Obama was the first to play the race card (piece in PA's largest newspaper)

[jackson_dem]

Here is the common sense test: cui bono? Notice the race card never appears before the Iowas, Wisconsins, Ohios, and Pennsylvanias? It shows up for the South Carolinas and Missisippis when it would benefit only one candidate: Obama. The Ferraro thing is a classic example. She made those comments before Ohio and Texas (3/4) yet they didn't get resurrected from oblivion until, yes, a day or two before Mississippi (the same time an Obamite in the New York Times was also tarring Clinton as racist for, like Obama himself did in Pennsylvania, running an ad full of "typical" white people). Why didn't it come up at the time? Because it was more convenient to bring up right before Mississippi. He was going to win South Carolina and Mississippi anyway. What was the point then? It was to increase turnout and win by as much as possible for the delegate count. Obama, thanks to a fawning msm, is able to get the benefits of playing this card without paying the price.

-snip-

Having injected racial posturing into the contest, Obama's "post-racial" campaign finally seems to be all about race and sensational charges about white racism. But the mean-spirited strategy started even before the primaries began, when Obama's operatives began playing the race card - and blamed Hillary Clinton.

Had she truly conspired to inflame racial animosities in January and February, her campaign would have brought up the Rev. Jeremiah Wright and his incendiary sermons. But the Clinton campaign did not. And when the Wright stories and videos finally did break through in the mass media, they came not from Clinton's supporters but from Fox News Network.

-snip-

Since the Philadelphia speech, the candidate and his surrogates have sounded tone-deaf on the subject of race. On March 20, Obama described his Kansas grandmother to a Philadelphia radio interviewer as "a typical white person." The same day, Sen. John Kerry said that Obama would help U.S. relations with Muslim nations "because he's a black man." Another Obama supporter, Sen. Claire McCaskill of Missouri, called him the first black leader "to come to the American people not as a victim but as a leader." Her history excluded and conceivably denigrated countless black leaders, from Frederick Douglass to Rep. John Lewis. Obama remained silent, refusing to take Kerry and McCaskill to task for their racially charged remarks.

Neither candidate can win sufficient elected delegates in the remaining primaries to secure the nomination, and so the battle has moved to winning over the superdelegates. Obama's bogus "race-baiter" strategy is one of the main reasons he has come this far, and it is affecting the process now. But by deliberately inflaming the most destructive passions in American politics, the strategy has badly divided and confused Democrats, at least for the moment. And having done so, it may well doom the Democrats in the general election.

http://www.philly.com/inquirer/currents/20080330_Obama_was_the_first_to_play_the_race_card.html

[MadBadger]

1. While you were on strike, this article was posted many times...GOOD Citizens check for Dupes.

[TheDonkey]

7. they are purposely trying to flood DU with these lies. Nothing better to do I guess.

[jackson_dem]

9. You believe that? This place is 19:1 for Obama

This won't change the views of Obamites. Muzzling discussion of this at DU will make those who demand no criticism of the messiah may make Obama supporters feel good but it can't keep the piece out of PA's largest newspaper.

[joshcryer]

20. I just hope you guys stick around, it was boring here with the Obamania monopoly.

They just trashed Hillary 24/7.

[berni_mccoy]

73. The proper term is Obamonoply. And as far as trashing Hillary goes...

She did it to herself. She owns completely the miserable failure that has become her campaign.

[americanstranger]

22. You guys must have practiced the victim speech while in exile.

Y'all have it down pat, that's for sure.

- as

[polmaven]

The "victim speech"????

C'mon...no one plays that better than some of the Obama supporters! There is one of your group actually claiming that someone darkened Senator Obama's skin in Senator Clinton's 3am ad!

[bhikkhu]

28. Good point, but everyone here has read it a dozen times already.

My conclusion is that who did what first is both irrelevant and unprovable. And everyone, including the writer, seems to forget that we are running against a party of renowned dirty-trick masters and this whole controversy is a well-practiced element of their repertoire. Assuming they are sitting on the sidelines all along minding their own business is not very bright.

[jackson_dem]

29. We have but most folks haven't which is why the piece is important

The fact it came out in Pennsylvania's largest newspaper makes it even more important. For most folks he "who played the race card?" discussion has been a msm show trial of Clinton. Wilentz is the only one in the msm to bring up the other side, and I believe the evidence--especially the smoking gun of timing--shows who had the motive to do it.

