Well, the media feeds off of controversial moments, gaffes, and telling exchanges, and the Clintons are perhaps one of the greatest manufacturers of all three in recent American political history. The Clintons aren't known for their filtering, at least Bill isn't, and his latest "moment" threatens his and Hillary's standing among the crucial black american voting block... at least, to hear to hear the media say so, it does.

First, Hillary dismissed comparisons of Barack to MLK, saying that it took experienced executive leadership to get the civil rights legislature passed:



Second, many were struck aback with Bill Clinton's dismissal of Barack's "dream" as "the biggest fairy tale I've ever seen." My man Michael Eric Dyson in particular (the author of "Is Bill Cosby Right?") went on MSNBC to speak out against those remarks, which he found carrying an "implicit racial subtext." Donna Brazille, the black woman who ran Al Gore's campaign also said the following:



Civil rights lion James "Jim" Clyburn, a top congressional african-american leader, and a household name in south carolina, has even threatened to endorse Obama over the remarks.

Personally, what struck me was not the racial subtext in the remarks -- but the way Hillary re-wrote history to exclude the hundreds of thousands of grassroots organizers who made civil rights a reality, as if the credit goes to LBJ, not the kids who took firehose torrents to the face, and the grown men who were billy clubbed in front of their wives and children. To me, those remarks said a lot about how truly entrenched in politics the Clintons are, to the point where it colors their historical mythology. If any president deserves credit for the civil rights act it was a dead one, Kennedy, whose mere martyrdom allowed all sorts of legislature and programs to get a rubber stamp.

But that's my take. What's yours?

What, if anything, do these exchanges say about the Clinton's relationship to the African-American community?

Do you think there will be fall-out, and if so, is that fall-out deserved?

Do you think this has been over- or under- covered in the media?

Outside of these comments, how strong has the Clinton's standing among black voters been in this year where their most viable competition would be the first black president? Is their support divided along generational, gender, or class lines, and do you expect black voters to break to either candidate in any decisive way?

What, if anything, do these exchanges say about the Clinton's relationship to the African-American community?
Hillary happens to be right. The fact that it DID take a President to enact Civil Rights doesn't diminish a whit of what MLK did with his life. But facts are facts - it took a President.

Bill Clinton's fantasy statement referred to BOs position on the war:

I see no mention of a "dream" in this statement and thus no harkening back to MLK. Anyone who is offended about the phrase "fairy tale" is looking for a reason to be offended.

Do you think there will be fall-out, and if so, is that fall-out deserved?
Not really. Even Hannity et al are done with this.

Do you think this has been over- or under- covered in the media?
Over.

Outside of these comments, how strong has the Clinton's standing among black voters been in this year where their most viable competition would be the first black president? Is their support divided along generational, gender, or class lines, and do you expect black voters to break to either candidate in any decisive way?
This is about the only interesting thing really going on in the Democratic party: Who will the black voters vote for? A white woman or a black man? The assumption is that a majority of blacks will vote Democrat... but now, how will they vote?

What, if anything, do these exchanges say about the Clinton's relationship to the African-American community?

What it says to me is Bill Clinton has misread how much juice he really has with African-Americans. Despite his dubious standing as "the first Black President," that title is not transferable to Hillary. She has to earn the trust and support of Blacks and it should not be granted to her simply because she's Bill Clinton's wife. By the same token, Barack Obama also has to earn that same support (and despite what some posters on suggest). He will not be awarded it by default. Why? Gregory Kane of BlackAmericaWeb.com has an idea:

Negroes, puh-leeze.

What’s with all this Obamamania that seems to be running rampant through black America? After Illinois Sen. Barack Obama scored a victory in the Iowa caucuses last week and came in a strong second to Sen. Hillary Clinton in the New Hampshire presidential primary this week, it seems quite a few black folks are hopping on the Obama bandwagon.

But I’ve got news for them: They should know that when push comes to shove, black folks are gonna vote for Clinton. They know how we love that white woman --- and her husband. link

Sad to say, I agree with Kane. Push come to shove it's gonna be the devil we know (Clinton) over the devil we don't (Obama). While I'm ready to enthusiastically support a brother running for president, I'm afraid a lot of other folks will stick with Hillary expecting to get a two-for-the-price-of-one.

Do you think there will be fall-out, and if so, is that fall-out deserved?

The fact that Bill went on Al Sharpton's radio show (the official go-to-guy when you want to suck up to the old school civil rights leadership) to "clarify" what he meant with the "fairytale" swat at Obama means the Clinton Machine doesn't want to tick off Black voters in South Carolina.

Hillary and Bill have to tread carefully in how far they're willing to go to build her up by tearing down Obama. Showing her "emotional" side in New Hampshire helped melt the cold hearts of White women there, but acting as if Hillary is entitled to the support of Black voters and trying to punk Obama will result in them rallying to Obama's defense. I'm all for a critical reassessment of the alliance between African-Americans and the Clintons.

