Quote:
Originally Posted by 70Chip
I was merely pointing out that Bill Clinton did not declare himself to be America's first black President as a previous poster was claiming. I also don't accept your claim that Bill Clinton is "one of the most popular Presidents in American history". He was elected with 43% of the vote in 1992 and 49% of the vote in 1996. Johnson, Nixon, and Reagan were all re-elected to office with nearly 60% of the vote. Clinton had high approval numbers but most Americans were extremely wary of him for obvious reasons. They should be obvious to everyone now at any rate. Bill Clinton avoided forced resignation by the skin of his teeth. If it weren't for the blindly enthusiastic support he got from the various Democratic interest groups-if any one of them had abandoned him-he would have been toast. This is why blacks feel so betrayed by him now. They had his back at the crucial hour.
If Obama and his supporters endeavor to make a habit of charging racism whenever he has difficulty, then the American people in their great wisdom will soundly reject him. He lost in West Virginia because those people take a highly pragmatic view of things. They know the Clintons and what they stand for. Obama is still largely an unknown quantity. He's never really done anything. That's the reality he has to confront. It's easier to chalk it up to racism and I think for many Liberals it actually feels good to do it, but ultimately it is not helpful. Obama would be smart to come right and say he doesn't believe it was racism. He should say that the people of West Virginia are good people, etc. etc. That's the road to victory for him. Not the quagmire of race. He needs to be post-racial. If his Liberal supporters are determined to indulge in that sort of thing, he's sunk. He needs to convince the American people that he believes in his heart that they are not racist. That will get him the votes he needs to win.
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Couple of things Chip: one, I lived in West Virginia for five years and I have never experienced racism like that in my life. That doesn't mean everyone there is racist, or even most people, but it exists far more than you are allowing, as both polls and anecdotal evidence suggest. You can continue to blame "liberals" for manufacturing this issue or you can deal with a particularly ugly side of America which is being exposed by this election. I mean, maybe people in West Virginia are just more pragmatic than the rest of the country, or maybe not.
Second, I'm not sure you have paid attention to Obama's response to this issue. He has done exactly what you suggest, refusing to even engage the notion that race might play a factor in his electability, in spite of overwhelming evidence that it is and will continue to. If there is a criticism to be made of Obama it is that his unity message glosses over some important issues, but I don't know how anyone can even hint that him or his campaign are being divisive.
Clinton retired with one of the highest approval ratings in modern presidential history. This broad support is why he wasn't removed from office. If there is an all powerful group of liberal boogeyman special interest groups who control Washington I would like to know where they were during the buildup to the Iraq war or during the global warming debate or the Alito confirmation hearings. Oh that's right, they were being completely ignored.