It matters for historical purposes. It would be sad if someone won the nomination based on that and it would be very ironic if Obama did via that. If he is the nominee the other problem is this, along with his use of the homophobia card in SC, does not square with his public rhetoric about unity. You can't run on unity, claim to be the savior who can deliver us from the divisions we have had since George Washington and then use the divisive tactics such as the race card and homophobia in your campaign.

[BumRushDaShow]

52. I am a multigenerational Philadelphian

And what you keep referring to as "Pennsylvania's largest newspaper" is nonsensical in terms of trying to assign some authoritative "weight" to its position in this state, considering the paper is not and has never been considered superior in a journalistic sense, and the rest of the state couldn't care less about Philadelphia. It's barely one step above its sister paper, the Daily News, which is a tabloid. And I say this despite the fact that the paper endorsed Obama. I.e., the Inquirer is not a Washington Post or a New York Times or a LA Times, or a Chicago Sun-Times, etc.

In this state, people put more weight on their local community papers when it comes to reflecting attitudes and what goes on in their towns and townships. And this applies to the city of Philadephia as well, which has a plethora of neighborhood newspapers that better reflect the sense of those areas.

[barb162]

60. Yes, thanks for posting as I never saw it. Excellent editorial.

And some comments here are pretty funny, ie, posting Bosnia stuff 10,000,000 times. Or was it 100,000,000 times.

[barb162]

71. I never saw it until right now. I am glad it has been posted.

[rodeodance]

10. The truth regarding the O. cam is dribbling out.

[barb162]

61. Yep, and the truth stings some people.

[saracat]

18. Except they aren't lies.Refute them if they are!

[Yes We Did]

24. Tell me something hnmnf...

As I recall, Obama has not done anything but downplay race this entire campaign... Did I miss something?

They really are sad aren't they.

[McCamy Taylor]

27. This is one of the tactics to shut down debate.

[anonymous171]

2. These pundits are really stupid.

Obama has NOTHING to gain and EVERYTHING to lose from playing the race card. Seriously, how does being the "black candidate" help him?

[cali]

6. sean wilentz is anything but stupid

he is, however, a close family friend of the Clintons and prominent and early hill endorser. His article has been debunked by two of his fellow New Republic contributing editors. Sad to see a prominent American historian reduced to partisan hack, and sadder to see that he isn't honest enough to disclose his close ties to hill and bill. Poor little hillbots, they're reduced to posting this over and over and over.

[jackson_dem]

11. Notice the timing?

Tell me, why did the race issue mysteriously always pop up before a stand alone majority black primary? Why not before Iowa, New Hampshire, the 20 Super Tuesday states, Wisconsin, Ohio and Texas on 3/4, or the past month before Pennsylvania? Do you think it is just a coincidence it showed up in time for South Carolina and Mississippi? Of all the days over the past three months. Just a coincidence it became an issue right before those two states, which Obama won on racial voting (racial voting=whites voted for the white candidate(s) at a 70+ clip while blacks did the same at a similar clip in SC and 90% in MS)?

[anonymous171]

15. Those are just two states.

How could he win WA or VT if he was known as the "black candidate?" Obama isn't stupid.

[jackson_dem]

19. Easy

By successfully, with the msm as an accomplice, having it both ways. His strategy was was not to do that but rather gain black votes mainly through swiftboating his opponent on race--something Clinton has refused to do. Obama gets 85-90% black support post-swift boating. If Clinton had anywhere near the success Obama did (70% of the white vote would be enough) by swiftboating him on race she would win. She has chosen not to sink to that level. He didn't make himself the "black candidate". He made his opponent the anti-black candidate. Big difference.

If he didn't win SC big he would have never made it past Vermont...

[anonymous171]

25. So did Bill Clinton "misspeak" when he said that "Jesse Jackson won SC"?

Wilentz confuses the "playing the race card card" with the actual "Race Card" and therefore fails to make his point.

[jackson_dem]

30. Two candidates won the SC dem primary on racial voting

Everyone else won by winning both racial groups. Two candidates won with unanmious support from one racial group while getting little support from the other half of SC's racial equation. Who are they?

