What exactly have the Clintons done for African-Americans?

[BluegrassDem]

Bill had 8 years, but never appointed a black person to a position of power in govt. In power, I mean the Big 4 positions like Attorney General, Sec'y of Defense and State, and Chief of Staff. He had 8 full years and never put a black person in his inner circle.

He passed NAFTA, which has hurt minorities more than any other group with the loss of blue collar jobs. He started this whole open trading with China, which means a lot of our goods are made over there instead of here in America. And don't forget the Indian outsourcing which meant a lot of lost call center type jobs in America.

I could throw welfare reform in there as well.

Don't let me forget about Rwanda. He didn't do shit there.

Can any of the Clintonistas on here tell me something positive that the Clintons have done, except give lip service and "shuck and jive" in front of black churches?

[Colobo]

1. I'm for Obama, but man... can you slow it down a bit?

We need a break here, for real.

[Harper_is_Bush]

5. No shit. We need John Stewart to tell this guy to "please stop, you're hurting us". n/t

[Harper_is_Bush]

2. So, what your saying is if the Chinese weren't making those goods it would be the low-class black

man?

And because Bush appointed Condi to his "inner circle", he's therefore "done" something for African-Americans?

You've got a pretty strange view of race.

[AX10]

3. Why are you making this all about race?

[BluegrassDem]

6. I just heard Hillary on TV talking about how she's done so much for African-Americans

But she never says what she's done? And I'm racking my brains trying to find something concrete that she's done. I could be wrong, but I'd like to know what's she's talking about.

[Harper_is_Bush]

22. Oh you did? What, exactly, did she say?

Did she say "I've done soooo much for African Americans!!"?

was it just like that?

[Barack_America]

4. Hey, I've got something for you to watch.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AmUUYo9o9eg&feature=PlayList&p=B03F10C0072F4762&index=3

[Harper_is_Bush]

7. Nice vid. The OP should be ashamed for slinging that racist shit. n/t

[northzax]

8. let's see

So appointing African Americans to positions of power is what's important? So George bush is the best president ever, from the African American perspective? Please, this is a joke (but while you are at it, if you really want to to down this road, do tell us what senator obama has done, in the senate? Has he 'appointed' people to positions in his office or campaign? Who are his senior advisors, likely to get cabinet positions in his administration, who are black? Of is his skin color enough to get him a pass from you?) see what bullshit this is?

[Kurt_and_Hunter]

11. And Bush's dad appointed Clarence Thomas. (Kanye must have been wrong)

[BluegrassDem]

19. Susan Rice is Obama's top foreign policy expert

And is likely to get the SOS job in an Obama administration. By the way, I don't think Hillary has any black advisors in her campaign at all. Her campaign doesn't reflect America nor shows inclusiveness.

[Kurt_and_Hunter]

38. The equivalent of Chief of Staff in the campaign is a black woman

In operational terms, about the most powerful person in the campaign

[JeffR]

9. I'm no Clintonista, but the measured gains of many African Americans

during the Clinton years are a matter of record. Quick Google will confirm; I don't have links handy.

I do not, however, credit Senator Clinton with any of this, however much she may have acted in an advisory capacity. These were her husband's achievements.

And I'm still fuming about the "shuck and jive" remark, despite all the spin I've seen.

[Kurt_and_Hunter]

14. If the full context is accurate, there's no there there.

I cited that yesterday as the most egregious of the race flaps, but if the full context I read today is accurate he wasn't even referring to Senator Obama.

[JeffR]

36. If he was, the reference was purposely oblique and shifty.

And even if he wasn't, the wording was astoundingly tone-deaf coming from one of the party's nominal elite.

[The_Casual_Observer]

10. As I recall he used to be referred to fondly as "The First Black President"

by some.

[Occam Bandage]

12. Gee, other than eight years of economic growth, and the expansion of the black middle class,

I can't think of anything.

