The contest between Hillary Clinton, wife of “the first Black President,” a/k/a “The Man From Hope,” and Barack Obama, the first major party black candidate with a chance to win the nomination, a/k/a “The Candidate of Hope,” is getting tighter and emotions are rising. The latest flap is racial, reports Ben Smith for The Politico:
A series of comments from Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, her husband, and her supporters are spurring a racial backlash and adding a divisive edge to the presidential primary as the candidates head south to heavily African-American South Carolina.
The comments, which ranged from the New York senator appearing to diminish the role of Martin Luther King Jr. in the civil rights movement — an aide later said she misspoke — to Bill Clinton dismissing Sen. Barack Obama’s image in the media as a “fairy tale” — generated outrage on black radio, black blogs and cable television. And now they’ve drawn the attention of prominent African-American politicians.
“A cross-section of voters are alarmed at the tenor of some of these statements,” said Obama spokeswoman Candice Tolliver, who said that Clinton would have to decide whether she owed anyone an apology.
Read it all at the link above. Naturally, the Clintons have many black defenders.
It seems to me someone predicted this contest would eventually involve charges of “racism” or at least “insensitivity,” but I can’t remember who it was . . .
