Who wants a lol? And then to answer a serious question.

[EdwardBernays]

A while back I was told by a certain outspoken Clintonite that they would NEVER vote for Bernie BECAUSE he doesn't have enough black staffers.

Full stop.

And that having a lot of visible black staffers was part of the reason that Clinton did so well in AA communities.

Now, to ME PERSONALLY, that sounds racist.

If I framed it in the inverse - I won't vote for Hillary because she has a lot of black staffers I'd be - RIGHTLY - called a racist. So saying I won't vote for Bernie because of the color of his staffers seems to me, to be racist.

I recently commented on a thread that was about Bill O'Reilly saying he couldn't be racist, because he had a black staffer. The whole 'judge my racial attitudes based on the color of my staff' is exactly - TO ME AT LEAST - the same as what the Clintonite said to me.

When I NOTED THAT in a comment, I was told that I was a right-winger and should go the Trump Forums where I belong.

Now, to ME, choosing people based on their MERITS, like Bernie seems to have done, not on their skin color as some WISH he''d done, seems a lot LESS racist than the alternative.

But again, this is just my opinion.

I do wonder though: if the Clintonite is right, if their opinion is reflective of a majority of AA Clinton supporters, what can Sanders do? It seems like he may be unwilling to hire people based purely on race - I would be - and as such are his attempts to win over AAs doomed?

Anyway, I found the first thing hilarious, but I guess the question at the end is very serious... I'd love to hear what people think.

[DemocracyDirect]

1. Every campaign should try to represent all races reasonably well.

It looks good for the campaign and helps in working with other campaign workers.

But don't listen to their disingenuous rants.

[EdwardBernays]

2. yess.....

I mean I do get that...

I wonder what's better for America - allow me some hyperbole - an EXTREMELY diverse Sanders campaign that LOST or a less diverse campaign that WON? That's NOT To say that an extremely diverse campaign CAN'T win, but... if the right person to get the job done isn't the "right" color, well... what should a campaign do?

It's all a bit weird to me, to make race such a big part of the decision process when hiring... and I must admit, if I hired a POC JUST to appeal to other POC I'd feel pretty gross.

[DemocracyDirect]

3. Well of course you shouldn't hire someone solely based on their race...

... but for a campaign there are so many different positions including surrogates and so forth.

We might have done a better job early on to get some more obvious diversity in the campaign.

But I wouldn't listen to the naysayers.

We started this campaign on a bootstrap budget and without years of preparation and weren't trying to be dishonest in forcing diversity in our earliest events.

Now we have a very diverse group representing us.

And ultimately despite all of their advantages the Hillary Campaign is facing a do or die situation in New York.

[EdwardBernays]

4. I agree completely

which is probably why I was so astonished by the attitude of that person...

Let me ask you this though, do you personally think that racial optics - on the level of campaign staff - is a MAJOR deciding factor in the AA community?

[DemocracyDirect]

5. Well that's a tricky question.

And there is no one size fits all answer.

In some AA communities their community and faith leadership is embedded in the DNC fundraising and GOTV machinery.

They have been able to successfully get out the vote for Democratic candidates for decades.
Unfortunately all of that is naturally not on our side yet.

I think that the situation has improved dramatically now that we have a diverse and broad support base.

It takes time to build trust.

[EdwardBernays]

6. thank you

for the considered answers!

[DemocracyDirect]

7. No problem.

I'm surprised nobody else decided to contribute.

[EdwardBernays]

8. I think

Based on previous posts I've seen, that people are deathly afraid of discussions - much less posting an option - on anything related to race.

[Lone_Wolf]

9. I served on the jury :)

I don't know what can be said other than the Hillbots are delusional hypocrites. I'm arguing with some on Facebook. Their position is Bernie is th Establishment candidate and Hillary represents the anti-Establishment!

WTF is wrong with them?

[EdwardBernays]

10. Jazes

As they'd say in Ireland.

It's really hard to even know if they're being serious... Like if it's just playing a game... The number of times I had a Clintonites tell me that Clinton's weaknesses were actually here strengths, because she was extremely good at 'playing the game"... Then a memo must've gone out because almost overnight they all stopped saying it.

Wild stuff.

And thanks for being 1 of 2 decent folks on that jury btw.