Bill Clinton In ABC News Interview: "I Am Not A Racist"

Washinton Post:

Former president Bill Clinton has been trying to keep his political opinions in check in order to turn back to his international work.

Still, he got a little testy in an interview Sunday with ABC's Kate Snow, telling her he is "not a racist" even as he avoided delving into specifics about what happened in the Democratic presidential primary. The interview, taped in a quick stop in Liberia, will air Monday on "Good Morning America."

Read the whole story: Washinton Post

Comments

[AguynamedWayne]

I wonder if the multitudes of Africans who literally owe their lives to the good work of the Clinton Foundation think Bill and Hillary are racists?

[renatam]

There's that word OWE again. The continent of Africa was raped for centuries. Native Americans and indigenious peoples worldwide, the same. Let's stop this OWE discussion. It is one-sided and lacks balance. Bill Clinton has racked a $1bil fund for his interests that a fusion of for-profit­/Library/F­oundation. He is set for life, courtesy of Americans and AAs who didn't allow Republicans to toss him on the sidewalk -- w/Hillary in town. The American people do not OWE former Presidents.

[renatam]

Americans do not OWE Clinton our future. Sorry.

[truthskr]

While I greatly respect much of the Clinton Foundation' work, the Clinton presidency was oftentimes a completely different matter and I'm sure millions of Rawandans would agree.

[steamboat]

BTW, Bill Clinton is NOT a racist....­........Ju­st a guy who for years took black people for granted, just like all other democrats.

[Bozwellian]

Chances are NO, they are grateful for any and all help no matter if calculated to establish a legacy etc or not...one is to be grateful for the cake crumblings and mind, the Cintons are able to shelter income and have "Expenses" paid by the foundation that is well endowed via various sources including ME "friends/contacts" and more just lie the C-library and those speaking fees and even book deals. On the atest visit to Africa, he has a DOCUMENTARY film crew in tow , Chelsea accompanied (beng groomed for the future perhaps ) and the docu-drama will be released next year as the full fledge remake of his legacy goes at it all in earnest...­would not be well received in this election year, is smart enough to realize that but calculating enough to prepare and do advance work. Bill has his nose out of joint, he help to mangle her campaign, tarnish up his own and get revealed for not being quite the sincere guy that folks liked to attribute him as...and he is sulking, bitter, blaming others for his own mistakes but that is actually nothing new....He is growing more pathetic and his best friends are not about to really explain it to him for they too are delusioned and bitter themselves and it repeated shows in their present snarkings , they just can NOT help themselves ~~

[Dachozen1]

I am Black and I dont think Bill needs to say this. I love Bill and he still is my favorite President and probably the only 1 I've ever liked. We all know he isnt the R. word. Unfortunately, whether intentional are non intentional over tones are absorbed by the public and opinions are made based on one's own life experiences. I think Bill responding to this outrageous charge, only validates his critics. Bill keep doing what you do and you'll always have my support. We need you to help unite this fractured part and rally behind Obama.

[steamboat]

There is NOT one racist bone in Bill Clinton's body......­...and oh yeah, he has more experience, more leadership ability, and more brains in his little finger then Obama has in his entire body.

[truthskr]

Wow, there's a really terrible joke in here...but I'll let it slide.

[DamageControl]

then why did they lose?

[Tropiholic]

if bill is so wonderful why did he help destroy his wife's campaign? maybe he isn't quite so smart after all? his "leadership ability" would tell him to quit whining and support the party's nominee.

[steamboat]

PS: But he sure messed-up during his years on Rwanda, Sudan, Sierre Leone, and so on.

[PoliJunkie]

We'll have to see just how smart O is when he WINS in November.

[RationalDem]

There is a big difference between being a racist and knowingly injecting race into a campaign. Bill knows this (and so does McCain). When you are called on it, you cry "you called me a racist!"

[DWP]

Is he going to be mature and support Obama all the way or is he still all for Bill Clinton? His wife would be better served if he supported Obama. The Clinton legacy will be permanently damaged if it is felt that they did not do everything they can to get Obama elected. However, Bill may just be too self centered to help himself.

[brwnizofmine]

Shame, sometimes things catch up with you.......­...you may not be a racist, but more than willing to use racial politics to win!

