Clinton: Obama Not Winning Over "Hard-Working Americans, White Americans"

USA Today notices that Sen. Hillary Clinton has begun referring explicitly to her appeal among white voters while on the campaign trail:

Hillary Rodham Clinton vowed Wednesday to continue her quest for the Democratic nomination, arguing she would be the stronger nominee because she appeals to a wider coalition of voters -- including whites who have not supported Barack Obama in recent contests.

"I have a much broader base to build a winning coalition on," she said in an interview with USA TODAY. As evidence, Clinton 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."

This is the second time since Tuesday's primaries that the Clinton campaign has referred to the racial dimension of the voting electorate. Ben Smith reports from yesterday's conference call on the state of the race:

And Garin brags, specifically and explicitly, about her strength with the white vote, comparing North Carolina's white voters in North Carolina to those in Virginia. (The conversations have always been about these voters, but they're usually referred to as "blue collar" or by some less specifically racial euphemism.)

"We lost the white electorate in Virginia, started even in North Carolina among the white electorate just two weeks ago, and ended [with] a very significant win of 24 points among those voters," he said, acknowledging that among black voters, Clinton "did not do as well as we would want or need."

Comments

[Flick08]

Clinton is the Titanic and she's trying to take Obama and the whole Dem party down.

[jonmonbuckeye]

I went to Hillary's site. I selected the suggestion comment. My suggestion was to do the country a favor and drop out of the race.

http://www.hillaryclinton.com/help/contact/

LOL!

[soundfury]

THANK YOU!

[hippybaby1970]

i also did the same thing. i plan to leave comments for some of the other topics that can be commented on. thanks for the link.

[hopefulintexas]

I also sent a nice email to the Democratic Party and recommend flooding Mr. Dean with our regards as well. I think it's www.democrats.org.

The SuperD's need to stop her now if they do not have a concrete plan that they know that they know she is going to abide by. I suspect there's actually a plan that she really will drop out by May 20, but if not, they need to go ahead and make their own move and let her start with the Nuke Option. The longer we have to overcome it, the better.

[donaldw6]

I've emailed both my senators, and I've emailed Howard Dean. Senator Clinton is hurting people by bringing out the worst in them, and it must stop. I'm really starting to believe our junior Senator from New York is behaving not just badly, but erratically.

[johnsonma]

Hey jonmon, Thanks for the web address! I just sent a suggestion and it felt all so good. thx again bud. I hope more people do the same.

[balancedview]

I'm very disappointed that Senator Hillary Clinton has chosen to leverage racial fears, distrust, and prejudice for political purposes, rather than working to promote racial harmony. What are her values??

[hopefulintexas]

(1) Hillary gets to be President of the United States.
(2) Hillary gets to be the most important person in the world.
(3) Hillary gets to do whatever she wants to do whenever she wants to do it.
(4) Hillary gets to tell everyone else in the world what to do.
(5) Hillary gets to have lots of money for the rest of her life to spend however she wants.
(6) Bill and Chelsea get treated good, too.

(Those are her values. ;-))

[chronic]

The republicans can't stand her.

The independents don't trust her.

The Democratic base now despises her.


SHE'S TOAST!

[Aywaller]

Succinctly said. Well done!

[MizLiz]

And because of what you just posted, here's another truth: Because she is so despised, NOTHING will ever get done. Nothing.

[DMW1]

Please pose this questions to Hillary supporters who insist they will vote for McCain if Hillary is not the nominee:

"Does it bother you at all that many more young men and women will die in Iraq, devasting their families (parents, wives, children, and other loved ones) because you choose to vent your anger in the voting booth? If you believe John McCain is the candidate that will lead this nation in the right direction, by all means, vote for him. But if you are simply voting for John McCain because your are angry that Obama is the nominee instead of Hillary, I hope our American soldiers that die appreciate the fact that they gave their lives to satisy your discontent."

[AtomicSplash]

Barack himself said that he can't get the troops out of Iraq for at least two years. So even under an Obama administration Americans will continue to die in Iraq.

[Bademus]

Many more would die in McCain's 100 year plan. Based on his "Bomb, Bomb Iran" philosophy we could possibly see a draft with him. He also states that he plans to stack the surpreme court with the specific purpose of overturning roe vs wade to outlaw abortion. I should think Hillary's feminists would roll over dead before allowing that to happen, even if Obama gets the nomination.

[soundfury]

HELLO? 2 years is better than 100 years!!! Also, do you understand military logistics. Do you not understand that there are dangers getting in and dangers getting out? I, frankly and much more suspicious of Hillary's plan. She wants to do a quick 60-day withdrawl and then WE SHALL SEE. She's very vague about the rest. And lest we forget: What about the nuclear obliteration she might trigger if Iran makes a move on Israel? What about that security defense umbrella she's got planned with nuclear war heads on site pointing at Iran. She wants to draw us back into the cold war with nuclear missles springing up all over the Middle East!

