The Clinton campaign moved on Friday to try to quell a potentially damaging reaction to recent comments by Bill and Hillary Rodham Clinton that have drawn criticism from African-Americans just as the presidential primary campaign reached southern states with significant numbers of black voters.
In a call on Friday to Al Sharpton's nationally syndicated talk radio show, former president Clinton said that his "fairy tale" comment on Monday about Senator Barack Obama's position on the war was being misconstrued, and that he was talking only about the war, not about Obama's overarching message or his drive to be the first black president.
"There's nothing fairy tale about his campaign," Bill Clinton said. "It's real, strong and he might win."
Bill Clinton's fairy tale line and a comment by Hillary Clinton that was interpreted by some as giving former US president Lyndon Johnson more credit than Martin Luther King Jr. for winning changes in civil rights laws have disturbed African-Americans, who saw the comments as unfair, diminishing the role of civil rights activists. The frustration comes as a Jan. 26 Democratic primary looms in South Carolina, where half of the Democratic electorate could be black.
The highest-ranking African-American in Congress, Representative James Clyburn, said this week that he was disappointed in the comments, a worrisome matter for the Clintons since an endorsement of Obama by the lawmaker could carry weight in the primary.
On Friday evening, Clyburn, who is traveling overseas, issued a statement saying that he intended to remain neutral in the early race. Clyburn, who aides said spoke with Bill Clinton and Obama, said he wanted to make sure all candidates had an equal opportunity. But he also urged them to be careful in their language.
"I encourage the candidates to be sensitive about the words they use," Clyburn said. "This is an historic race for America to have such strong, diverse candidates vying for the Democratic nomination." Others continued to take issue with the remarks, including Representative Jesse Jackson Jr., an Obama supporter who was born in South Carolina.
"Following Barack Obama's victory in Iowa and historic voter turnout in New Hampshire," Jackson said in a statement, "the cynics unfortunately have stepped up their efforts to decry his uplifting message of hope and fundamental change."
Trying to tamp down the criticism, the Clinton campaign urged prominent black supporters to speak out on their behalf and remind the public of their long record of working for minority rights and benefits.
"I know of no government leadership couple about who I could say more," said Frederick James of Columbia, South Carolina, a retired bishop of the AME Church and civil rights advocate who has worked with both King and the Clintons.
The negative reaction was unusual for the Clintons, who have been extremely popular with blacks, the former president in particular. But Obama is becoming a rallying point for African-Americans as well, and some blacks worry that there will be efforts to undercut him on racial grounds.
"Voters have to decide for themselves what they think of this," said Bill Burton, a spokesman for the Obama campaign, declining to elaborate or discuss the matter further.
Bill Clinton, in his radio interview, disputed any notion that he was impugning Obama personally.
He said he was addressing a specific issue that, he believed, had not been given sufficient scrutiny: Obama's position on Iraq and a statement by Obama in 2004 that he could not say how he would have voted on the war had he been in the Senate, though he did not believe the case for war had been made.
Clinton said the 2004 view was at odds with Obama's position that he has, unlike Hillary Clinton, always been against the war.
"I said that story is a fairy tale," Clinton said. "Now that doesn't have anything to do with my respect for him as a person or his campaign. I have gone out of my way not to express any personal disrespect for him and his campaign."
Donna Brazile, a leading black Democrat who had criticized Clinton, on Friday appeared willing to accept his explanation.
"Bill Clinton is a soldier in the fields for people of color," Brazile said on CNN. "At this point, we are willing to let this lie."
SEEKING CHANGE: A hospital worker said she did not vote in previous elections, but ‘now I can see that maybe my vote can change the system and the country’ Voting closed yesterday across the Solomon Islands in the south Pacific nation’s first general election since the government switched diplomatic allegiance from Taiwan to Beijing and struck a secret security pact that has raised fears of the Chinese navy gaining a foothold in the region. The Solomon Islands’ closer relationship with China and a troubled domestic economy weighed on voters’ minds as they cast their ballots. As many as 420,000 registered voters had their say across 50 national seats. For the first time, the national vote also coincided with elections for eight of the 10 local governments. Esther Maeluma cast her vote in the
Nearly half of China’s major cities are suffering “moderate to severe” levels of subsidence, putting millions of people at risk of flooding, especially as sea levels rise, according to a study of nationwide satellite data released yesterday. The authors of the paper, published by the journal Science, found that 45 percent of China’s urban land was sinking faster than 3mm per year, with 16 percent at more than 10mm per year, driven not only by declining water tables, but also the sheer weight of the built environment. With China’s urban population already in excess of 900 million people, “even a small portion
UNSETTLING IMAGES: The scene took place in front of TV crews covering the Trump trial, with a CNN anchor calling it an ‘emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment’ A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said yesterday. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital. The man was in Collect Pond Park at about 1:30pm on Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said. A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed
HYPOCRISY? The Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday asked whether Biden was talking about China or the US when he used the word ‘xenophobic’ US President Joe Biden on Wednesday called for a hike in steel tariffs on China, accusing Beijing of cheating as he spoke at a campaign event in Pennsylvania. Biden accused China of xenophobia, too, in a speech to union members in Pittsburgh. “They’re not competing, they’re cheating. They’re cheating and we’ve seen the damage here in America,” Biden said. Chinese steel companies “don’t need to worry about making a profit because the Chinese government is subsidizing them so heavily,” he said. Biden said he had called for the US Trade Representative to triple the tariff rates for Chinese steel and aluminum if Beijing was