Great advice for Hillary Clinton | Philly

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Wednesday, May 21, 2008

Great advice for Hillary Clinton

I thought this was the best piece of punditry of the 2008 campaign season, offered last night by David Gergen, who mainly served Republicans but who worked briefly in the Clinton White House. It came last night on CNN with Anderson Cooper (via Nexis):

GERGEN: And it also raises the question in my judgment of whether she shouldn't say, you know, if you want to vote against him because he's black, I don't want your vote. I don't want to win that way. This has no place in this primary.

COOPER: Do you see her saying that?

GERGEN: Well, she has been a champion -- she's been a champion of civil rights for a long, long time. She and her husband both have I think well-earned reputations in the civil rights front. She's never had redneck votes before in her life.

I see no reason why she couldn't take the high road here in the closing days of his campaign and try to take this on and take on the Reverend Wright issue to say, "Look, I campaigned with this fellow for 15 months. I know a lot of you people don't think he shares your values that somehow Barack thinks like Reverend Wright. Not true. I know him. I have been with him. And race should come out of this."

I think she could do a lot by taking a high road.

Barring a late scandal, I don't see how Clinton gains the nomination, so why not play for the history books, and create some goodwill that might lead somewhere a couple years down the road? Such a speech would go a long way toward that.

Posted by Will Bunch @ 1:40 PM Permalink | 32 comments

Comments

Posted 01:48 PM, 05/21/2008

Molly

High road, low road, country road.... I thik Hillary will take any vote she can get right now. The press has written her chances off, but I don't think she has written anything off just yet.

Posted 02:07 PM, 05/21/2008

SteveMG

She can't afford to give an inch to Obama now, he's too close to the nomination. She cannot afford to let him win in November. She knows what waiting eight years did to George H. Bush and John McCain. The heck with what happens to the country, she's supposed to be the President.

Posted 02:29 PM, 05/21/2008

legatus

Should Obama give a similar speech to the black populace saying (in effect), "don't vote for me simply due to racial preferences, vote for me because you agree with the policy positions that I hold. If you're going to vote for me simply because my father was of the same race as your father, I don't want your vote. I don't want to win that way. This has no place in this primary?"

Posted 02:32 PM, 05/21/2008

Captain Awesome

Legatus is right--that stance goes both ways.

Posted 02:37 PM, 05/21/2008

montani semper liberi

Jeez, how can you be so dense, Will? Just as all the media-driven nonsense about race is beginning to die down, you'd join (get suckered by) Gergen in begging Hillary to resurrect it to a whole new level, poisoning what is yet a fertile battleground for Obama, the white working class vote, by having Hillary insult the bunch as racist for voting for her? Seriously, are you serious?

Posted 02:38 PM, 05/21/2008

SteveMG

Does anybody remember how Lynn Swann did with the black vote against Ed Rendell?

Posted 02:44 PM, 05/21/2008

Talking point sleuth

That's pretty funny, legatus, since that's basically the message that he's given his entire campaign. Try reading the speech that he gave in Philly.

Posted 02:44 PM, 05/21/2008

Talking point sleuth

That's pretty funny, legatus, since that's basically the message that he's given his entire campaign. Try reading the speech that he gave in Philly.

Posted 02:46 PM, 05/21/2008

It hard to imagine Gergin actually refering to the "Red Neck" vote, and it's content within the Democratic party. That's the type stereotyping that can lose you a lot of votes.

Posted 02:50 PM, 05/21/2008

legatus

"since that's basically the message that he's given his entire campaign. Try reading the speech that he gave in Philly. Posted by Talking point sleuth" If that's the message that he gave, it apparently hasn't resonated with its intended recipients. Numbers don't lie.

Posted 03:02 PM, 05/21/2008

hikikomori

and you do everything every politician tells you to do, right legatus?

Posted 03:22 PM, 05/21/2008

It's nto her responsibility to give this type of speech. All she can do is campaign for him, if he secures the nomination. Those who won't vote for him because of his color can't be convinced.

Posted 03:22 PM, 05/21/2008

It's nto her responsibility to give this type of speech. All she can do is campaign for him, if he secures the nomination. Those who won't vote for him because of his color can't be convinced.

Posted 03:48 PM, 05/21/2008

what is truth?

Bad advice, Will. Even mentioning Rev. Wrong is the worst thing she could do to Obama. There will be enough people who will do plenty to keep that alive; she would do her party no service by helping them out. And saying "don't vote for me for racial reasons" is the worst kind of two-edged sword. I do think there is a difference between blacks who would vote for Obama because it is a chance for a historic first and whites who would vote against him just because "they don't want no (you know what word goes here) President" - it's the difference between positive pride in a unique achievment and negative old-fashioned racist hatred - but it is still a dicey situation to bring up. (And in saying this, I am not implying at all that every white person who votes against Obama is racist. It is totally respectable to vote against someone because you don't agree with their positions, and just as with white conservatives, there are black conservatives who will not vote for Obama because they simply do not agree with liberal policies.) She should stay in until the day after the last primary (I believe June 3?) then gracefully bow out. I hope she has it in her to do that.

Posted 04:06 PM, 05/21/2008

atp2007

Kind of late to take the high road isn't it, after all she and Bill have done to pander to white racist votes and since there are essentially no important primaries left (Puerto Rico doesn't even get an electoral vote in the Fall). All of her last primary wins have been suspect because it's so hard to tell how many of the voters were actually republicans and right leaning Independents who were voting for Hillary as part of the Republican Create Chaos plan and wouldn't vote for Hillary even if she got the nomination (which 6% of her voters actually admitted in Indiana, more than her "winning margin"). Don't expect much class from the "Me First" Clinton contingent.

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About Will Bunch

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Will Bunch, a senior writer at the Philadelphia Daily News, blogs about his obsessions, including national and local politics and world affairs, the media, pop music, the Philadelphia Phillies, soccer and other sports, not necessarily in that order.

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