Do you think this has been over- or under- covered in the media?

Under-covered by the mainstream (White) media. I wouldn't make Faux News my first stop to find a news organization with a finger on the pulse of Black America. Black news organizations and bloggers have noticed how jealous The Clintons have seemed with Obama's rise and how Bill in particular has taken to his role as Hillary's designated hitter with particular relish. If Obama beats Hillary in S.C. and the Black turnout is significant, the MSM will arrive to the conclusion that there was indeed a "blacklash" to how much resentment the Clinton Machine has stirred up.

Outside of these comments, how strong has the Clinton's standing among black voters been in this year where their most viable competition would be the first black president? Is their support divided along generational, gender, or class lines, and do you expect black voters to break to either candidate in any decisive way?

It's all very well for John Kerry and Bill Bradley among others to endorse Obama, but in S.C. he needs more Oprahs than White guys saying, "He's my homey." I would expect the old school Black leadership to go with Hillary and the younger new school to back Barack. I know that Jesse Jackson Jr. is among Obama's political supporters, but I'm thinking he needs a big photo op with Jesse Jackson Sr. to help him persuade skeptical African-Americans. The problem for Obama is he's trying to deemphasize his race to an extent. Standing next to Jackson might help him snatch South Carolina away from Senator Clinton, but could be an image that could hurt him with White voters elsewhere.

Interesting thoughts. I personally don't care for Jesse Jackson, so you have a grand point. However, all in all if I were a liberal I'd think Obama is probably the stand out choice at this point in the race. I would imagine if Obama had Sharpton on his right arm, that might be the nail in the coffin with white voters. Mr. Jackson, while aggravating doesn't feel like such the race baiter/card player... even if he very well may be. I'm not sure.

I wonder why you think young Black people will vote for Obama, while older for Hillary? Is it the loyalty to the Clinton "brand"?

I would correlate that thought to saying that Bush sr. supported Bush jr. in the first election. I disagree, I believed what GW said at first, and he looked/felt like a true conservative at the time. Sure- that didn't work out, but that's another thread. The analogy I'm making is that maybe after some more exposure, Clinton will alienate some more of the Black vote.
Who knows...

That being said, I actually had a very similar sentiment and conversation with one of my Black peers about Obama. He, for some reason, isn't attempting to use his skin color in the same fashion that I feel like Hillary is using her gender.

Finally, I wouldn't count any chickens for Hillary after NH. I think that was a fluke, as in the South from what I can gather, even "yellow dog" Democrats are somewhat shying away from Clinton, for a number of reasons.

Do you think there will be fall-out, and if so, is that fall-out deserved?

I was going to come on here and write about how the black vote might be a slow hill for barack to climb this year. How blacks have every reason as the new hampshrie women to look for competent economic policy that the clinton brand name promises to deliver. We are headed to a recession, and you know what they happens when America sneezes. I was going to talk about some of the understandable, if frustrating hesitations in the older black community to elect a president that probably many don't believe is electable. Or that would be putting himself in harms way. Or comes off as just some ambitious celebritized showboy.

And then I was going to add that African-American issues have some what slipped off the table since 9/11. Suddenly, race in this country no longer means america dealing with its original racial trauma, slavery... increasingly it has to do with out tenuous place in the world: it means the chinese taking our jobs and the pakistanis harboring saudia arabian terrorists, and above all, undocumented latinos crossing our borders. For example, I was going to add, the supreme court's decision to rule out race as a factor in enlisting students, well I could never see that passed pre-9/11. It was going to sound really good. I was going to impressive folks.

But then I realized, wait... the debate is being shifted away from economic and gender -- chess boards where the Clintons have extra queens -- to race and identity... which, really, is Barack's board. After all, whatever you think of the sexism surrounding anti-Hillary hysteria, Barack has been so much more tasteful and classy about his race than she has been about her gender.

I don't know if any of this will win black voters black or not. Like I said, blue collar voters in general seem poised to side with the Clintons out of very real concern for the economy, and the umbrella blue collars covers a lot of rural black people in South Carolina, too. BUT the Clintons are basically giving away the terms of the debate to Barack.

Oh, and then there's http://www.guardian.co.uk/comment/story/0,...8,00.html"" target="_blank">this:



Spoken by a Clinton staffer. Oops.

What, if anything, do these exchanges say about the Clinton's relationship to the African-American community?
Confirms what we've always known about the Fullbright protege.
Do you think there will be fall-out, and if so, is that fall-out deserved?
Of course not, he's a big liberal democrat. He could have used the N-word and lived!
Do you think this has been over- or under- covered in the media?
Compared to similar Republican goofs, extremely under-covered by the media.
Outside of these comments, how strong has the Clinton's standing among black voters been in this year where their most viable competition would be the first black president? Is their support divided along generational, gender, or class lines, and do you expect black voters to break to either candidate in any decisive way?
I don't know.