Clinton’s Time to Get Up

There are many who say it’s time for Hillary Clinton to get out of the Democratic presidential nomination race. I am not one of them. It is not time for her to get out but it is time for her to get up. Her campaign always manages to find its way into the gutter and now is the time for Hillary to lift the campaign up and end her race for the 2008 nomination with dignity.

Her latest statement to USA Today hardly served this purpose.

“There was just an AP article posted that found how Senator Obama’s support among working, hard-working Americans, white Americans is weakening again and how the whites in both states who had not completed college were supporting me and in independents, I was running even with him and doing even better with Democratic-leaning independents. I have a much broader base to build a winning coalition on.”

Putting aside the implication that those who are voting for Obama are not the “hard-working” Americans, the fact that she claims she has the white vote nailed down is just shameful. Not only is it polarizing (a specialty of Hillary’s going back at least 16 years), it is condescending and pandering at the same time.

This is what I would like to hear from Hillary Clinton:

“I do not want the vote of any American who votes for me because they do not want a black man in the White House. If you are supporting me because you do not want a black man in the White House, then please, do not vote for me. It goes against everything I have worked for throughout my political life.”

If Hillary cannot muster the courage to call for racial reconciliation in this country, even at her own political peril, then she should indeed get out of the race.

Respectfully,
Rutherford

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Obama’s Time to Get Down

Barack Obama has essentially sewn up the Democratic nomination and therefore, from my perspective, he can afford to be a bit daring.

The pundits and most everyone else in the mainstream media has written off Obama’s chances in West Virginia and Kentucky. They don’t fit his demographic. My advice to Barack: it’s time to get down. Actively campaign in West Virginia and Kentucky, and don’t do it on the economy; don’t do it on the war. Do it on race! Be bold and say the following to the voters of West Virginia and Kentucky:

“The media says that Hillary Clinton will win by a landslide in your state. They cite your economic situation, your education and yes, your race as the reasons you will not vote for me. Even Hillary says that I cannot win the white vote. So, I ask you, citizens of West Virginia and Kentucky, do you really want to be defined by the media? Are you content to have them paint you as hopeless bigots who are in the pocket of Hillary Clinton? I’ve been accused of being elitist. What could be more elitist than Hillary and the media taking your vote for granted? There’s no way you’ll vote for me because you are backward, cash poor, poorly educated white folks. Is that characterization alright with you? Don’t let the folks who want to pigeon hole you define you. Forget about my being “post racial” and transcendent. Show America that you are post racial and transcendent. Show the pundits that we can shake their preconceptions upside down and that we can change America.”

That’s right. I say, now that Obama truly has the momentum, let’s take the gloves off, put this racial stereotyping of voters on the table, and make it clear to West Virginia and Kentucky that they have been pegged as totally predictable. I think that is Barack’s best chance at keeping Hillary’s lead in these states to single digits.

Respectfully,
Rutherford

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