Clinton's Race-Baiting Continues
Apparently not satisfied with her plummeting approval ratings among black voters, Hillary Clinton decided to remind us again that our votes don't actually count:
"I have a much broader base to build a winning coalition on," she said in an interview with USA TODAY. As evidence, Clinton cited an Associated Press article "that found how Sen. Obama's support among working, hard-working Americans, white Americans, is weakening again, and how whites in both states who had not completed college were supporting me."
"There's a pattern emerging here," she said.
Hard-working Americans = white Americans. Right. The rest of us sit on our porches eating watermelon and plucking banjos.
For some reason, despite this "broader base" Clinton still seems to be having trouble raising money, and you know, getting more votes than her opponent. But at this point any abstract metric besides votes or delegates that Clinton can use as a rationale for her candidacy becomes the only appropriate one to use.
This kind of comment is less a description than an agitator, it's meant to give white voters the impression that they would be "disenfranchised" by an Obama win. It's a not so subtle effort to evoke racial resentment over Obama's success.
But the truth is, Clinton won't win the white vote either, as Steve M. points out:
According to CNN's 1996 exit poll, Bill Clinton lost the white vote (Dole 46%, Clinton 43%, Perot 9%). He lost the white male vote by an even larger margin (Dole 49%, Clinton 38%, Perot 11%). And he lost gun owners badly (Dole 51%, Clinton 38%, Perot 10%). However, Clinton won the popular vote overall
In 2000 -- when Al Gore won the popular vote by half a million votes -- he lost white males to Bush by a whopping 60%-36%, according to CNN's exit poll. He lost men overall 53%-42%. He lost whites overall 54%-42%. He lost gun owners 61%-36%. He lost small-town voters 59%-38% and rural voters 59%-37%. He lost the Midwest overall 49%-48%.
I'm not saying these are goals to aspire to. I'm saying it's a myth that Democrats had Joe Sixpack in their back pockets until that snooty arugula-eater Barack Obama came along, and it's a myth that they suffer crushing defeats when bowlers and boilermaker-drinkers aren't on board. 49%-41%-8%, and he won 70% of the electoral votes.
But it's a myth that Clinton needs to perpetuate to make a case for her continued candidacy.
Obama split the male vote with Clinton in Indiana, and came within 4% of her among women, much better than he did in Ohio. Obama increased his share of voters without a college degree, and of white voters in general. He's actually doing better than he was before. While John Judis is right that Obama needs to improve his relationship with white working class voters, Clinton is deliberately hurting his chances of doing so by saying, essentially, "Obama doesn't care about white people."
That's what the "elitist" charge has always been about, appealing to the sentiment that "this black guy thinks he's better than you." It will be the same against the Republicans. The difference is that they now have Democrat saying the same things to further legitimize this line of "argument".
What Indiana might actually shows--and people can either be optimistic or pessimistic about this depending on what you feel like the November campaign would look like, is that Obama does better when the focus is on policy differences rather than race, which is why Clinton is trying to bring it back there. I get the impression Clinton overplayed her hand among working class white voters with the gas tax stupidity, which is why Obama got more of their votes than expected there.
I haven't even mentioned the fact that while Obama has work to do to appeal to that particular block of voters, Clinton has hopelessly alienated >the most loyal base of the Democratic Party: black folks.
Democrats will certainly struggle to win without a substantial minority of white voters, but there's no question that they can't win without us.
The question is this: Have white Democrats soured on Obama? Apparently not. Although his unfavorable rating from the group is up five percentage points since last summer in polls conducted by The New York Times and CBS News, his favorable rating is up just as much.
On the other hand, black Democrats’ opinion of Hillary Clinton has deteriorated substantially (her favorable rating among them is down 36 percentage points over the same period).
It's really not just about white people. I know that's really hard for some people to accept, but it's true.
Update: This is Rikyrah. How bad, blatant and obvious is the continued race-baiting of the Clinton Campaign?
When the likes of Mike Barnicle can see it and will acknowledge it, you know it's as obvious as you think it is. Not at all a part of your ' imagination'.
Barincle's latest column: Race Is All The Clintons Have Left
53 comments:
classic! i just saw this quote at talking points memo and was about to share it but have been beaten to the punch. she is disgusting. question. how did she lose blacks and progressive democrats? answer. with quotes like this. this does not seem like a candidate who is going to ease off the stage. rather a candidate who is determined to flame the BITTERNESS of her uneducated and racist appalachian supporters.
will she be content to coast to victory in w.v. and ky.? no way! push the margins as much as possible using that noble tool of race baiting. this woman is a real cancer. she still thinks she can win.