[BluegrassDem]

23. That expansion has evaporated since NAFTA's effect has come to bear

There's so much outsourcing of jobs in this country cause of NAFTA. It's really hurt minorities the most, and that affect is just now being felt. So what happened in the 90's was only temporary.

[Occam Bandage]

25. Here I thought blaming Clinton for Bush's economic mismanagement was only a freeper game.

[rodeodance]

13. hey--i thought the use of this phase was and "shuck and jive" FORBIDEN

[Skip Intro]

15. bush appointed Condi Rice, if that's the standard. nt

[tammywammy]

16. sigh

:eyes:

[rodeodance]

17. Bill Clinton inducted into Arkansas Black Hall of Fame - National Report

http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1355/is_21_102/ai_94161396

Bill Clinton inducted into Arkansas Black Hall of Fame - National Report
Jet, Nov 11, 2002

Former President Bill Clinton, once described by author Toni Morrison as "our first Black president," was recently inducted into the Arkansas Black Hall of Fame as an honorary member.

Clinton, a native of Arkansas, is the first White person to be inducted in the hall's 10-year history.

Clinton, who served two terms as U.S. president, said he has long pondered Morrison's famous description of him as the first Black president.

"Thanks to you I now have the proof," he told an audience of about 850 people who gave him a thunderous standing ovation during the induction ceremony at the Statehouse Convention Center in Little Rock, AR.

[rodeodance]

18. I WOULD SAY HE DID SOMETHING TO GET THIS HONOR!

[rodeodance]

21. "once described by author Toni Morrison as "our first Black president,"

[rodeodance]

24. "Clinton was honored for a lifetime of work on behalf of Blacks around the world."

...... Former U.S. Secretary of Transportation Rodney Slater, who is also from Arkansas, introduced Clinton at the induction ceremony. Slater was appointed to his former position by Clinton.

"Mr. President, you have given so many of us the opportunity to be the first Black this, the first Black that, and tonight we are going to give you the opportunity to become the first White inductee into the Black Hall of Fame."

Slater also noted, "It's not about the skin. It's about the spirit and the soul of this soul Brother."

Clinton was honored for a lifetime of work on behalf of Blacks around the world.

Clinton said the Arkansas Black Hall of Fame did for him what Black America has long asked of White America. "You have looked beyond the color of my skin to the work of my life and the color of my heart," he said.

[Proud2BAmurkin]

35. yeah and there's the 90% of the black vote Clinton got

I'd say he's pretty well respected

[David Zephyr]

20. Ask these people.

Joycelyn Elders, Mike Espy and Lani Guinier.

[BluegrassDem]

26. Those are not positions of power

Those are the menial jobs in govt. Hell, even Reagan appointed a black guy to head HUD. The Big 4 are the jobs that are on TV every freaking night. They are the jobs that are the household names. Those are the positions of power in our government. Bill had 8 years...8 years, and not ONE person of color...not ONE. You're telling me there was no qualified person of color to head any of the Big 4 jobs??

[David Zephyr]

29. Bill Clinton pushed these public servants out or let them hang with no support.

I'm making your case. He did nothing. And these fine folks all were repaid with betrayal for helping them.

[rodeodance]

34. a herbal tea might help you.

[ArkySue]

27. Transportation Secretary

Rodney Slater.

Also Ron Brown...don't remember what position he had. Agriculture Sec?

[cynatnite]

28. Here you go...

Hillary Rodham organized a two-day student strike and worked with Wellesley's black students for moderate changes, such as recruiting more black students and faculty.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hillary_Clinton#College

One of the reasons Bill Clinton got into politics was because of MLK. He voiced his support of the ERA back in the 70's,

Here's more on his civil rights record...

http://www.ontheissues.org/Celeb/Bill_Clinton_Civil_Rights.htm

Here is Hillary's civil rights record...

http://www.ontheissues.org/Hillary_Clinton.htm#Civil_Rights

Now, if you don't want to bother researching since you enjoy slamming folks so much why don't you tell us what a 'clintonista' is. I'm really curious what the term is and what it means.