Finally, if you do vote for McCain, remember this, there will be at least 3 more conservative judges appointed to the Supreme Court, and from the looks of Alito and Roberts, they're going to be there for a LONG LONG TIME!

Go ahead check off MCBUSH and suffer ANOTHER 8 YEARS. We'll see if America is still recognizable in 2016.

[DMW1]

I understand Obama's phased withdrawal. McCain's plan seems a little different. I suspect many more lives will be lost with McCain insisting we must stay when violence is up, but yet we can't leave when violence is down. Heads I win, tails you lose.

[StillIRise]

I've concluded that Hillary's supporters who insist that they will vote for John McCain or stay home if Hillary is not the nominee care less about the Democratic Party and its values, including an ending to the Iraq War, than they care about their own personal interests. They profess to be Democrats, but their first allegiance is to their personal investment in Hillary Clinton - not Senator Clinton the Democrat, but Hillary Clinton the woman; Hillary Clinton President Clinton's First Lady during the nineties; or Hillary Clinton who is not the black candidate. If they truly cared about Senator Clinton the Democrat, then they would also honor the Democratic values she allegedly represents, and the values that Senator Obama as a Democrat also represents. Senator Clinton has vowed to support Senator Obama if she is not the nominee; but those who now claim such avid support for her would abandon her in this effort. Instead, they will choose to vote for John McCain, the Democratic opponent, and the ex-maverick and ex-moderate Republican whose new neo-con platform contradicts everything the Democratic Party and the Clintons stand for, So ultimately, their loyalty is not to Senator Clinton the Democrat or to the Democratic Party, or even to the country ... their loyalty is to themselves and to their antipathy toward Senator Obama - for not being a woman, for disrupting the Clinton legacy, or just for being black!

[TylerRose]

Now that I think about it, Hillary has been divisive throughout her campaign. She started out only targeting the BIG STATES, she had no intention of campaigning in the little states or the caucus states until Obama won all those states straight in a roll and built up a big delegate lead - then she started campaigning like crazy. All of a sudden small rural towns became her theme. Her husband was the cause of the big Magnequench factory closing in Indiana and those jobs being shipped to China and she had the nerve to tell her supporters that Bush was the cause of the jobs to go to China. She stood before HER SUPPORTERS THREE TIMES and told that Bosnia lie. That was her supporters at her rallies so how could she outright lie to them about her experience and Ireland? Actually, Obama was caught up with her in Ohio so her campaign came up with the NAFTA lie about Obama because she knew the Ohio voters will not find out the truth until after the election. She may have won a few key states but if you look at what margin she won, Obama held his own - including in her states. But look at the margin in states that he won, he blew her away. He has fought against her and Bill and McCain, so he has proven he can go against tough opponents. Factually and financially, he has run a better campaign than Hillary and McCain.

[Bademus]

Exactly, and PA was after hours and hours and days and days of the press hashing and re-hashing the guilt-by-association Rev. Wright thing and he really didn't do that poorly based on original polls of PA. He only lost IN by about 20,000 votes even after another solid week of way over-blown coverage of that and trounced her in W Va. Her argument doesn't pan out but she keeps pushing it and pushing it and eventually people start to believe it. We work hard and are predominantly caucasian up here in WA and we are Obama all the way (he got 68% of the vote here). People have such short memories. He won more mostly white states than she has. Period. I can't believe we are still even talking about this. Give it up woman, or if you won't give it up try and run on your merits, not a bunch of baloney and ill will.

[soundfury]

Forgive me if I add to your statement. If you notice Obama thought every state mattered. Hillary on the other hand thought FROM THE BEGINNING that only the big states mattered, because they carried the political clout, and that's all she cares about. She doesn't care about the people in those states, or she wouldn't have bought them off with lies, fear-mongering, dirty tricks and PANDERING. If you ask me, she insulted the intelligence of the people in the large states more than the ones in the small states, because at least she didn't have to go and lie, and cheat and pander to get them, she JUST DIDN'T GIVE A DAMN ABOUT THOSE STATES, because they didn't stand in her way.

It is ironic, that the people who failed to vote for Obama, fell for all her manipulative tricks, and he was just out to respect them and help them to realize that he is on their side and willing to fight for them and change the kind of tactics that Hillary uses so that they could feel confident they are getting the TRUTH from their government and not just politcal pandering.

I will sum it up this way: Obama campaigned with respect and dignity, Hillary did not, and unfortunately many fell into her perfect trap.

