Letters to the Editor
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Speaking of red meat...
There's been plenty of it for Clinton supporters on salon the last several days, no? The "I'm voting for Obama b/c he's black" and the "dudes" pieces did nothing to help him and only verified the worst impression his detractors have about his supporters.
Perhaps this is the kind of double-psyching that Clinton supporters see in the race thing?
And the very recent "baritone" and "Obama/McCain hypocrites" articles give ample room for anti-Obama rhetoric.
I say this without the slightest disgruntlement. I think it's natural for front runners to get the scrutiny. I suspect the fuel for the anti-Clinton crowd will subside a bit, a condition which typically brings her to the fore again. sigh. I don't see any end in sight.
PS For those who object to being called "you people" or whatever: Obama supporters don't have a monopoly on that. I read several "It's typical of Obama supporters not to read the foundational article before responding knee-jerk fashion" kind of posts. Like you, I wish it would stop. Let's assume the best of each other.
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Is obama playing the race card
You bet he is and he's getting a lot of help from the "Mea Culpa" crowd of politically correct voters who want to be seen as making atonement for past sins.
The race has developed into a race/gender contest. Despite all the lip service to gender equality the Kirche, Kutchen,Kinder attitude seems to be prevelent in the minds of many men. The lack of presence of women of stature is telling. Voters seem to be developing the attitude "Look how politically correct we are. Just some 50 years or so after the last lynching we can elect a black person to the Presidency".
The key to success of whoever becomes president is likely to be experience. While all the potential presidents have experience in D.C. politics only Ms. Clinton knows the whole story and where the real keys to the kingdom are buried. The sad part is due to the puritanical attitudes that grip America she is being discounted not for what she has done but what her husband was accused of.
Such a pity that morality or alleged lack of is more important than ability.
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inkredulous -
when will people get it: first of all he played the "hope" card and the "change" card and for a lot of people in this world the possible "change" from a "white warmonger" to a "black and white" American who wants to stop a war - fight for the poor and tries to be constructive is so much more than they can hope for!
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the media again
red says
All manners of rationalization will not disguise the fact that Obama's campaign and the MSM willingly portrayed the Clintons as racist leading up to, and during the key primaries and caucuses where black democrats made up the majority.
I would say only part of that statement is clear: that the Clintons were tinged with race-baiting. As to who was responsible, here are the options:
1. the Clintons: They (a) were caught unawares making a few statements that were twisted into race, so went along and strategized to make Obama the "black" candidate, knowing at the time that they were already behind significantly in SC so an adjusted strategy would be to marginalize Obama to keep his vote almost entirely black, the way Sharpton and Jackson seem to draw. Or (b) They decided this up front.
2. Obama: Found it difficult to keep the whole race thing out as planned, given that he is in fact black. (a) Not black enough at first, so wanted to paint the Clintons as racist in order to get the black vote. Took advantage of unfortunate Clinton statements bound to happen on any campaign trail. (b) Didn't really want or strategize for above, but when press took off with race thing, subtly, back-handedly took the high road, made everyone else look bad, secretly gleeful that he's now got black vote in pocket as well as significant white vote.
3. the Press: Not a monolith, but follow Clintons around like vultures, looking for anything. "Shuck and jive" has a black ring to it, sounds funny and suspicious coming from Hillary. "fairy tale" statement sounds promising. Add it to MLK, start looking for racist narrative. "Jesse Jackson" comparison, while factual, overlooks a previous, more similar winner in SC, so Bill must be a racist! Add it to the pile and we've got ourselves a meme, folks!
I'll take Box No. 3 for a hundred, Jack.
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If there's one thing no one will ever accuse the Clinton campaign of
it's being good losers. From Hillary's moaning about being required to answer the first question too often, to her supporters' really unpleasant personal attacks (like this one), there's just no class in the Clinton organization.
It's too bad, really. The conduct of Hillary and her gang will leave yet another unnecessary blot on the accomplishments of the Clinton administration--I mean the real one, not the imaginary one that Hillary and her backers seem to believe she is entitled to by marriage.
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@akira1
What you are missing is so simple. the stories happened when Obama wasn't in the lead. no one payed attention to them. now they are considered "old" stories that are not brought up. thats why none of my obama supporting friends know how he got his seat in the state senate in the first place. there is a great article in the chronicle about it, but from January 2007.
you should read it and wonder why its not common knowledge that he had his lawyers successfully challenge his four democratic opponents off the primary ticket by exploiting an update in the voter rolls that expunged 15,000 voters and made it easy to challenge their petitions. the man who wants to change the face of politics was afraid if he ran against the very popular, progressive, female incumbent he would lose, so he sicked the best election lawyer in Illinois against her and got her kicked off the ballot. its true, and every good democrat in his old district knows it happened. its actually all public record and cannot be disputed.
so yeah, Clinton supporters are negative, but for the same reason Hillary looked bad in the debate: she has to be the one to challenge him because the MSM doesn't. Had the above been about Hillary we would have heard it 25,000 times by now.