The most powerful African-American in Congress again scolded former President Bill Clinton for his comments during the Democratic presidential race. House Majority Whip James Clyburn, D-South Carolina says ex-President Clinton’s actions have deeply upset many African-Americans. He said that Bill Clinton’s comments on the “race card” before Pennsylvania’s April 22 primary upset him.
Clinton’s tone in a phone interview, said Clyburn, “caused people to say things to me [about Clinton] that I never thought I would hear.”
In that interview the former president said, among other things, that the Obama campaign “played the race card on me.”
After the phone interview but before he hung up, Clinton was recorded saying: “I don’t think I should take any shit from anybody on that, do you?”
Speaking with the New York Times on Thursday, Clyburn said he found the ex-president’s conduct “bizarre” and said several of Clinton’s actions had deeply upset many African-Americans.
Clyburn criticized Bill Clinton in the past for equating Sen. Barack Obama’s blowout victory over Sen. Hillary Clinton in South Carolina to the Rev. Jesse Jackson’s in the state’s 1988 Democratic primary.
Clyburn also told the Times this week many African-Americans believe the Clintons are trying to damage Obama to the point where he could not be elected. The lawmaker made similar comments to Reuters on Thursday.
“There are African-Americans who have reached the decision that the Clintons know that she can’t win this,” he told Reuters. “But they’re hell-bound to make it impossible for Obama to win.”
Clyburn said such actions could lead to a longtime division between the former president and his once most reliable constituency.
“When he was going through his impeachment problems, it was the black community that bellied up to the bar,” Clyburn told the Times. “I think black folks feel strongly that this is a strange way for President Clinton to show his appreciation.”
The South Carolina Democrat also said his party needs to come together after a nominee is chosen.
“I really believe that we have to bring everybody together after this process is over,” he said. “If Hillary Clinton is the nominee, then we’ve got to have Barack Obama and everybody else out there helping us to bring this party back together.”
“I think the most important person in this process is going to be the person that finishes second.”
Reacting to Clyburn’s comments, Jay Carson, a spokesman for Sen. Hillary Clinton’s campaign said the former president “has an impeccable record on race, civil rights and issues that matter to the African-American community.”
“This election, however, is not about President Clinton’s record or his long-standing commitment to equal justice and fairness,” Carson said. “It’s about the American people, their lives, their future and what Sen. Clinton will do to bring our troops home, reclaim our standing around the world, and restore our economy here at home.”
But Obama said Friday he does not believe in “irreparable breaches. “
“I am a big believer in reconciliation and redemption,” the senator from Illinois said. “This has been a fierce contest. I am confident, come August there are going to be a whole bunch of people standing on the stage with a lot of balloons and confetti raining down on the Democratic nominee and people are going to be excited about taking on John McCain in November.”
Earlier this week, the former president vigorously defended his words in a radio interview, saying it was the Obama campaign that “played the race card on me.”
“We were talking about South Carolina political history, and this was used out of context and twisted for political purposes by the Obama campaign to try to breed resentment elsewhere,” Clinton told WHYY-FM on Monday in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
“And you know, do I regret saying it? No. Do I regret that it was used that way? I certainly do. But you really got to go some to try to portray me as a racist.”
Clinton later told a reporter he didn’t say the Obama campaign had played the “race card.”
In January, the former president also was criticized for calling parts of Obama’s position on the war in Iraq a “fairy tale.” The former first lady then took heat for remarks that some critics said suggested President Lyndon Johnson had more to do with passage of the Civil Rights Act than the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.
Shortly before South Carolina’s primary in January, Clyburn warned the ex-president that he should watch his words.
“I think they would say in Gullah-Geechee country, he needs to chill a little bit,” Clyburn said in a reference to African-Americans who live in South Carolina’s Low Country near the Atlantic coast.
Do you agree with House Majority Whip James Clyburn, D-South Carolina that ex-President Clinton’s actions have deeply upset many African-Americans.
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