as hillary’s ship sinks, the bombs start to fly
by Aaron Rodriguez
Published: May 13, 2008
I’m usually not one to over-analyze the statements made by politicians. I understand that in the heat of the moment words get mixed up and candidates make missteps. However, a statement recently made by Hillary Clinton struck me as exceptionally divisive. In an interview with USA Today on May 7th, Hillary cited an Associated Press article, “that found how Sen. Obama’s support among working, hard-working Americans, white Americans, is weakening again, and how whites in both states who had not completed college were supporting me.” I don’t find this statement unsettling merely because it resembled a statement made by Rush Limbaugh a few days ago. Rather, I’m shocked at Hillary’s ability to sink lower and lower as this election goes on.
Now, I won’t contend the statement that whites are more likely to vote for Hillary Clinton. Frankly, I’d be surprised, although impressed, if they were more likely to vote for Barack Obama. I’m sure that this isn’t the case for a lot of white Hillary supporters, but the Rev. Wright controversy helped to portray Barack Obama as a scary black man by association. It is often mentioned that Barack Obama enjoys a commanding lead in the black vote simply because he’s black. Of course, it’s just as likely that Hillary has a lead amongst white voters simply because she’s white. People hate to admit it, but there are still people out there who won’t vote for a black man. Whether or not this is a conscious choice is irrelevant; Senator Clinton’s statements in the past few days are clearly playing on this phenomenon.
Hillary makes mention of how non-college-educated whites support her in mass. I’m not really sure why this demographic distinction is relevant, except for pushing home this notion of being closer to working-class Americans. I’m assuming that Hillary wants us to believe that she has the ear of the people. Once again, though, isn’t this really an issue of race more than anything else? Non-college-educated blacks support Barack Obama overwhelmingly. Does this imply that he’s the people’s candidate anymore than Hillary? I can’t really think of anything about college that would necessarily change one’s opinions about a candidate, unless of course he were a student of one of the candidates. Really this is just one of those demographics that can be characterized by education or by race depending on how you look at it.
The crux of the matter, though, isn’t the race issue. It’s the class one. I’ll ignore the fact that she seemed to lump “hard-working Americans” in with white ones. The implications of this association are pretty apparent. What bothers me is this notion that she somehow has a solid connection with the working-class. Or at the very least, that she has a closer connection to the working-class than Barack Obama. How exactly is it possible for one rich lawyer to be more salt of the earth than another rich lawyer?
Now, I should mention that Hillary didn’t make up the statistics. Blue-collar workers have on average shown her more support. My issue stems from the fact that she laps this stuff up as if she’s the savior of the proletariat. Rather than saying blue-collar workers, which is what the demographic term is, she says “hard-working Americans,” which implies a few things connotatively. In a way, saying “hard-working” signifies that these are real Americans, the unsung heroes that keep our country running. This is contrasted with the effete academic snobs that Obama supporters are portrayed as. Her statement also implies that she somehow identifies with the struggles of average Americans. I don’t care how much empathy she can muster, she’s part of the American aristocracy, and no anecdote about learning to hunt is going to change that.
Hillary Clinton is delving into dangerous territory. Her racially-charged statements are earning her the ire of the black community that once supported her family, and her attempts at appealing to the working class come off as inauthentic. She now runs the risk of permanently alienating her self within the Democratic Party. If she’s smart, she’ll bow out gracefully and keep the racism and class pandering to a minimum.
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May 15th, 2008 at 11:50 pm
Maybe it’s because white working class people don’t like the fact Obama’s most far left, liberal Senator there is. Or maybe its the fact Obama says they cling to guns and religion.
But of course, Hillary and her supporters are racist and that’s why Obama is in the lead by such a small margin and couldn’t close the deal, like months ago, on Super Tuesday when he should have if he’s so great.
Oh, and all the work the Clinton’s did for civil rights? Those darn Clinton racists.
I think I’ll vote for McCain… he doesn’t call me a racist. I’m sure many other middle of the road, working class Americans will follow my lead. Good luck winning without us, Obama supporters!
May 16th, 2008 at 9:24 am
Yeah because I’m sure if Clinton was running for President against John McCain and the Conservative crowd she’d be treated so fairly and respectifully.
You know how many times they’d have brought up Monica Lewinski? I’m kind of curious to see what Karl Rove and the swift boaters would have come up with on her. I guarentee it would have been 100% more underhanded than anything Obama or his supporters have thrown at her.
This is why for the good of the party Hillary should have dropped out months ago. Everyone knew the math didn’t make sense after Texas and Ohio. She hasn’t gotten any closer to the nomination since then all she’s done is drag out a bitter primary race that has divided this country.
Obama’s endured accusation after accusation of hating his own country just because of one preacher who he has condemed the statements of. Now Hillary is actually pointing to a huge victory in West Virginia as a reason to elect her. If you take that 22% of voters who cited race as a reason to vote for her she only gets 52% of the vote.
Obviously I’m not calling you a racist, nor would I say most Clinton supporters are. But when these are the people that are keeping her in the race it really makes you wonder why democrats of all people think that’s a reason to give her the nomination.