A) John Edwards and Bill Clinton
B) Al Gore and Jimmy Carter
C) Mike Gravel and Chris Dodd
D) Jesse Jackson and Barack Obama

Mitt Romney won Utah with 91%--and he won every other state with a large Mormon population. When he won Utah there were threads joking about it not being a surprise here. It isn't bigoted to say that. It is a fact. Obama has won every state with a large black population and Obamites themselves are banking on 90% support from blacks, a third of the electorate in that state, to carry him to victory in NC. Are they racist too?

Al Smith and JFK won Catholic states. Romney won the Mormon state and Mormon influenced states. Jesse Jackson and Barack Obama won states with large black populations. Why are the first two sentences kosher while the thread is deemed to be nefarious?

[itcfish]

89. Tell What Was Racist About that Remark???

Since when is telling the truth, racist?

[polmaven]

79. He did not "misspeak"....

He was taken, again, and again, and again....out of the "context" that so many of you love to harp on.

He was leaving a meeting at the end of which the TOPIC was Rev. Jackson. He did not just pull the Reverend's name out of thin air because he is an African American.

President and Senator Clinton are NOT racists. The Obama campaign is..very deftly I will say...portraying them that way for political advantage.

[Tellurian]

26. Well stated... yes, he did make her out to be the Anti-Black candidate

and they all lapped up the propaganda painting the Clintons as racists as planned.

[ej510]

58. So all black people are stupid right?

Isn't that what you're saying?

[northzax]

83. no more so that whites who would respond to this

Obama is all things to all people. that's the beauty of his oratorical gifts, you hear what you want to hear.

[beachmom]

88. Shaheen shouldn't have said it. Then there would not have been a problem. nt

[northzax]

82. not in a Democratic Primary Campaign, sorry

playing the race card, as a black candidate seen as likable and electable by both blacks and whites does two things:

1: in a Democratic Primary, making someone else defensive about race is a brilliant strategy. There is nothing worse than being called a racist (look at what happens to Hillary's numbers everytime another accusation of racism comes out. and conveniently, they seem to come out right before primaries in states where the Democratic Electorate is largly black (South Carolina, GA, MS, to name a few) playing a race card in a General Election in those states may help a white candidate, but in a Democratic Primary? only an absolute political naif or an idiot would do that (and remember, Hillary is an evil genius!) the fact is, there are comparitively few white democrats left in those states, and those that are left are very sensitive to race and being called racist (and if they were overt racists, they have left the Party). So you get the few remaining whites defensive about race. Republicans may not be affected in a primary by being called racist, but Democrats certainly are. Especially in the South. Especially among young voters.

2: you solidify the black vote behind you, because the other guy is racist. Look at what happened when the 'race card' was played? Hillary went from 50% support among blacks in the South to 10%. in a week. Blacks are 60% of the Democratic Electorate in MS, 50% in Georgia and South Carolina. You lose 90% of that vote, and you cannot win a primary in those states. Obama, for instance, won 81% of the black vote in South Carolina. that's 41% of the electorate, right there.

so, why hasn't anyone done this before? because it can only be played by the right candidate, and probably only once at that. You need a black candidate who is seen as being not 'too black'. Jesse JAckson, running today, couldn't do it, because race is integral to his public image. Obama, however, seems to not care about race all that much, it's certainly not something that he talks about publically all the time. so he's perfectly acceptable to whites. His image is not that of an angry black man, but a happy, friendly one. Obama would never play the race card, right? it's perfectly unbelievable. Now that evil witch Hillary, she totally would, she's a power hungry bitch, willing to do anything to steamroll her way in.

do I think this is reality? it is certainly conceivable. Obama has very smart people working for him. It is just as likely, imho, as the idea that the heretofore brilliant Clintons would be so stupid as to make race an issue only in states with majority or plurality black electorates. Remember, the Clintons are in many ways southerners, and have a lot of southerners as advisors (you think Carville would be this stupid?) it boggles the mind, either way.

[NanceGreggs]

3. Oh, no, not THIS one again ...

... please feel free to PM me when you come up with some new material.