[Nana1234]

Don't forget operation chaos. Had that not been a factor, I believe he would have won Indiana. There were white voters who voted for Obama. She chooses not to admit that. Hillary Clintons lies over and over, then when the media will actually acknowledge it, she calls it a "mis-speak." A lie is a lie. This week she said she was 8 to 10 percentage points behind in Indiana. She was never behind in Indiana, in any poll.

She is divisive every chance she gets, so her comments are not surprising.

United We Stand!!

[armadillious2002]

Ya know - it's really time somebody put this Psycho bitch from Hell in her place. She has become very annoying.

[chronic]

Comments like this signal she is willing to destroy the party.


It's a sad day for Democrats.

[GingerB]

Let her know what you think...

http://www.hillaryclinton.com/help/contact/

[dadele]

Or let them know what you think: msnbc.comnbc.com

[tryharder2think]

Well - I will bite on this one...

I am a white hard working american, my colleague that I work with is white and hard working. All of my team mates are white and hard working except for one. None of us make over 60K per year. We are all voting for Obama to Hillary's surprise I guess?

All of my friends are voting for Obama, and guess what we are all white and hard working...

So I don't know where her votes are coming from - but NOBODY I know will vote for her now.

The truth is out there - find it.

th2t

[LAShores]

Hmmm, It can't be.. Hillary playing the "race card" nooooooooooooooooo say it aint so.

[Aywaller]

It ain't so. Who you gon' believe, me or your lyin' eyes?

[hopefulintexas]

That's the galling thing about them! Just look you straight in the face -- point their finger at ya even -- and lie through their teeth. Reminds me of that comedy bit -- was it Eddie Murphy? About if your woman catches you in the act cheating, the best strategy is to just get up, look her in the eyes and say, "Wasn't me."

[RFBorjal]

In the first place, why slice and dice the American people? Has anybody noticed that it's only the white Americans who are minced into bits and pieces? We hear about "hard-working, blue-collar white Americans", "high-income, highly-educated white Americans", but only hear about "Afro-American voters" or "Hispanic voters". Has anybody heard about "hard-working, blue-collar African-Americans" or "high-income, highly-educated African-Americans"? Or, "hard-working, blue-collar Hispanics" or "high-income, highly-educated Hispanics", for that matter? And while at it, what ever happened to the "lazy, blue-collar white Americans" or the "low-income, highly-educated white Americans"? Didn't they vote? The point is all this slicing and dicing is just absurd.

"There's not a black America and white America and Latino America and Asian America; there's the United States of America. " - Barack Obama

[soundfury]

AMEN. Now if only the MSM and the Democratic Party would get it.

[Grunty1]

At least one candidate running under the Democratic Party seems to get it.

[AtomicSplash]

Theres' really no point is breaking up the African American demographic when that demographic is supporting Barack by more than 90%.

[dollars2donuts]

Because your precious Billary has been spewing racism and disdain at black voters since January, that's why. Get a clue! You think 90% of black voters love Obama? Many do, but some of that percentage is backlash against Hillary's constant race-baiting and mean-spirited attacks on black voters. You're probably like HIlary and most of her supporters and look down on us black voters. I look forward to your changing your registration to GOP.

[RFBorjal]

Why break up the white American demographic then when Hillary touted in an interview with USA Today on Wednesday that she has the support of white Americans? When her supporter Paul Begala contended that Obama only has "eggheads and African-Americans"?

The point is all this slicing and dicing and racial categorizing is only splintering the country at a time when everyone needs to put his/her shoulder to the wheel together to move the nation forward.

[matthewhusseinsmith]

50% of the AA, including Clyburn and Lewis, supported Hillary Clinton before Bill Clinton insinuated that Obama's candidacy is a fairy tale and marginalized Obama as an AA and minorities candidate, comparing his SC victory to Jesse Jackson SC's primary wins.

Today, Hillary Clinton essentially declared overtly that Whites without a college degrees vote for her, and do not vote for Obama;Coming from a man on the street, that's shamefully racist; coming from a potential future president of the USA, that is totally unacceptable.

Obama is running for president of ALL Americans.

The use of "hard working Americans, white Americans" is an insult.

[johnsonma]

Originally over 50% African Americans supported billary. That was until Bill showed who he really was and insulted them. Oops, sorry forgot to call you Sir.

[dollars2donuts]

Where do you even start with this one? She should lay on the shrink's couch so she can vent all of her disdain toward blacks there, not on the campaign trail over and over.

