Letter From America
Hillary Clinton's Sister Souljah moment
RECENT successful white Democratic presidential candidates, who were perceived to be pro-black, had sent coded messages to blue-collar white voters assuring them that whatever they may have said on the campaign trail, they were actually "one of them." Candidate Jimmy Carter did so by saying in 1976 that there should be some "racial purity" in the residential neighbourhoods. Meaning: blacks and whites should not necessarily be neighbours. And Bill Clinton invented the Sister Souljah moment in 1992.
In the afetrmath of the 1992 Los Angeles riots that followed the acquittal of police officers who had mercilessly beaten an innocent black man, Rodney King, black rapper Sister Souljah made the infamous comment: "If black people kill black people every day, why not have a week and kill white people?"
Presidential candidate Bill Clinton pounced on the comment, publicly criticised Sister Souljah, and also Jesse Jackson for allowing her to be on his Rainbow Coalition. The blue-collar whites were reassured, Clinton went on to win the presidency and the Sister Souljah moment was born.
Things are tougher for Hiilary Clinton. Six months ago, Barack Obama was not "black enough" for the blacks; now blacks have accepted him as a brother. Four months ago, 56% of the blacks supported Hillary; now only about 15% do. Here is Hillary's dilemma: Unlike Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton, Hillary's primary opponent is a black.
In spite of the candidates' coded messages to the blue-collar whites, blacks had no choice but to vote for Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton, who were both pro-black.
But now they have a choice in the primary: Hillary or a black man. Hillary cannot send soothing coded messages to working class whites without alienating the blacks, who may be voting for Obama in the primaries, but without whose support she has no chance of winning the presidency were she to be the nominee.
Barack Obama would not be leading the Democratic presidential race without the enthusiasm and high turnout of the black voters. Obama has won the majority of white votes in only a few states such as Iowa, Wisconsin, Virginia and Vermont. Under the radar, working class whites have been reacting to Obama's overwhelming black support. Analysts believe that Obama's heavy black support is nudging some working-class white Democrats into Clinton's camp.
Hillary won nearly two out of every three white votes in Ohio, and 56% of those in Texas. 18% of white Ohio voters said race was an important factor in their decision and, of that group, three in four voted for Clinton. Strategists are pondering the results, wondering if Pennsylvania's demographic similarities to Ohio will deliver a resounding victory for Hillary on April 22.
In general elections, which pit Democrats against Republicans, the racial sensitivity of white voters has been pronounced, and well documented for decades. It is a major cause of the realignment of the South, where blacks remained intensely loyal to the Democratic Party as whites moved to the Republican Party.
In the intraparty world of Democratic primaries, racial divisions are less pronounced, and harder to measure. Many white Democrats, especially in the South, tend to be liberal, racially tolerant and happy to join blacks in opposing Republicans.
The Obama-Clinton rivalry is straining that harmony. Some blacks resented remarks Clinton made in New Hampshire, which they viewed as minimising Martin Luther King Jr.'s role in achieving landmark civil rights laws. And after Obama's South Carolina victory on January 26, former president Clinton seemed to equate the Illinois senator with Jesse Jackson as a candidate who could not draw widespread white support. Many blacks felt that the Clintons "were trying to use race to their political advantage, to cede the black vote to Obama and take the rest."
Ironically, with his gaffe that Pennsylvanians are "clinging to their guns and religion" because they are "bitter," Barack Obama provided Hillary with her Sister Souljah moment. Now she is sending coded messages to the working class whites.
While John McCain refused to call Obama an "elitist," Hillary is running ads in Pennsylvania calling him an "elitist" who is "out of touch" with working class Pennsylvanians, and labeling his remarks "demeaning," "condescending" and "patronising." In their presidential debate in Philadelphia on April 16, which pundits opined Hillary won decisively, she reiterated her accusations.
To identify more with working class whites, Hillary shored up her gun credentials (she is anti-gun) saying she shot ducks (did not say when), stressed her Methodist religious upbringing, and went pub hopping in Indiana. With the cameras rolling and in a perfect impersonation of "I pretend, therefore I am," Hillary downed a shot of whisky and a mug of beer. Take that elitist Obama! sneered Hillary, as she redefined herself as a beer-drinking, working class waitress!
The problem with that is that the "working class" Clintons had just reported an income of $109 million over the last seven years! Because of such hypocrisy, the latest polls show that 56% of the Americans believe Hillary is "not trustworthy!" A milder version of the disease that afflicted fellow front-runner of last summer, Republican Rudy Giuliani, also debilitates Hillarythe more people see her, the less they seem to like her. By contrast, the more people see Obama, the more they like him. By a margin of 31% Democrats believe that Obama is more electable as president than Hillary.
And Hillary may have shot herself in the foot in the Philadelphia debate. Pressed by moderator George Stephanopoulos, a former Bill Clinton White House aide, whether she stood by her comment to New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson that "Obama can't win," Hillary retracted and said: "Yes, yes, yes," he can win.
Everyone knows that, contrary to her public pronouncements, privately Hillary's main argument to super delegates has been that since "Obama can't win," she should be the nominee. If she were to do so now, the super delegates will remind her: "But Hillary, in the Philadelphia debate you said 'yes, yes, yes' to Obama's electability!"
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