:boring: :boring: :boring:

[americanstranger]

23. They got nothin'

All they can hope for is changing the signal-to-noise ratio.

Kinda sad.

- as

[Tellurian]

56. The OP says it all!

[rodeodance]

4. K&R

[TLM]

5. You can't run from the truth...

The truth is that the wright crap is backfiring on Hillary... she and Bill tried to play the southern strategy and paint Obama as the scary black radical who hates america.

She tried to fling a big pile of shit and it fell right back in her face, and now her supporters are trying to blame the stink on Obama.

Heh was Obama also responsable for making her lie about snipers?

[jackson_dem]

12. What do they have with ABC and Fox going to the TUCC website and buying tapes?

[Hawkeye-X]

8. Glad you're wasting posts rehashing dead-horses..

And you had to dig em up - Go put it back.

[rodeodance]

13. I never consider it a waste of a post for truth to see the light.

[meow mix]

14. And look at the front page. pic of biggest Obama rally yet..

http://www.philly.com/inquirer/front_page/

LOL i dunno what your so happy about :rofl:

[anonymous171]

17. ONLY AA's SHOWED UP TO THAT RALLY! RACE MAN!

:sarcasm: Really puts a whole in Wilentz's theory.

[jackson_dem]

21. That isn't what Obama did

1) It is true Obama would be the first Democratic nominee in the multiracial era to win the nomination despite losing all but one racial group. Conveniently for him he wins that one 85-15/90-10 and thus far doesn't lose the others badly enough to offset the 90/10.

2) He didn't make himself the black candidate (except when using the race card with black superdelegates but that is behind the scenes). He made the Clintons anti-black. That allowed him to have the best of both worlds.

3) Jesse Jackson won Vermont and Alaska. What is your point? He had supporters of all stripes too. Where do you think "rainbow coalition" comes from? The difference between the two is Obama has been able to supplement 85-15/90-10 black support with something like 40% of the white, Latino, and Asian vote. Jackson would get about 25% of the white vote (and there weren't that many Latino and Asian voters in 1988).

[emilyg]

16. Thank you.

[laugle]

31. Excellent posts! Reminds me of the

old days, when people posted useful info instead of vitriolic trash..... Thanks

[dailykoff]

32. Two fellow TNR writers denounce Sean Wilentz's "Race Card" smear

right here:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=132&topic_id=5314720&mesg_id=5314720

[jackson_dem]

35. And that changes the facts in what way?

No one has answered why the race card never appears before the Iowas, Wisconsins, Ohios, and Pennsylvanias. It always shows up just in time for stand alone majority black primaries. Cui bono? Obama...

[anonymous171]

36. Clinton can play cards too. She's not the victim you make her out to be.

Pre-Ohio and Texas it was FEAR courtesy of the Clinton campaign.

[jackson_dem]

40. She has played the gender card several times

I can admit it. Why can't a single Obama supporter admit his use of the race card?

Ohio and Texas weren't fear. It is rational to ask whether someone is up to the awesome task that is the presidency of the world's most powerful nation. As Lanny Davis says, we aren't electing freshman class president here.

[anonymous171]

42. The 3am ad was fear because of the children. If it was just "We need someone who with Experience"

it wouldn't be fear. BUT when the message is "We need someone with the Experience needed to DEFEND OUR CHILDREN" then the message becomes one of fear. Just like the daisy ad, except a bit more subtle.

I'll admit that Jesse Jackson Jr. tried to play the race card, but it was really obvious and didn't, IMHO, do much.

[DerekJ]

33. Check this:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=132x5314720

[IamyourTVandIownyou]

34. Hi Sean!

princeton.edu/ams/faculty/

[anamandujano]

37. The news is that the article is published in a real paper, in PA.

[rodeodance]

38. And that is important. -It is just not blogs who are getting the truth out.

[anonymous171]

39. Low standard would be required to publish this obvious hit piece.

I mean, c'mon the guy is a friend of the Clinton's and a big time supporter! He can't even pretend to be a neutral observer.

[jackson_dem]

41. Low? So why is the Inquirer the only msm entity to present the other side?

The msm had a de facto show trial on the Clintons and the race card. This included the nightly news, cable news, the papers, everyone. Here we have one person finally stating the other side of the case, which I believe the evidence supports far more than claiming saying Obama's Iraq record was a "fairy tale" was racist and only one newspaper covers it (TNR did but TNR doesn't reach a widespread audience. It is geared to political junkie types anyway.). Thankfully it happened to be the largest newspaper in Pennsylvania!

