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Jan. 7, 2008: The Day Hillary Clinton Lost the Black Vote - TheRoot
Jan. 7, 2008: The Day Hillary Clinton Lost the Black VoteShe’s been working to get it back ever since.
By: Jason Johnson - TheRoot
Posted: Jan. 7 2016 4:18 PM
Then-2008 presidential candidate Hillary Clinton campaigns in Dover, N.H., Jan. 7, 2008.
STAN HONDA/AFP/Getty Images
<snip>
It was a long time ago in an America we would hardly recognize today: Jan. 7 of 2008. The main conversation around Bill Cosby was his conservative positions, not his choice of home beverage. Tracee Ellis Ross was still Joan and not Rainbow. And Dr. Ben Carson was still just the best neurosurgeon in American history.
Presidential candidate, former first lady and Sen. Hillary Clinton came in a distant third to Sen. Barack Obama in the Iowa caucuses and was in the race of her life. The New Hampshire Democratic primary was the next day on Tuesday, Jan. 8; Clinton knew she was going to win, so the campaign was already looking 4,000 miles south to the crucial South Carolina Democratic primary. Clinton was doing well in the polls in the Palmetto State; in late December of 2007 she was statistically tied with Sen. Obama 46 percent to 45 percent among African Americans, who made up half of the Democratic primary voters in South Carolina. If she could hold those numbers for just two more weeks, until the primary on Jan. 26, she would put Obama in a 2-1 hole and reclaim her crown as the inevitable candidate.
Instead, on Jan. 7, 2008, Sen. Hillary Clinton effectively killed her relationship with African-American voters with one of the biggest gaffes of her political career. And she’s been digging herself out of a hole ever since. Eight years ago today, at a Dover, N.H., campaign rally, a supporter introduced Clinton with the following line:
“Some people compare one of the other candidates to John F. Kennedy. But he was assassinated. And Lyndon Baines Johnson was the one who actually” passed the civil rights legislation.
The introduction was a clear reference to the Kennedy/Martin Luther King/Obama comparisons that were popular at the time. The Clinton campaign was in a war of words with Obama, trying to paint him as the optimistic dreamer with no real experience, compared to Clinton’s ability to get things done in the real-world trenches. Nevertheless, the suggestion that a prominent African American with national political aspirations might be assassinated struck many voters, especially African-American voters, as the worst kind of race-baiting from the Clinton campaign. Oblivious to, or perhaps emboldened by, the introduction, Hillary Clinton doubled down on her role as the LBJ to Obama’s MLK and JFK in an interview with Fox News later on that same day.
“I would point to the fact that that Dr. King’s dream began to be realized when President Johnson passed the Civil Rights Act of 1964, when he was able to get through Congress something that President Kennedy was hopeful to do, the president before had not even tried, but it took a president to get it done,” she said. “That dream became a reality, the power of that dream became real in people’s lives because we had a president who said we are going to do it and actually got it accomplished.”
African-American voters, political leaders and journalists were shocked and offended by Clinton’s comments. She and her supporters had glibly alluded to the assassination of Barack Obama to score political points, a Freudian slip that was missed by no one. This wasn’t just a dog whistle to conservative white voters, it was...
<snip>
More: http://www.theroot.com/articles/politics/2016/01/jan_7_2008_the_day_hillary_clinton_lost_the_black_vote.html
145 replies
= new reply since forum marked as read
= new reply since forum marked as read
If I'm not mistaken...
I think was the last straw for Teddy Kennedy. He put his backing for Obama, and South Carolina was his.
But beyond these questions, one little-discussed factor (with direct or indirect relation to all of the above) appears to have had fatal consequences for Clinton’s campaign: She failed to mount a strong enough challenge to Obama’s claim on the African-American vote.
Though a majority of black voters may inevitably have gone for Obama, nothing precluded the wife of the so-called first black president from keeping Obama’s margins among blacks significantly narrower — say, losing to him by 4-to-1 or even 3-to-1, rather than the devastating 9-to-1 margins by which Obama has often won African-American Democrats. “The Clinton campaign has been focused on Barack Obama’s performance with white working-class voters in a few states, but they fail to mention Senator Clinton’s abysmal performance with black voters all over the country,” says political consultant and Obama supporter Jamal Simmons. “She has gone from leading among black voters to losing them 90 percent to 10 percent in Pennsylvania. One would expect Obama to win these voters, but 90-10 is a total collapse that Obama is not experiencing among any constituency. Simply put, Hillary Clinton has a black problem.”
Though a majority of black voters may inevitably have gone for Obama, nothing precluded the wife of the so-called first black president from keeping Obama’s margins among blacks significantly narrower — say, losing to him by 4-to-1 or even 3-to-1, rather than the devastating 9-to-1 margins by which Obama has often won African-American Democrats. “The Clinton campaign has been focused on Barack Obama’s performance with white working-class voters in a few states, but they fail to mention Senator Clinton’s abysmal performance with black voters all over the country,” says political consultant and Obama supporter Jamal Simmons. “She has gone from leading among black voters to losing them 90 percent to 10 percent in Pennsylvania. One would expect Obama to win these voters, but 90-10 is a total collapse that Obama is not experiencing among any constituency. Simply put, Hillary Clinton has a black problem.”
