The Obama campaign sent their national co-chair Jesse Jackson, Jr. to tear down Hillary Clinton on MSNBC the other night. He took it too far over the top. His comments on Hurricane Katrina seemed to indicate he was saying Hillary Clinton doesn't care about black people. It's one thing when Kanye West says that about George Bush, it's another when it's Obama's spokesperson saying it about Hillary Clinton. That is out of bounds.
Jackson's appearance on MSNBC and our analysis of why he was wrong to say it is in the video below:
What's even more interesting is what happened after we played this clip on the radio this morning. Calls poured in for nearly two hours -- and the results were frightening. It appeared that people have started to split up in different camps based on their identity. Obama supporters were accusing Hillary of not doing anything to help black folks. Hillary supporters accusing Obama of not being sensitive to gender issues.
Yes, there were definitely exceptions. A black female caller voiced strong support for John Edwards. But overall, the sense I got is that the race issue (and less so the gender issue, but that is also growing) is out of the bag. Once that genie is out of the bottle (to mix my metaphors here), it's hard to put it back in. For the first time, I think Democrats are on the verge of doing serious damage to one another. This thing could get real ugly, real soon.
They have got to reel this back in. It isn't going to help anybody. This negative campaigning definitely turns off voters, especially Democratic voters. It's one thing to attack someone's record (which I am actually in favor of), it's another to do these personal and identity based attacks. The candidates are only hurting themselves in the primaries and their opponent if he or she winds up in the general election.
One last thing, this particular strategy by Obama is short-sighted. Yes, it might help in South Carolina. But you could win that battle and lose the war because you turned off so many other voters by playing the race card in South Carolina. As a guy leaning toward Obama, I hope he reconsiders this terribly misguided strategy.
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Barack Obama's Campaign Plays the Race Card
Posted Jan 11th 2008 10:46AM by Cenk Uygur
Filed under: Young Turks, Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama, Video, Race Relations
Filed under: Young Turks, Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama, Video, Race Relations
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Reader Comments ( Page 2 of 4)
16. Just goes to show that Jessie is still an idiot and I don't even like Hilary......Joe
joe at 2:26PM on Jan 11th 2008
17. OhC'mon. There are always nasty battles during primaries. Usually there's the 'kiss and make up' at the end of the primary season (except for Joe Lieberman)
My fear is that there are too many misogynists and racists in this country for either of them to get elected.
They would both make fine presidents.
Linda at 3:18PM on Jan 11th 2008
18. Linda writes...
"My fear is that there are too many misogynists and racists in this country for either of them to get elected."
---------------------------------------------
That is exactly what I fear.
IF Obama is going to, "play the race card," and if Hillary is going to, "play the glass ceiling card," the democrats are going to turn the Bubba voters off completely.
I believe in John Edwards' message. We have to break the grip the corporations hold on the United States.
The fact that he is highly experienced and skilled just adds to the appeal. He cannot play either of the above cards.
The worst I hear about John Edwards is that he is a lawyer. C'mon, folks, this country can't stand another republican administration!
Captain Negative at 3:38PM on Jan 11th 2008
19. So, Obama is supposed to be the guy who transcends racial lines, and party lines, and gender lines? LOL. Maybe now his starry-eyed supporters will see him for what he really is, a POLITICIAN who will stoop to sleaze, if he deems it necessary, to win.
By the way, did Obama cry over Katrina? If so, let me see the clip.
emelpe at 4:10PM on Jan 11th 2008
20. Isn't this the very situation in which America find themselves again and again? The voting of the wrong person to office with no experience as in 2000. How frequently we find in voting a "beer buddy" so much more than our list of candidates that have world accomplishments! Some have thought erroneously that if truth of Obama are presented, it will be seen as bitterness, vindictiveness, hatefulness and racist. Let us take heed! Let us make sure that in every task we undertake in voting our president, whether Hillary, Obama, or Edwards or Mccain or Huckabee, whatever the outcome, they must have experience! The secret of America's successful progress and achievement in theses turmoil times, must be Mastered by a person who has been there, done that and will do this!And,that my friends, (from an african hispanic american) is Hilly Clinton!!