[anonymous171]

43. They published it without recognizing Wilentz's huge connections to the Clintons

That was the problem.

[StevieM]

44. Obama is a very bad person (eom)

[LulaMay]

45. He admitted it to Tim Russert in the debate right after it started! He said "he regretted it"...

that his campaign did a 'press release' of FOUR PAGES of 'supposed racially insensitive remarks' by HRC, Bill or Clinton 'supporters or staffers'.

[kevinmc]

46. The Clintons’ New-Found Faith, in Richard Mellon Scaife

“OK, HILLARY, HERE’S THE DEAL. YOU FOLLOW MY AGENDA, AND I’LL SAY THAT OBAMA KILLED VINCE FOSTER, BURIED HIM UNDER TONY REZKO’S HOUSE, AND WRAPPED HIM IN A MUSLIM SHROUD, HOLDING A DVD OF JEREMIAH WRIGHT’S TOP TEN ‘GODDAMN AMERICA’ SERMONS.”


http://www.wikio.com/news/Vince+Foster?wfid=51198335

[GoneOffShore]

Dupe - delete

[GoneOffShore]

85. Hils with Scaife - What a picture that is!

Makes every progressive really want to vote for her. And it's not reaching across the aisle - Scaife is AFRAID of Obama and the change he represents. Hillsnbill, on the other hand, are the jolly, cosy corporate politics he loves.

This is a more frightening photo than the one of her with Rupert Murdoch - even though he controls a bigger media empire. I guess that the Communications Act and the MDCA that Bill signed instead of vetoing made all these reich wing whackjobs so happy that their pleased to get in bed with the Clintons now.

[democrattotheend]

47. Did the Obama camp even bring out the Ferraro charge?

I remember it buzzing around on the blogs for a few days before the MSM picked up on it. Do we know for sure that the Obama campaign is the one that brought it to the forefront?

[mmonk]

48. Anyone who believes Obama generates the attacks against himself

in order to blame them on the Clinton campaign.....well, I don't think people who could believe that are reachable through any reasoning.

[izzybeans]

49. Ironic = (Your user name + Discussion of Race Relations/Indian Removal Act + Slavery)

:rofl:

[Moochy]

80. OP's avatar fits perfectly

Hooray for President Jackson's Policies! :sarcasm:

[SIMPLYB1980]

50. Truth on DU. No way. Thanks jackson.

:toast:

[SeaLyons]

51. K & R

Thanks for posting. This information cannot be posted too many times.

[Lilith Velkor]

53. kick for the crybabies

[sampsonblk]

54. Race card = phony crutch for stupid people

nt

[Tellurian]

55. It always helps to do your own research..

then you don't have to cover up for a liar..

[MethuenProgressive]

57. No mention of the Obama Camp's memo on Swiftboating the Clintons on race? Link:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/01/12/obama-camps-memo-on-clin_n_81205.html

The memo cherrypicks a few cropped comments out of context and plots to attack Hillary and Bill with race baiting lies before the SC primary.
Obama. What you don't see, is what you'll get.

[ProSense]

59. No matter how many times you post that, or how many ways Hillary shills try to spin it, the facts:

Look at the dates in the memo:

Earliest date: DRUG USE (ABC News, 12/12/07)

(Here is a link)

Latest date: SHUCK AND JIVE (Newsday, 1/11/08)

That memo was obviously written after Jan. 11, days after Hillary's MLK comment and a full month after the drug use comment by the Clinton campaign.

Asked for evidence of the Obama campaign's role in fomenting the controversy, a Clinton aide cited a staff memo, leaked to political blogs, that compiled quotes by Clinton and her allies that seemed racially insensitive.

So after injecting racially charged comments into the debate and accusing Obamas's campaign of race baiting, Hillary's campaign's proof is a memo written after all her campaign's deliberate race baiting, which has continued:

Drug dealer, fairy tale, imaginary hip black friend, gang bang, cult, shuck-and-jive, Hispanics don't vote for black people, Obama is Somalian, Obama meets with former terrorists, all from Hillary's campaign and surrogates.

