He injected race into the campaign when his campaign accused the Clinton's of injecting race into the campaign - which they hadn't done much to Obama's dismay.
It's the Rove thing - run against people's strengths. One of the things the Clintons have going for them is decades of work on behalf of others and the degree to which they have been stalwart allies of the African American community.
So, Obama's campaign began race baiting - because we're liberals and we deplore racism. Gullible people bought that line of BS. Sad. But human.
As Obama pointed out, had he just been another white guy elected to the senate, he wouldn't gotten book deals out of it, or been asked to give a speech at the national convention.
The first account I can find is the Shaheen drug-dealer comment. That was racist and intentional.
Not even remotely racist. Obama writes about his drug use in his BS autobiography. Shaheen has concerns that the Right is going to run with it - and they will. The fact that Obama wrote about it in his book will give their charges more weight than it would otherwise. That's not gonna play well with Reagan Democrats.
You're so missing the point here.
When Bill or other democrats of a certain generation confess to drug use, albeit they 'didn't inhale', they are never accused of being DRUG DEALERS.
That's the racial overtone that you're apparent deaf to. I don't blame you. Maybe it's because you're white and female. White men and women get smeared with being drug takers. It takes a basically prejudiced and stereotypical view - i.e. a view of black males - to make the massive leap into assuming someone is a DEALER.
The Falwell tapes accused Clinton of profiting off of the cocaine being run through Mena, Arkansas. Your charge of racism is utter and complete bullshit.
'Shuck and dive' 'Kid' 'drug dealer' - no, little otter, the bullshit is in the mouth of the speaker. And the more you try to twist this one, the more you remind people how low Hillary has sunk.
Keep going. You're doing Obama a favour.
Obama doesn't profit from the truth being told - that's why he lies so much. So, don't for a second think the sleazy manipulation you just tried on me works. That's all you guys got is bullshit charges of racism - and that's the level Obama has sunk to.
You can't scare me off from calling bullshit because I know it when I see it. Obama and his campaign are smearing two of the best friends and most stalwart allies African Americans have had in this country just so a guy with no real accomplishments to his name can win. That's your idea of strategy so be it - but Clinton supporters won't vote for your guy if he's the nominee if that's what you have to do to win.
Calling bullshit with no evidence just looks stupid. Obama and his campaign are winning on any level you care to chose. Deal with it, or go and sulk and vote McCain. You're immune to reason so I'm wasting my time
I have no intention of doing anything except pointing out that Obama is the one inserting race into the campaign and profiting from the accusation of racism. i will point out that you cannot explain how the Clintons could hope to benefit from it.
If you're going to vote for McCain if Clinton's the nominee, that's on you and you take moral responsibility for that. I won't vote for McCain or Obama. It's that simple. And Clinton supporters are in blue states that he needs to win.
You and I both know the truth - Obama couldn't win running an honest campaign. So he chose to smear two fine Democrats with charges of racism and looked the other way at the misogyny. Water finds it's own level.
...and froth rises to the top. Keep on keeping on.
so does hot air - I'll let you have the last word.
Oh. I forgot that Bill Clinton and George Bush were asked if they were drug dealers. Can you give me a link to when they were asked that. I can't seem to find any.
I should add that pointing out racism or racially questionable comments is the right thing to do.
You're lying little otter. It's the most common thread on MYDD. Obama played the race card first. The only backing you have for that blatant mistruth is Sean Wilentz, a paid stooge and old friend of the clintons.
This misinformation about Obama playing the race card first would be pathetic if it wasn't also defamatory AND inflammatory. First, for starters, READ THE DIARY. Obama knew that if he was narrowly seen as only representing the interest of African Americans he would never achieve the result he has
Secondly - he's mixed race. How can he play reverse racism when his mother was white? Only in your wild losing imagination do you need to frame him as such, in order to explain the dismal failures of the Hillary campaign.
Thirdly, all the evidence shows that there were dog whistles about Obama's unelectability from Bill and Cuomo. Now I don't think Bill is at all racist. But there is a common meme that 'Americans will never elect a black president' and by making the fatuous Jesse Jackson comparison, Bill pissed off a lot of people with his patronising attitude. Not surprisingly, a lot of African Americans, and millions of other Americans of many hues said 'fuck you'.
Fourthly, imagine how you would feel. You're the first candidate of your race/gender to make it this far in a presidential campaign. You are attacked for your difference. And when you call people on this you are mocked for calling the race/gender card.
Hold on. You see my point. You know what my fourth point is like exactly, because you decry misogyny when it comes to Hillary. But your imagination and conscience fails you when it comes to Obama's supporters defending him from racist remarks.
Supporters mind you. Obama has never complained about anything but 'diviseness'. Listen to his Philadelphia speech on race, and you'll hear him explicitly defend Ferraro.
But actually, I don't think you'll listen. And you're presenting a huge problem for many people who think racism, like sexism, is not a obloquy to be played with lightly.
Next time you lie like this, I'd like to see some evidence. And don't give me links to Sean Wilentz. Give me some dates and facts on HOW OBAMA PLAYED THE RACE CARD FIRST
Otherwise, you're just perpetuating something really quite evil - the idea that people who defend themselves from racist attacts are actually perpetrators of it.
Shut up or paste up
Alll the dogwhistle allegations come from Obama supporters who otherwise didn't have a way to diminish Clinton's well earned support among African Americans. Gullible people fell for it. Smart people saw it as a cagey, dishonest move that smeared some very worthwhile people.
The only reason you want me to shut up is that you know I'm right. People who have the truth on their side don't order other people to quit talking.