Jaki Baez at 4:10PM on Jan 11th 2008
21. Cenk I have to admit, I usually love your blogs. This one however is in league with FOX. Yes I said it. JJ Jr. did make insinuations, however he never made any actual accusations. You put words into his mouth, O'Reilly style. And that sucks, cause I know your better than that. You read into what Obama said about Hllary, yet still backed him. So why the preferential treatment? Why didn't JJ Jr. get the benefit of the doubt from you? Please Please I beg of you, don't do that again. One of the reasons I love your work is because despite your liberal leanings, you still comment on right and left mostly without too much bias. (Except for when Fox does something stupid)
And JJ Jr. did bring up the most valid point about the Hillary tear incident. It's not the fact that she teared up, but what she teared up about. Herself. Despite all the tragedy in this country and overseas, the only thing that made her get emotional was talking about herself. Where's Hillary's bleeding heart for Darfur or Sudan? Or the dozens of tortured bodies found DAILY in Iraq?
thorin at 5:23PM on Jan 11th 2008
22. Barack's Greedy White Side:
Barack Obama chose to side with Wealthy White Slum Lord Tony Rezko to the detriment of the Poor Black Citizens of his State Senate District. People need this information to make a well informed decision about the "Magic Negro". I intend to provide it wide spread and often.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rDHsHM0laT8
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pA-vlOf3mAc
So Half-Term Senator Barack Obama Democrat-IL: Did you know of these deplorable conditions and do nothing about them or were you to busy cutting land deals with Tony Rezko's wife to be concerned by the petty circumstances of the Constituents of your State Senate District? Americans and the Poor Black Citizens of Illinois 13th District would like to know.
Paul Sparcello at 10:31PM on Jan 11th 2008
23. Paul Sparcello, why is it that you've been so reticent about expressing your great compassion for black people until now?
Captain Negative at 3:34AM on Jan 12th 2008
24. Anybody else think it's a little strange that Barack Obama attends a church in Chicago that's more about Africa than it is about God? What if I was attending a "European" based church where we spent an inordinate amount of time obsessed with predominantly white countries? I think you'd be justified in calling me a racist.
If Obamma really want to unify America, deep-six the African nationalism and go to an integrated church where it's about God, not ancestry and skin color. They have those, you know.
Dave at 6:35AM on Jan 12th 2008
25. Or, Dave, Obama could just say that religion is bullshit. That would make me feel a whole lot better about ANY presidential candidate.
Captain Negative at 2:05PM on Jan 12th 2008
26. "My fear is that there are too many misogynists and racists in this country"
*****************
...Oh... you think???
I really need to stop reading and taking part in these blogs! I just can't seem to learn.
Patty at 7:26PM on Jan 12th 2008
27. Hey Meathead (Cenk),
Take a refresher on your listening skills.
He was saying she doesn't, didn't, hasn't, cried when face to face with huge tragedies born by other people.
But her self pity--brought tears. He was saying she cried for herself, while she's never been seen to cry for anyone else.
susanlynn at 9:39PM on Jan 12th 2008
28. Is it naivete that has you focusing on Jesse? Or is it that subtleness of the most subtle yet most transparent racism that prompts you? Did you get so riled when Hillary started that Iowa BS on outing Obamas being a bad boy? Jesse is that kind of guy. He's all about chutzpah The idea of any campaign is to divide and rule (govern used to b called). There's no such thing as negative publicity because it's just more publicity.Something will happen in the next few days to upstage this. Attack and counter-attack is politics. I do believe that Jesse is trying to capitalize but that's his job, yo!
boredwell at 11:10PM on Jan 12th 2008
29. I don't feel it's right for Obama to keep sampling King's speeches for his campaign. It's such a thug/rapper way to do things.
Obama is not King.
It's so weak for him to let others play the race card for him.
If he really wanted to show he was different, he'd nip it in the bud. Instead, it just proves to me that he's as dirty as the rest of them, without the experience to really make a difference.
So far, all Obama's been doing is talking out of his ass.
I believe... at 2:25AM on Jan 13th 2008
30. I just love Jesse Jackson, JR. He's at lot like his dad, only on steroids. I guess junior must have discovered that secret White House memo. You know the one where Bush says to FEMA to "Take your time getting the stuff to New Orleans, it's only a bunch of poor, black people starving and dying of thirst in the floodwaters. You know how much Laura and I hate black people. And they're probably all Democrats, too, so let them swim around in oily gunk for a while." (Yeah, I hate it when they discover those incriminating memos.)
Dave at 3:18AM on Jan 13th 2008