Letters to the Editor
lordbyron080808
Published Letters: 63 Editor's Choice: 6
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Look! Up in ythe sky...
[Read the article: Tom the Dancing Bug]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Superdelegates only weakness?...krypto-conspiracies hatched in back rooms.
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Stichomythic exchange
[Read the article: Dropping like a lead imperialist balloon]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]"Peccavi" (I have sinned.)
--The British General Napier's famous missive upon capturing the N. Indian (now Pakistani) city of Sindh in 1842
“We increasingly seem to live in a world where the question ‘Is nothing sacred?’ so easily springs to mind,”
--Lay minister, Barbara Coulson, lamenting the 2008 vandalism of lead from Chruch roofs in Edmondthorpe, UK
"Reduximus ad origine" ([We] are lead back to its point of origin.)
--The people of Sindh on witnessing the English lead shipments feuling their recent economic growth.
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It's no Hammarabi's Code, but...
[Read the article: Iraq: The ten commandments]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]I hope The Iraqi 10 commandments are more memorable than the Powell Doctrine was after the Vietnam conflict. However, given the limited memory of Americans and our policy makers I'm not certain we'll make it past 2009 before we are drawn into another Middle Eastern conclict--Can you say, "Bomb, bomb, bomb, bomb Iran!"
But we can always hope.
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Intewresting article, but all the statistics obscures one true fact:
[Read the article: How Hillary Clinton botched the black vote]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]While I like the article's basic premise that Clinton's abysmal standing among blacks wasn't inevitable, the article refuses to acknowledge the very basis of the AA renunciation of Clinton's candidacy: the AA community's nearly universal perception that HRC and her husband were willing to use a version of the Reuplican "Southern strategy" to try and win white votes by depicting Obama as a "black" candidate whose very blackness is sufficient reason to vote against him.
This race baiting, generally attributed to Bill Clinton in such incidents as equating Obama's win in SC to Jesse Jackson's win there much earlier, was an anathema to the Black community which has been historically very sensitive to being cast off by politicians wanting to win the "poor white vote" by appealing to racist sentiments in this group.
Moreover, HRC compounded this cynical insult to the AA community by denigrating MLK in her infamous praise of LBJ as the greater hero of the civil rights movement. No one likes seeing their heroes thus slighted, but reversing the social cource of the movement not only insulted us, ironically it did so in an elitist way by negating the grass roots nature of the struggle and claiming instead that Blacks should be grateful to the "great white father" for setting them free. While LBJ bears an important role in this struggle granting him priority over MLK or other Black activists who fought for their own liberation was a resounding blow.
But even after her early fiascoes, Clinton has not renounced her own Southern strategy, claiming in lowered tones and whispers that "Barack Obama is unelectable," despite his having won a majority of primaries. "Why can't he win?" one might ask. Many AA, myself included, believe that HRC is trying subtly to signal that he is unelectable solely because he is African-American. Such a claim, however subtly insinuated, must be denounced and rejected by any American who believes that America has progressed since the 1960s. The AA community, individuals such as Dr. Wright withstanding, fervently wish to believe this, and thus, have rejected Clinton and her anachronistic race-baiting tactics.
This is what Schaller's article fails to mention.
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To sesanders and those who critique Obama's inexperience
[Read the article: How Hillary Clinton botched the black vote]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]While I too have concerns about BO's lack of national credentials, neither HRC nor Edwards, nor Bush, nor JFK nor Lincoln before had much national experience before running for president. While HRC might have national EXPOSURE, this exposure should not necessarily be equated with sufficient experience. Why hold BO to a higher standard than any other candidate for higher office? Asking that he should only hints at a racial double standard. I point this out b/c I'm sure this isn't what you intend, is it?
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@ jebldmm regarding LBJ
[Read the article: How Hillary Clinton botched the black vote]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]I know that you are a pro-Clinton poster and can appreciate your reading of Clinton's speech. (And yes, I have read the speech itself) However, your comments still do not address the perception among AAs like myself that HRC was trying to elevate LBJ at the cost of MLK and others. (And thus subtly to insinuate that we need elite champions rather than grass root ones.) If her comments had been made her in Austin at LBJ's presidential library then your "LBJ was a good leader" context would be an appropriate reading of the statment, but as it stands why insinuate LBJ into a discussion? That he did the right thing was never in question in the discussion.
At best her statment was an embarrasing attempt to buy false "cred" in the civil rights struggle; At worst, it was an attempt to tell blacks to simmer down and white for a great white father/mother to liberate us. Guess which reading I and most blacks ascribed to the statment?
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Excellent analysis AcientAssyrian!
[Read the article: How Hillary Clinton botched the black vote]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]HRC's campaign is in trouble with democratic AAs and almost every other democrat b/c of the various reasons you list. Her failures seem to occur when she leaves the democratic fold to chase a fleeting opportunity to ingratiate herself with Republican voters or their ideas. If she were to remember that she isn't running as a Republican she might be doing much better with her Democratic constituents.
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@joejoe
[Read the article: How Hillary Clinton botched the black vote]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]If only real life were as simple as your view of it, eh?
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Does it matter whether Obama believes HRC is race-baiting....
[Read the article: How Hillary Clinton botched the black vote]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]What matters is that voters believe that she has been race-baiting. (Many of us do, even without official sanction from Obama's campaign.)
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@jebldmm on LBJ
[Read the article: How Hillary Clinton botched the black vote]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]If this was HRC's point, then I have no problem conceding it. However, her leaden delivery of this point (and the race-baiting by her husband) makes it nearly impossible not to read the statement as a veiled attack on other leaders of the movement.
If Hillary would stop throwing the "kitchen sink" and campaign in a more courteous manner towards her opponent, she wouldn't have such a problem convincing voters of her good intentions. Don't you agree?
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@TexKate
[Read the article: How Hillary Clinton botched the black vote]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]<< The question that no one asks is: what, exactly, did Hillary Clinton stand to gain by offering remarks which could have been interpreted as being offensive to black American voters? The answer, of course, is: absolutely nothing.>>
I have always wondered this muself. Her comments were ill-formed and importunate. In the context of much of what she and her operatives have said, they seem offensive to many AAs. Even if she didn't intend to do so, she clearly insulted many of us.