If you want to know why Clinton supporters are throwing their hands up in the air and saying that they won't vote for obama should he be the nominee, posts like yours are a large part of the reason. I won't vote for McCain but I will not vote for a Democrat who cynically smears successful Democrats, employs misogyny and tolerates the thuggery we've witnessed among his supporters. If you want Clinton supporters to not skip voting for the president if he's the nominee, you better find a way to reign your dialogue in.
That's disingenuous. The dogwhistle allegations might have come from Obama supporters (not the Obama campaign mind you) but that doesn't mean there wasn't a racial overtone in the statements of Bill, Cuomo etc. You say it was a dishonest move. I say, and so do millions of others, that these original statements were inflammatory.
We can argue endlessly about the 'who started it' but you have to realise that it's deeply problematic to accuse the 'alleged' victim of racism of race baiting. Can't you see the problem? In terms of sexual politics it's like a rapist saying because a woman was dressed in a sexual way 'she was asking for it'.
If you can't understand the sensibilities, and sensitivities you're dealing with here in racial politics, then I don't know what to say. Fortunately there are a lot of women who see BOTH sensitivities, and a careful not to blame the victim for an attack.
As for the rapprochement between Hillary and Obama supporters: I've said it before and I'll say it again. It needs to happen. Neither candidate can win without the bulk of the other's supporters. And while it's all very good you saying 'I haven't convinced you' or I 'ought to reign my dialogue in', Little Otter, I've seen many inflammatory remarks you've made to Obama supporters. Despite dozens of them trying to build bridges a couple of weeks ago, the net result was a rec list filled with Ayers and Elitism diaries (a mixture of Rovian smear by association and Nixonian checkers' speeches). Where was your attempt to build bridges?
I've met many decent Hillary supporters with whom I've had a constructive if sometimes testy dialogue. But there is a hard core here who would prefer the democratic nominee fails in the fall were it to be Obama. I hope you're not one of them. And if you can take assertive dialogue then wow, you sure can dish it out.
Can't we make up and be friends?
How has Obama been the victim of race baiting by the Clintons? Evidence please. I see no evidence of that, nor do I see anyway the Clintons could benefit from racism. In fact, the most likely beneficiary of an accusasation of racism is Obama - because we're Democrats and we oppose racism.
Please - show me evidence that racist remarks from the Clintons have hurt, or could have hurt Obama, in any fashion. I've yet to see anyone point out a strategy, whereby a white candidate who has worked their entire life on behalf of African American communities, can now benefit from racist rhetoric.
Obama is a guy with no resume to speak of and no real accomplishments to his name. He's a guy who knows how to run rough campaigns and that's about it. He doesn't do stuff. He doesn't get stuff done. So he can't run on his resume or his accomplisments - he can only run as the anti-Clinton. And that's what he's done. So, his campaign accuses her of racism, and peels off a big segment of her supporters. His supporters accuse her of being a corporatist, and pro-war. They entertain themselves on his dime by referring to her as a "fucking whore". His coarse-mouthed wife thinks its funny to talk about scratching Bill Clinton's eyes out and yet is so inferior, so irresponsible as a mother to allow her daughters to be exposed to the racist and misogynist rantings of Jeremiah Wright. Hillary Clinton may never have been called a nigger, but she's been called a fucking whore and Obama supporters found that entertaining. That moment pretty much encapsulates how I think Obama and his supporters see this race.
Obama has to earn people's vote and the fact that he didn't call a press conference with 24 hours to distance himself from that Rhodes diatribe pretty much means he's okay with it happening on his behalf.
Should I assume that the first time a right wing nationally known talk show host refers to Obama and wife in similarly discriminatory tones, you guys are going to look the other way?
Your foul mouthed, incoherent and unsubstantiated rant has just exposed you as someone beyond reason - intolerant and completely prejudiced.
And the hypocrisy of calling me out for 'reigning my dialogue in'
Good luck with persuading people with that kind of rant. No wonder your argument, and your candidate, is losing badly.
Ahhh, truth hurts, doesn't it? Your reaction pretty much validates everything I said. And that's why obama isn't going to get the Clinton votes that most Democrats could rely on; because none of you - including your candidate and his coarse-mouthed wife (and yes, joking about scratching out the eyes of the only Democratic president to win reelection in 50 years is coarse, immature and trashy) - have the minimum level of integrity to deal with what's transpired against Clinton in this race. All of you have been willing to betray Democratic principles right and left to see this person get the nomination.
You aren't getting it - you have to earn out votes and we feel betrayed. And if we feel betrayed by your candidate, we won't vote for him.
You've been betrayed by Hillary. That's why you're having problems facing the truth
Oh such an Angry Negro she is. We're all ANGRY NEGROES!!!! How do we dial it down!!?!!
Just looked upthread and found a complete example of your racial myopia - i.e. the difference between a drug user and a drug DEALER.
And please, Little Otter, if you're going to tell somebody to rein their dialogue in, maybe charity begins at home. You missed the racist subtext AND you called Obama's biography 'bullshit'.
Clinton was acccused of profiting off the drug running in Mena Arkansas. He was also accused of having a nose "like a hoover". Clinton was accused of being a drug runner and a drug user. Don't give me crap about it being racist.
And Obama has admitted that he created composite characters and situations to tell his story - so, yes, his autobiography is bullshit.
I'll be charitable when the candidates are moral equals.
The way you skew your sources leads me to suspect that partisanship has totally swamped any sense of morality.
And whatever the political virtues of the Clintons, the whole world knows that 'morality' was not the most salient.
Think you've picked a loser there
Was Clinton accused of that by Obama? If not, your point please?
Us stupid black people can't recognize racism is that it?