[rodeodance]

33. WHOW--you did a lot of Research for the poster in the IP!!

[Harper_is_Bush]

39. It means he's a one-trick pony. Ad-hom.

We've seen the tactic many times before.

The irony is that this poster is obviously a rabid suporter of Obama, but his behavior hurts Obama.

[SIMPLYB1980]

40. K&R!

For Rodeo!

[madrchsod]

30. rwanda

"In March of 1998, on a visit to Rwanda, President Clinton issued what would later be known as the "Clinton apology," which was actually a carefully hedged acknowledgment. He spoke to the crowd assembled on the tarmac at Kigali Airport: "We come here today partly in recognition of the fact that we in the United States and the world community did not do as much as we could have and should have done to try to limit what occurred" in Rwanda.

This implied that the United States had done a good deal but not quite enough. In reality the United States did much more than fail to send troops. It led a successful effort to remove most of the UN peacekeepers who were already in Rwanda. It aggressively worked to block the subsequent authorization of UN reinforcements. It refused to use its technology to jam radio broadcasts that were a crucial instrument in the coordination and perpetuation of the genocide. And even as, on average, 8,000 Rwandans were being butchered each day, U.S. officials shunned the term "genocide," for fear of being obliged to act. The United States in fact did virtually nothing "to try to limit what occurred." Indeed, staying out of Rwanda was an explicit U.S. policy objective......

http://www.theatlantic.com/doc/200109/power-genocide
Bystanders to Genocide

[rodeodance]

31. ARTicle: Why blacks love Bill Clinton

http://dir.salon.com/story/books/int/2002/02/20/clinton/index.html

Why blacks love Bill Clinton

DeWayne Wickham talks about African-Americans' overwhelming support for the 42nd president, and why they like him more than Colin Powell and Jesse Jackson.

By Suzy Hansen
Pages 1 2 3 4



Feb 20, 2002 | In her now-famous defense of a scandal-plagued Bill Clinton, Nobel prizewinner Toni Morrison, went so far as to call him "our first black president. Blacker than any actual black person who could ever be elected in our children's lifetime." "Clinton," Morrison wrote in the 1998 New Yorker essay, "displays almost every trope of blackness: single-parent household, born poor, working-class, saxophone-playing, McDonald's-and-junk-food-loving boy from Arkansas."

I remember reading Morrison's essay and choking. Morrison's estimation of Clinton's blackness seemed shallow, offensive and beside the point. At the time, I wasn't the only one unnerved, and I'm sure many people still have problems with calling Clinton "the first black president," no matter how Morrison intended it. Yet, in retrospect, I realize that my sharp reaction had something to do with age: I was pretty young when Reagan and Bush were in office. Like most white people, I didn't understand how Clinton related to the African-American community; I also had a limited memory of how other presidents treated blacks.

DeWayne Wickham's "Bill Clinton and Black America," mostly a collection of interviews he conducted with such African-Americans as NAACP president Kweisi Mfume, actor Tim Reid and columnist Betty Baye, fills in both gaps. The book specifically illuminates how blacks responded to Clinton and just how different his presidency was from every other one in American history. The latter might be Wickham's more important point.

Clinton, despite some notable blunders (especially welfare reform), impressed blacks with his policies -- particularly his many appointments of African-Americans. More famously, Clinton radiated a certain style. As Bill Campbell, former mayor of Atlanta, notes, "We know when white folks are comfortable around us and when they're not." And while some of that convincing style had to do with Clinton's genuine interest in black culture, much of it had to do with -- as Morrison and many others have pointed out -- his poor, Southern roots. ......

[Barack_America]

32. Well, here's what I think of it!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AmUUYo9o9eg&feature=PlayList&p=B03F10C0072F4762&index=3

That says it all!

[jaysunb]

37. Not a damn thing !

n/t :evilfrown: