WEDNESDAY SPECIAL
By Skeeter Sanders
When this blogger warned last Friday that Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign was "transforming itself from a chase for the Democratic nomination into a full-scale 'Stop Obama' movement," little did I realize how quickly Friday's column would prove to be prophetic.
My article was online for only a few hours before Clinton touched off a political and media firestorm with her comments evoking the assassination of Robert F. Kennedy 40 years ago next week as her reason for staying in the race for the Democratic nomination.
In an interview published Friday, Clinton, asked by editors the Argus Leader of Sioux Falls, South Dakota why she was staying in the race despite Barack Obama's increasing likelihood of clinching the nomination, made the following comment:
"My husband [Former President Bill Clinton] did not wrap up the nomination in 1992 until he won the California primary somewhere in the middle of June, right? We all remember Bobby Kennedy was assassinated in June in California. You know I just, I don't understand it."
Say what?
That she made the remark at all -- implying that she's staying the race because of the possibility that Obama may become the target of racist assassins -- was disturbing enough. That she said it just days after Senator Edward M. Kennedy (D-Massachusetts) the lion of the Democrats' liberal wing, was diagnosed with a malignant cancerous brain tumor is as tasteless as it is shocking.
There was no public comment from the Kennedy family, but the New York Post reported Sunday that privately, they were shocked and outraged.
Obama Forgiving, But Clinton Determined to Screw Him Out of Winning White House
For his part, all Obama would say was that Clinton's remarks were “careless” and that he accepted Clinton’s explanation that she meant no offense.
The Illinois senator on Saturday invoked the memory of the slain senator to inspire graduates at a Connecticut commencement. Obama, filling in for the ailing Ted Kennedy and never once mentioning the controversy, instead invoked the Kennedy family's legacy of public service and called on young Americans to follow in their footsteps.
Obama’s campaign advisers mirrored the Democratic front-runner's forgiving mood on the Sunday talk shows, saying they were ready to end the discussion.
“As far as we’re concerned, this issue is done. It was an unfortunate statement, as we’ve said and she’s acknowledged. She’s apologized, the apology is accepted, let’s move forward,” Obama campaign adviser David Axelrod said on ABC’s “This Week.”
But this blogger isn't about let the matter rest. As far as I'm concerned, Clinton's remarks are the strongest evidence to date that the former first lady -- knowing that she has no mathematical chance of winning the Democratic nomination -- is embarking on a determined "scorched-earth" strategy to weaken Obama against Republican John McCain.
It's a racially insensitive strategy which is driving an already-deep divide between the Clinton campaign and African-American voters even deeper -- with Clinton fully aware that Obama's safety is of great concern to many black voters, particularly those of Clinton's generation and older who lived through the nightmares of the twin assassinations 40 years ago of Kennedy and Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
By Skeeter Sanders
When this blogger warned last Friday that Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign was "transforming itself from a chase for the Democratic nomination into a full-scale 'Stop Obama' movement," little did I realize how quickly Friday's column would prove to be prophetic.
My article was online for only a few hours before Clinton touched off a political and media firestorm with her comments evoking the assassination of Robert F. Kennedy 40 years ago next week as her reason for staying in the race for the Democratic nomination.
"My husband [Former President Bill Clinton] did not wrap up the nomination in 1992 until he won the California primary somewhere in the middle of June, right? We all remember Bobby Kennedy was assassinated in June in California. You know I just, I don't understand it."
Say what?
That she made the remark at all -- implying that she's staying the race because of the possibility that Obama may become the target of racist assassins -- was disturbing enough. That she said it just days after Senator Edward M. Kennedy (D-Massachusetts) the lion of the Democrats' liberal wing, was diagnosed with a malignant cancerous brain tumor is as tasteless as it is shocking.
There was no public comment from the Kennedy family, but the New York Post reported Sunday that privately, they were shocked and outraged.
Obama Forgiving, But Clinton Determined to Screw Him Out of Winning White House
For his part, all Obama would say was that Clinton's remarks were “careless” and that he accepted Clinton’s explanation that she meant no offense.
The Illinois senator on Saturday invoked the memory of the slain senator to inspire graduates at a Connecticut commencement. Obama, filling in for the ailing Ted Kennedy and never once mentioning the controversy, instead invoked the Kennedy family's legacy of public service and called on young Americans to follow in their footsteps.
Obama’s campaign advisers mirrored the Democratic front-runner's forgiving mood on the Sunday talk shows, saying they were ready to end the discussion.
“As far as we’re concerned, this issue is done. It was an unfortunate statement, as we’ve said and she’s acknowledged. She’s apologized, the apology is accepted, let’s move forward,” Obama campaign adviser David Axelrod said on ABC’s “This Week.”
But this blogger isn't about let the matter rest. As far as I'm concerned, Clinton's remarks are the strongest evidence to date that the former first lady -- knowing that she has no mathematical chance of winning the Democratic nomination -- is embarking on a determined "scorched-earth" strategy to weaken Obama against Republican John McCain.
It's a racially insensitive strategy which is driving an already-deep divide between the Clinton campaign and African-American voters even deeper -- with Clinton fully aware that Obama's safety is of great concern to many black voters, particularly those of Clinton's generation and older who lived through the nightmares of the twin assassinations 40 years ago of Kennedy and Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
