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Following Hillary Clinton's tearful success in the New Hampshire primary, that old Clinton arrogance has shown through once more in South Carolina, prompting talk of a new high-profile endorsement for Barack Obama. In an interview with Fox News on Monday, Clinton took issue with references to Martin Luther King and the civil rights movement in connection with the movement growing today around the Obama campaign: "Dr. King’s dream began to be realized when President Lyndon Johnson passed the Civil Rights Act of 1964...," Clinton remarked emphasizing Washington's role in achieving racial justice over that of King and his movement, "....It took a president to get it done" (see video). For starters, whether intended as such or not, Clinton's comment seems to suggest that "it took a white president to get it done." In any case, Clinton clearly believes that the future is best left safely in the hands of her own Washington establishment, and that Obama's supporters should be saying "No We Can't" rather than "Yes We Can." By crediting LBJ with starting the civil rights movement in 1964, Clinton also effectively erases such important early moments in civil rights history as the Montgomery Bus Boycott, lunch counter sit-ins, and freedom rides of the 1950s and early 60s, none of which "took a president" to succeed. Far from taking a president, the movement growing today around Barack Obama may well end up making a president. As Obama repeats in those speeches that contrast so sharply with Clinton's, this campaign is not about him but about us.
As the New York Times reports today, Rep. James E. Clyburn of South Carolina, the highest-ranking African-American in Congress, has said that he is now rethinking the neutral stance he had previously assumed in his state’s presidential primary out of disappointment at Clinton remarks that he saw as "diminishing the historic role of civil rights activists" and "distorting civil rights history." Clyburn is also unhappy at Bill Clinton's earlier comment describing the Obama campaign as a "fairy tale," a remark that again could be interpreted as a slight on Obama's chances of success and a suggestion that his supporters are deluded. "To call that dream a fairy tale, which Bill Clinton seemed to be doing, could very well be insulting to some of us," said Mr. Clyburn, himself a veteran of the civil rights movement, adding that he and others in the movement fought at great risk to provide just such an opportunity as Obama's for an African American to seek the presidency. Certainly video of the elder Clinton's tirade against Obama shows a man angered and threatened by something he hadn't counted on, pointing his finger and lecturing his audience like a father lecturing his kids on why they shouldn't talk to strangers (perhaps the condescending Clintons should go and have a chat with former senator and presidential hopeful George Allen of Virginia about The Youtube Effect and what it can do to a campaign).
Poor Hillary may not be able to cry her way out of this one, though I'm sure she'll give it the old Clinton try.
Mark C. Eades
http://www.mceades.com