It's making my jaw ache, the clenching. It's so racist, both ways and there seems to be the implication that black voters not choosing her is all their fault, the whole bogey of the "reverse racism" meme.
I am beyond sick to fuck of repeating "racism is a feature of the dominant culture" etc. People that don't get it either won't ever get it or just don't want to.
In her own crass world, at least banjo pluckers and watermelon eaters know how to invite others into the tent to enjoy the party. (sigh).
I am listening to all these folks on tv state that she's not going after Obama since Tuesday. Maybe not in their world, but in the world that the rest of reside, she's up to the same stuff: the black guy just doesn't have enough of the right stuff nor do his peeps.
one thing about the he said she said formula of punditry. it equates two opponents in a dispute 100 % of the time. sometimes there is a right and wrong. sometimes one side has merits and the other does not. that is the case here. she has run a nasty and divisive campaign. obama has not. it should be recognized, however, that this is why she has lost. this is why she squandered her political inheritance. the justice is in the results. she has been her own worst enemy and barack has let her hang herself beautifully.
another thought is the punditry is ignoring what she is saying and ascribing her a conciliatory stance. but does this not become truth? maybe they are imposing their will on her. saying, be nice, wasn't that nice? isn't she nice? bye bye now hillary.
I'm glad you took this on, because I was going to do it today.
Meanwhile the DNC sits on their hands...
Remember this when they tell you "We're fighting for YOU!"
I've said it before, and I'll say it forever: Barack has no business courting the white-bigot-vote.
He has every responsibility to court the free-thinking, reasonably educated, reachable white vote, but never the "under-no-circumstance" white vote to which the Clintons are so obviously pandering.
Moreover, it's Barack who needs to remind the predominantly-white media that Black people are "working-class ethnics" as well. That there are plenty of Filipino, Chinese, Korean, Japanese, and Puerto Rican Americans who are also "working-class ethnics".
Now that he's pretty much shown Hillary the door, he needs to beging taking a firm position with the media, and do his part to change the ignorant and benign racist dialog that's been going on.
As a citizen of color, I work hard for my right to vote. Don't you?
The only strategy she's got left is for her and Bill to stand by the side of the road and pass out bumperstickers that read "Vote white." And that's pretty much what she is arguing with this electability theory.
"Meanwhile the DNC sits on their hands..."
yup. and the uncommitted supers say they have no problem with this going on forever as long as it doesn't get nasty. within 24 hours that is thrown out the window, and there's nothing but silence in all the usual 'liberal' corners.
Word has it that John Edwards will "officially" endorse SBO.
WTF took so long?
And you still have the CBC members, a group that should be banned for being totally useless, behind her after this? And, all those other blacks, who have a right to support her, but, they must have some really low self esteems and want the crumbs she is offering them for support.
Personally...no disrespect to dna but I am sick of this obsession with white people, whose racist and who will not vote for Senator Obama, because of that fact.
I believe that most people who comment here on JJP know that their are indeed some out there who will not vote for SBO because of hidden and not so hidden prejudice. However, why should we care to go on about it.
Since laws have passed in this country allowing people of color and women the freedom to exercise their rights to vote...we have and yet the truth that is also evident is that, many hearts and minds may not have changed.
Laws changed, that doesn't me opinions, beliefs and bias has.
In my opinion, to continue to stress out about this fact and whether Clinton and her surrogates are using it divisively, is counter-productive.
I'd rather discuss SBO proposed policies. What his plans are to move this country forward. He does have policy out there to discuss and for those that are open to learning and possibly voting for him based on those things it's important to highlight, dicuss and debate them.
It's exhausting to do otherwise and if we cannot accept the truth and move forward by empowering ourselves to help make the change Barack is talking about (one policy and politician at a time), then we will continue to wallow and fail at every crossroad and bump in the road.
So SBO has (or will have) the nomination, well now the games begin. Clinton is playing hop-scotch compared to what's coming.
Let's start really dissecting the policy differences between he and McCain. As much as I'd like Clinton to drop out, let her fight to the bitter end, she only hurts herself which each word and action she takes tha's questionable.
However for me, I'm done talking about t