It's an AA Publication.
Perhaps, that poster ISN'T posting that "Black says 'Yah, Bernie'" stuff to "remind" Black people of anything ... I suspect it's to re-assure/convince Bernie fans of something.
And I'm sure HE... didn't miss the "dog whistle".
How Hillary Clinton botched the black vote
Her failure to challenge Barack Obama's huge momentum among African-Americans -- not a given at the start -- may have doomed her campaign.
Thomas F. Schaller - Salon
Monday, May 5, 2008 04:09 AM PDT
<snip>
If Hillary Clinton fails to wrest the Democratic presidential nomination from Barack Obama, there will be plenty of second-guessing about how she ran her campaign. What if her loyalty to campaign manager Patti Solis Doyle and chief strategist Mark Penn had not prevented her from demoting them sooner? What if her electoral strategists had better understood the power of caucus states and the way in which votes cast there translated into delegates? What if she had actually planned for the month following Super Tuesday, thereby preventing Obama from posting the 11 straight wins after Feb. 5 that provided him the pledged delegate lead he enjoys today? But beyond these questions, one little-discussed factor (with direct or indirect relation to all of the above) appears to have had fatal consequences for Clinton’s campaign: She failed to mount a strong enough challenge to Obama’s claim on the African-American vote.
Though a majority of black voters may inevitably have gone for Obama, nothing precluded the wife of the so-called first black president from keeping Obama’s margins among blacks significantly narrower — say, losing to him by 4-to-1 or even 3-to-1, rather than the devastating 9-to-1 margins by which Obama has often won African-American Democrats. “The Clinton campaign has been focused on Barack Obama’s performance with white working-class voters in a few states, but they fail to mention Senator Clinton’s abysmal performance with black voters all over the country,” says political consultant and Obama supporter Jamal Simmons. “She has gone from leading among black voters to losing them 90 percent to 10 percent in Pennsylvania. One would expect Obama to win these voters, but 90-10 is a total collapse that Obama is not experiencing among any constituency. Simply put, Hillary Clinton has a black problem.”
Outside of Missouri and maybe Delaware, staying competitive among black voters wouldn’t have tipped any states for Clinton from the losing to winning column. But had she improved her performance to just 20 percent, she would have significantly reduced, if not eliminated entirely, her national popular-vote deficit (even without the disputed Florida and Michigan returns). And because the formula for assigning delegates favors the candidate who wins delegate-rich urban areas, Clinton could have limited the lopsided delegate-per-vote ratio Obama enjoyed in states ranging from Alabama to Maryland to Wisconsin.
Since the days of Adlai Stevenson — which is to say, since the civil rights movement finally guaranteed the franchise for black voters — the fate of candidates...
<snip>
More: http://www.salon.com/2008/05/05/clinton_blackvote/
Her failure to challenge Barack Obama's huge momentum among African-Americans -- not a given at the start -- may have doomed her campaign.
Thomas F. Schaller - Salon
Monday, May 5, 2008 04:09 AM PDT
<snip>
If Hillary Clinton fails to wrest the Democratic presidential nomination from Barack Obama, there will be plenty of second-guessing about how she ran her campaign. What if her loyalty to campaign manager Patti Solis Doyle and chief strategist Mark Penn had not prevented her from demoting them sooner? What if her electoral strategists had better understood the power of caucus states and the way in which votes cast there translated into delegates? What if she had actually planned for the month following Super Tuesday, thereby preventing Obama from posting the 11 straight wins after Feb. 5 that provided him the pledged delegate lead he enjoys today? But beyond these questions, one little-discussed factor (with direct or indirect relation to all of the above) appears to have had fatal consequences for Clinton’s campaign: She failed to mount a strong enough challenge to Obama’s claim on the African-American vote.
Though a majority of black voters may inevitably have gone for Obama, nothing precluded the wife of the so-called first black president from keeping Obama’s margins among blacks significantly narrower — say, losing to him by 4-to-1 or even 3-to-1, rather than the devastating 9-to-1 margins by which Obama has often won African-American Democrats. “The Clinton campaign has been focused on Barack Obama’s performance with white working-class voters in a few states, but they fail to mention Senator Clinton’s abysmal performance with black voters all over the country,” says political consultant and Obama supporter Jamal Simmons. “She has gone from leading among black voters to losing them 90 percent to 10 percent in Pennsylvania. One would expect Obama to win these voters, but 90-10 is a total collapse that Obama is not experiencing among any constituency. Simply put, Hillary Clinton has a black problem.”
Outside of Missouri and maybe Delaware, staying competitive among black voters wouldn’t have tipped any states for Clinton from the losing to winning column. But had she improved her performance to just 20 percent, she would have significantly reduced, if not eliminated entirely, her national popular-vote deficit (even without the disputed Florida and Michigan returns). And because the formula for assigning delegates favors the candidate who wins delegate-rich urban areas, Clinton could have limited the lopsided delegate-per-vote ratio Obama enjoyed in states ranging from Alabama to Maryland to Wisconsin.