[TylerRose]

I WAS WATCHING MSNBC TODAY AND HEARD A STATEMENT SENATOR HILLARY CLINTON PUT OUT THAT SHE IS MORE ELECTABLE BECAUSE SHE IS GETTING ALL THE WHITE VOTES FROM THE WORKING CLASS AND ELDERLY CITIZENS. I AM RAGING!!!!!! DO NOT THINK FOR ONE MOMENT THAT WE MINORITIES ARE STUPID AND IS NOT CATCHING ON TO HER MESSAGE. NOTE ALL MINORITIES SHOULD BE OUTRAGED OVER THIS. THIS IS AMERICA. SO EVERY MINORITY CHILD IN AMERICAN WHO WANTS TO BE PRESIDENT SOMEDAY CAN EXPECT THIS KIND OF BEHAVIOR FROM A DEMOCRAT CANDIDATE? SHE IS STAYING IN THIS RACE TO REPEATEDLY SEND OUT THE MESSAGE TO WHITE PEOPLE TO NOT VOTE FOR BARACK OBAMA. SHE IS OBVIOUSLY TRYING TO MAKE HIM LOSE THIS ELECTION. THERE IS NOTHING IN THE CONSTITUTION WHICH STATES THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES MUST BE WHITE. I AM EQUALLY OUTRAGED THAT SHE CAN VERBALLY CAMPAIGN SPECIFICALLY TO WOMEN. HOW WOULD VOTERS FEEL IF OBAMA PUBLICLY ASK BLACK AMERICANS TO VOTE FOR HIM? SEXISM IS A FORM OF RACISM AND WHAT SHE IS DOING IS STRANGELY STRADDLING THE LINE OF SEXUAL DISCRIMINATION. IS THIS THE DEMOCRAT PARTY OR THE CLINTON PARTY?

P.S. SHE KEEP SAYING SHE IS THE BEST ONE TO BEAT MCCAIN IN NOVEMBER. HOW CAN SHE SUPPORT THAT ARGUMENT WHEN SHE CANNOT EVEN BEAT OBAMA WHO IS SUPPOSE TO BE THE 'INEXPERIENCED ONE' ? I HOPE ALL MINORITIES IN AMERICA SPEAK OUT ON THIS ISSUE. YOUR CHILD OR GRANDCHILD MAY WANT TO BE POTUS SOME DAY.

[soundfury]

WOW! Hillary surrogates and supporters wonder how the AA vote got so alienated or try to blame it on Michelle Obama, wonder no more! This is how.

[GingerB]

I share your outrage, but please don't SHOUT at us. Thanks.

[soundfury]

Not to encourage the shouting, but I understand the frustration of not being able to have someone stand up against this and I'm referring to the media who should be channelling this outrage to the rest of the country.

[donaldw6]

I've got a shouting post completely written in my head, but I've managed not to post it yet. This is a shouting moment.

[whatgive]

So, Hillary Clinton is winning all the white working class votes! Hello, i didn't know we have the class system in America. If she's winning this so-called 'white working class' votes, who is winning the other classes?
Here i was thinking that the USA have had the worst president in history, Hillary just proved me wrong by her antecedents and unguarded utterances... statements as such belongs to the gutter!
There are no 'whites working class' or 'whites unemployed class' however, there are racists and evil-minded bigots that believe it's their way or the highway and, it's not color-coded.

[johnsonma]

Tyler, I really liked what you said especially about Billary getting away with sexism. The way she ran her campaign shows what kind of leader she would be.

[XME]

Everyone should be outraged and disgusted by her divisivness. If she is winning all the white middle-class votes, does that mean that I and at least 10 other people I know that didn't vote for her aren't really white or middle-class. Last time I checked, I was both! AND I'm a woman!!!

[soundfury]

Message to everyone who is disgusted with her comments and is about to post here:

Ask yourself this? Why am I burying my outrage in this blog? Why am I not carrying it over to the Press, the Mainstream Media, and the Democratic Party?

Who's gonna see this? You and I.

Hillary did an outstanding job of getting all her surrogates and the MSM to blow Obama's bitter comments out of context and out of proportion, and now, we have this powerful statement to blast her back with and here we are just preaching to the choir and burying our outrage in this place where we are given the chance to speak out and tell the truth.

What happened the the fair and balance media we used to have? Has George Bush robbed us of that too, or was it Bill Clinton. Doesn't matter who it was? What matters is: Why are we doing nothing about it? What is this? A communist country, a fascist country?

[Honour]

Please give us some ideas about what else we can do . . . It does no good to bemoan the fact that we're only typing out words.Let us begin a real dialogue about what we can do.

I suggest all people who are outraged about her inflammatory statements join at pre-determined times and places and protest. Make the protests visible by assembling at locations where the press can see us. If we have a clear and loud message, it will get into the papers.

These gatherings must be absolutely non-violent and non-threatening, but, as we saw with Martin Luther King's marches, this can be a very effective way to be heard. I don't know any other means by which to get our message out to the masses.

[TylerRose]

sorry everybody. no more shouting - smule. i did send several emails out today to peloi, reid, cnn, msnbc, - i can't remember all of them. oh race to whitehouse/msnbc. now i am whispering cause i am typing with one hand. holding grand,son. peace.