IS YOURS AMERICA
Cluyburn is not helping the Democratic Party. If 92 % of Blacks supports Obama, is that not racial. He is stupid if he doesn’t know that.
This man is in the tank for Obama. He is in large part in that take because his candidate in the same color. That is to say Clyburn’s choice is race based. He IS the racist in this argument. What was Bill Clinton to do when his wife runs for president? Clyburn seems to be saying Bill Clinton should simply have supported Obama, and that his wife should not have run at all.
This overweening sense of entitlement needs to be resisted. There is a racist here - but it is neither Bill nor Hillary Clinton.
Bill Clinton did not say anything racist.It was the obama camp that played the race card to get the black vote. This is hypocritical I suppose it is okay to write books that are anti-white, to listen to a racist pastor for 20 tears, associate with admitted terrorists and call his grandmother a typical white person.
I am proud to announce that I am a Black American who is voting for Obama, but, as of two days ago, changed my party affiliation from Democrat to being an independent voter. What Mr. Clyburn is saying truly reflects the Black community at large. I assure you, he is hearing that we believe the Clinton’s are trying to bring Obama down so that he can’t win in November. This has been very disturbing to me. We see the anger in the Clintons. She can’t win without us. The message the Clinton’s should take from this is that I have already made peace with myself by getting out of the party. I’m done. And in 2012, it’s anybody but Hillary! To the democratic party: If you ever wondered if the Clinton’s (in general) have been good for your party. the truth is in.
Perhaps the reason the two Democratic candidates spend so much time on “I’ve got more” and “it is 3 o’clock” is that it keeps them from having to expound on the real problems facing America.
For just a moment, think about the problems you are aware of in America. What are they?
Today’s economic woes are brought to us by years of building a house of cards in credit schemes. But it will right itself regardless which candidate is elected–it will be painful, but in 2 or 3 years, over. However, today’s problem is nothing compared to the economy we are building today for 2030 and beyond–the economy I want our leaders thinking about and steering toward.
With high school graduation rates in Detroit Michigan near, if not actually below, 50%, how can we imagine prosperity for that generation? Do you allow yourself to think, “Well, that’s in Detroit, it doesn’t affect me.”? What is going on in your school district–is the graduation rate truly as high as you assume? Even in districts with high graduation rates, are the graduates properly educated? Will your future tax dollars be fenced so as to not be used for the entitlements programs to support these under educated citizens? Was it Socrates or Plato that said “Democracies will only stand until the governed realize they can vote themselves access to the treasury”?
How do we collectively demand the candidates discuss issues of substance? Do we think about the consequences of this year’s vote in relation to its impact on our grandchildren? Or, do we cast our vote like it has no more importance than voting for high school home coming queen?