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So this week there have been several comments that have come from either the Clintons themselves, their campaign and their political supporters. I'll try and catalog them for you:
1). The Bill Clinton "fairy tale" remark. This remark was made during a speech about Obama's position on the Iraq war. Bill Clinton characterized Obama's position that he has always been against the Iraq war as a "fairy tale". So there probably wasn't much racial-motivation behind that comment. But it should be noted that Clinton has also recently referred to Obama, a 46-year old man, as a "kid".
2). The Hillary Clinton "MLK" remark. So you may have heard that Obama has been likened to have the charisma of both MLK and JFK. Obama's charisma and "likability" is generally considered to be a problem for Clinton. You may have heard Clinton refer to Obama's perceived lack of experience, hope-mongering, and preaching in attempts to downplay his likability amongst voters. She also wanted to downplay his comparison to MLK and, in doing so, said something to the effect that "MLK got the ball rolling on civil rights, but it was President Johnson who actually changed laws". A lot of people wondered if this was a slight against MLK that downplayed his contributions to the civil rights movement.
3). The Andrew Cuomo "Shuck n' Jive" remark. In a radio interview, NY Attorney General and Clinton supporter, Andrew Cuomo, was interviewed about the NH primary process. In his remark about what candidates need to do to win such a primary, he said that "You can't shuck n' jive at a press conference". "Shuck n' jive" is a predominantly black expression that originated during the days of slavery to mean essentially, getting away with something while actually fooling around. Some people thought this was an interesting choice of words to describe an election in which a black candidate is running.
4). The nameless Clinton advisor and the "imaginary hip black friend" remark. In an interview with the UK magazine, The Guardian, a nameless Clinton advisor suggested that Obama is not a candidate for people serious about the issues, but that if what you were really looking for in a candidate was an "imaginary hip black friend", then it would be okay to vote for him.
For each of these comments, the media, trying to stir up controversy and make this election more lucrative for them, picked up these comments and spread them widely, often disregarding the context in which they were stated. Now, taken alone, most of these comments could be perceived to be rather innocuous. However, taken together, many people started to wonder if it really could be a coincidence that so many potentially questionable comments could be coming from the Clinton campaign in such a short time span. And if it wasn't a coincidence, then what did that mean? Were they trying to say something about black voters? Were they trying to make Obama respond, assuming that the more he talks about race, the more he angers white voters? And that Hillary defending herself against such "planted" comments would get the support of white voters? Or was this the media just trying to stir shit up because, well, that's what the media does.
Really, that's up to you to decide for yourself. But, as an Obama supporter, I feel that it is my duty to tell you that Obama has had nothing to say about these comments. Only today he made a comment to make sure everyone knows that his campaign is not baiting the media to publicize this issue. A spokeswoman also released a statement saying something to the effect that, "yes, some people in the community are starting to wonder if this could possibly be a coincidence". And finally, a memo was released by the Obama campaign today that describes the background of the comments, just as I have done for you. However, this memo did not encourage Obama campaigners to talk about the comments at all. It was an FYI-type memo just to keep them informed. And that's it as far as the Obama campaigns involvement in this matter.
I hope this has been helpful for you. I'd be happy to answer any questions.
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