Hillary and Bill Clinton Invoke "Race Card" Into 2008 U.S. Presidential Campaign

There is a great report in the New York Sun addressing what I will term "Team Clintons" efforts to invoke the "race card" into the 2008 U.S. Presidential campaign process. While at the same time insulting the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King. My comments are highlighted in red in response to this great article by Seth Gitell.

Slight of King Could Linger for Voters
by Seth Gitell

Senator Clinton's comment stressing the importance of President Johnson at the expense of the role of Martin Luther King Jr. may come back to haunt her in the battle to attract African American voters, who make up half of the Democratic electorate in the upcoming South Carolina primary.

The situation underscores the perils for Mrs. Clinton as she confronts a challenge for the Democratic presidential nomination from Senator Obama. Her attempts to criticize Mr. Obama risk backfiring and alienating black voters, an important Democratic constituency.

A New York Times editorial yesterday highlighted the problem for Mrs. Clinton — rather than congratulating her for her victory in the New Hampshire primary, it cautioned that Mrs. Clinton "came perilously close to injecting racial tension into what should have been — and still should be — an uplifting contest between the first major woman candidate and the first major African-American candidate." The Times editorial went on to say of Mrs. Clinton's comment, "It was hard to escape the distasteful implication that a black man needed the help of a white man to effect change."

The Obama camp and civil rights leaders independent of the political campaigns yesterday seized on Mrs. Clinton's statement, "Dr. King's dream began to be realized when President Lyndon Johnson passed the Civil Rights Act of 1964…It took a president to get it done."

More of the New York Sun Article HERE

AAPP: This is not the first time the Clinton's actually invoked race into the contest to beat Obama. It's unfortunate that "Team Clinton" have been able to inject racial tension into what should have been — and still should be — an uplifting contest. They have actually implemented a strategy of racial divide. As reported in the blog A Moderate Voice and Jack and Jack and Jill Politics, The Clinton's have used very cloaked racial terms, comparing Obama to MLK while Hillary Clinton was LBJ who, you know, was the one who actually got things done. The Clinton's also have their buddy Andrew Cuomo out there acting a fool saying to Obama: 'You Can't Shuck And Jive' at a press conf. Now Team Clinton is going south in order to explain to black voters that if they, black voters, have the audacity to hope that Obama will be the real first black President, black voters dreams and Obama 's audity to run for President is nothing but a “Fantasy.”

Let's not fool ourselves, "Team Clinton" strategy is nothing new. They have received support from blogs like DailyKos, MYDD, Firedoglake, OpenLeft and others who are all hating on Obama for not kissing thier collective rings. Do you remember when Bill Clinton and the White Liberal Bloggers met in Harlem of all places, without one black blogger present.

Guess what folks, there are reasons for everything that "Team Clinton" has done in an effort to inject racial tension. Mr. Wanna be first black President could have urged organizers of the meeting to make sure that any meeting between him and bloggers include a diverse group of people. He did not, why should he, It's not part of the master plan, plus, it's not what many of the (so-called0 liberal left bloggers are all about.

That's my opinion, what's yours?

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