[MethuenProgressive]

70. The facts are the Obama Camp wrote that memo plotting to Swiftboat the Clintons on race in SC.

Spam that debunked crap all you want, it's still debunked crap.

Drug dealer, fairy tale, imaginary hip black friend, gang bang, cult, shuck-and-jive, Hispanics don't vote for black people, Obama is Somalian, Obama meets with former terrorists, all from Hillary's campaign and surrogates.

You repeat the Crap Obama Swiftboated the Clintons with to prove.. what? That Obama used that debunked crap to attack the Clintons with?
Keep revvimg that Swiftboat of crap, cuz debunked crap is all you have.

[ProSense]

76. Swiftboating? Delusional! n/t

[beachmom]

90. Obviously, you don't know what the meaning of swiftboating is. nt

[barb162]

62. K & R

[stevietheman]

63. Please stop the attacks on our nominee Barack Obama. n/t

n/t

[barb162]

66. He's a nominee? Who nominated him? The convention's later this year.

[stevietheman]

67. Please stop the attacks on our nominee Barack Obama. n/t

n/t

[BlooInBloo]

64. Newsflash: White people say black man was first to "play the race card"....

... In other news, dog still biting man.

[blogslut]

65. This old thing again?

Ya'll need to catch up. There's a new smear in town. It's all about the baby punishing! Keep up!

[barb162]

68. It's from Sunday; that's not old in my book. And I never saw until today.

[blogslut]

75. Then witness the grand debunking

reply #59

[Tellurian]

69. no, this one is still being played by the Obama camp..

[blogslut]

Clinton fans never play the sex card

ever. Right?

[myrna minx]

72. Please read this thoughtful essay by our own H20 man...

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=132x5326421

[BenDavid]

74. obigot= liar= bigot= racist= reprobate. good enough for ya.

[myrna minx]

77. Please read this thoughtful essay by our own H20 Man

American Democracy: Reprise
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=132x5326421

[Moochy]

78. April Fool

True for the OP in April just like every other month.

[snooper2]

81. Little info about the writer .....

"Wilentz appeared before the House Judiciary Committee on December 8, 1998 to argue against the Clinton impeachment. His testimony — he told the House members that, if they voted for impeachment but were not convinced Clinton's offenses were impeachable, "history will track you down and condemn you for your cravenness" — cheered Democratic partisans but was criticized by the New York Times, which lamented his "gratuitously patronizing presentation" in an editorial."

[CreekDog]

84. You're right

The Inquirer is Pennsylvania's largest paper! That's why it's harder to read on the subway than the Daily News unless you have an adjacent empty seat. :think:

[bunnies]

86. Meanwhile...

The teary eyed gender card was played in NH. And Bill Clinton: I cant make her a a man. Whatfuckingver.

[beachmom]

87. It wasn't Shaheen mentioning cocaine use; it was the question of Obama being a "drug dealer"

I personally on my own found that to be a race baiting suggestion. After all, Al Gore, Bill Clinton, George W. Bush, and John Kerry all admitted to drug use (or in Bush's case, he refused to talk about it amid rumors of cocaine use). Yet nobody suggested they would be accused of being drug dealers. What did all four have in common? Not socioeconomic status -- Bill didn't grow up rich. Not political party. No, the image of "the drug dealer" on local news, in the movies, and on TV drama is of a black man in the ghetto dealing crack, and that is exactly the image Shaheen was going for when he said it. I wasn't even totally on board with Obama at that point; I simply saw the ugliness of what he said quite clearly.

It doesn't matter if a Hillary supporter op-ed writer in the Philly Enquirer wants to deny what Shaheen was suggesting. I know what I heard, and it wasn't a George W. Bush characterization of cocaine use. It went further in a way a white candidate who admitted using drugs would never be accused of.

[MethuenProgressive]

92. Shaheen NEVER "suggested Obama was a drug dealer"

That's what the Swiftboat told you to think.

[NYDem Observer]

91. The end of that article tells me all I need to know

about the author.

Sean Wilentz's forthcoming book is "The Age of Reagan: A History, 1974-2008."

A Reagan historian, go figure. Next.