Since the days of Adlai Stevenson — which is to say, since the civil rights movement finally guaranteed the franchise for black voters — the fate of candidates...
<snip>
More: http://www.salon.com/2008/05/05/clinton_blackvote/
The Root is an English-language online magazine of African-American culture launched on January 28, 2008, by Henry Louis Gates, Jr. and Donald E. Graham, and was owned by Graham Holdings Company through its online subsidiary, The Slate Group.[1][2] The Root has over 210,000 followers on Twitter and has a section called The Chatterati devoted to coverage of Black Twitter.
In 2015, Graham Holdings sold The Root to Univision Communications.
In 2015, Graham Holdings sold The Root to Univision Communications.
Link: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Root_%28magazine%29
Related: http://www.theroot.com/
Response to Squinch (Reply #3)
I'm so tired...
Thank You !!!
Cause I SURELY MISSED IT !!!
Thanks MisterP !!!
I Do Not Want Here As President.
I don't think the country or the planet can wait another 4/8 years to do the things we need to do to save ourselves.
We are at a tipping point, and I'm ready to push the status-quo on its ass.
BTW: You said it much nicer, and more eloquently.
I don't think the country or the planet can wait another 4/8 years to do the things we need to do to save ourselves.
We are at a tipping point, and I'm ready to push the status-quo on its ass.
BTW: You said it much nicer, and more eloquently.
But beyond these questions, one little-discussed factor (with direct or indirect relation to all of the above) appears to have had fatal consequences for Clinton’s campaign: She failed to mount a strong enough challenge to Obama’s claim on the African-American vote.
Though a majority of black voters may inevitably have gone for Obama, nothing precluded the wife of the so-called first black president from keeping Obama’s margins among blacks significantly narrower — say, losing to him by 4-to-1 or even 3-to-1, rather than the devastating 9-to-1 margins by which Obama has often won African-American Democrats. “The Clinton campaign has been focused on Barack Obama’s performance with white working-class voters in a few states, but they fail to mention Senator Clinton’s abysmal performance with black voters all over the country,” says political consultant and Obama supporter Jamal Simmons. “She has gone from leading among black voters to losing them 90 percent to 10 percent in Pennsylvania. One would expect Obama to win these voters, but 90-10 is a total collapse that Obama is not experiencing among any constituency. Simply put, Hillary Clinton has a black problem.”
Though a majority of black voters may inevitably have gone for Obama, nothing precluded the wife of the so-called first black president from keeping Obama’s margins among blacks significantly narrower — say, losing to him by 4-to-1 or even 3-to-1, rather than the devastating 9-to-1 margins by which Obama has often won African-American Democrats. “The Clinton campaign has been focused on Barack Obama’s performance with white working-class voters in a few states, but they fail to mention Senator Clinton’s abysmal performance with black voters all over the country,” says political consultant and Obama supporter Jamal Simmons. “She has gone from leading among black voters to losing them 90 percent to 10 percent in Pennsylvania. One would expect Obama to win these voters, but 90-10 is a total collapse that Obama is not experiencing among any constituency. Simply put, Hillary Clinton has a black problem.”
The fact that people would rather forget it... is really interesting.
Don't ya think ?
I would think white folks would be grateful that Black folks are such a forgiving lot.
I guess, in your mind, and in this case, we just forgave the wrong white person.
I really do not get it.
That is rich! 
Clueless much?
It's Easily Found On The Internet.
I used these very search terms in Google News: Hillary+Clinton
And up it came.
I still don't get why people think they can hide in their own bubble here, while the rest of the Web buzzes along.
And it wasn't like it was Breitbart, Drudge, FR, or Fox News.
I used these very search terms in Google News: Hillary+Clinton
And up it came.
I still don't get why people think they can hide in their own bubble here, while the rest of the Web buzzes along.
And it wasn't like it was Breitbart, Drudge, FR, or Fox News.
Many of us find articles we think are interesting/provocative, and post them here.
It's kinda what we do.
It was an AA website, it was the anniversary of HRC's statement, and it was found on Google today.
Easy/Peasy.
They try to turn the AA community against the Clintons and offer Sanders as the better choice. What deep roots within the community does Sanders have? He represents one of the whitest states in the nation.
I find these types of posts disingenuous.
Small detail that some of you seem to have forgotten in your efforts to trash Hillary. I bet that she has far more support within the AA community than Sanders will ever have.
"If that's the way you feel, I'll just talk to white people about it from now on."
That's why BLM is not supporting Clinton for President.
The Clintons have a long history with the AA community, Sanders does not.
Good job on not editorializing with it in your OP. Just quote, picture, link. 
Even for an entire campaign.
This REALLY isn't your area of expertise.
Perhaps someone else could have posted this?
You Want Shut Down ???
Welcome to the Democratic Primaries.
Were You here in 2007/2008 ???
Welcome to the Democratic Primaries.
Were You here in 2007/2008 ???