[beauwin]

Unfortunately Obama and his staff have been race baiting since he started and still are. I voted for experience and I am still going to vote for experience and Obama has NONE! The reason Obama won't win in November is by the time we get there we'll be so tired of hearing race we won't want 4 more years of it. So when he loses you can thank Obama, his staff and the liberal media for it.

[StillIRise]

The ONLY reason we are hearing race is because Senator Obama's opponents and the GOP have chosen to make race an issue in this campaign. Senator Obama made a conscious effort to keep race out of this election, but when Fox News and Hillary's surrogates brought it to the forefront, he was compelled to respond to it. The only time Senator Obama has directly spoken about race since then was when he said, " ... and oh by the way, did I mention he's black," in warning his supporters what kind of attacks to expect from McCain and the GOP. And what he warned us to expect is exactly what his opponents have been doing, no matter how well disguised their attacks may be. If he loses the election because of race, it will not be because of what Senator Obama and his staff have done. It will be because of the GOP and the media, and the racist Americans who refuse to elect a black man to the presidency, some who will even rationalize their rejection of him by saying that he has no experience, in spite of his record that clearly contradicts this falsehood.

Experience is meaningless without integrity, vision and judgment, none of which the Bush administration nor John McCain possesses. Obama may not have been sitting in the senate as long as McCain, but he has much more to offer to the country than John McCain ever will.

[KillgoreTrout43]

If a man is accused of being a racist, for mentioning an historical fact about Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton, what has this country come to? I grew up in the sixties, and saw first hand what racism really is.
I saw blacks being beaten, jailed, sprayed with high pressure water hoses, and the aftermath of lynchings. This is racism.
This whole matter is like the whiney Christian fundamentalists who cry about being, "persecute­d." They aren't persecuted. When the Romans were using Christians to feed the lions, that was persecution!

[StillIRise]

You SAW first hand what racism is, growing up in the sixties, but you cannot EXPERIENCE racism first hand until you walk in our shoes. Although we are no longer subjected to water hosing, lynching, rape, murder and Jim Crow segregation, there is now a subtle racism that is just as destructive. In comparing Obama's win in SC to Jesse Jackson, Clinton could have compared his win to any other Democratic candidate who won in SC, including himself, candidates who had won much more recently than Jackson did. He purposely chose Jackson, not simply because it was a historical fact, but to marginalize Senator Obama as just another "black candidate.­" And when he marginalized Senator Obama, he in effect marginalized the entire black community. It wasn't a lynching or high-pressure water hose, but the damage to our spirit and to our humanity was just as grave.

Apparently, you can only see racism or persecution when it's presented in its most dramatic forms, but those of us who experience it, recognize it in all of its forms, even the most cleverly disguised.

[daddigrace]

So a black person has to literally have the snot knocked out of them before you can acknowlege racism??

[Zhonni]

OF COURSE NOT!!! I think people should drop it already.

[KillgoreTrout43]

Well said. This article really helps no one.

[petuniafish]

I don't know if he's a rascist or not. Sense that he's not- maybe said some poorly thought out things? I think he just hates Obama for threatening his chances to get back in the WH. "Imagine a young black guy upstart!"!!!!

But BLATANT LIAR? A resounding YES.
He never heard union bosses intimidating voter members in a Las Vegas casino as he said he did while walking though with Chelsea. He is constantly surrounded by a huge Secret Service detail who keep a huge perimenter around him. How could he hear this?

He's a chronic confabulator and so good at it he doesn't know he's even doing it.

[Fabienne]

I caught that lie too, Petunia, and was amazed that anyone who is purported to be intelligent thought he could get away with it. As David Geffen says about the Clintons, "All politicians lie but these people do it so easily that it's terrifying­."

[OverIt]

I don't remember anyone from the Obama campaign or even someone loosely affiliated with the campaign saying that Bill Clinton is racist.

You don't have to be racist, however, to insinuate that Obama's victory in South Carolina was not particularly indicative of his overall electability by alluding to an earlier precedent by another black candidate --- Jesse Jackson --- who won that state but did not fare well in later contests.

Racist, no.

An attempt to marginalize Obama as a candidate who can shore up the black vote but will likely not win enough votes overall to make a difference, HECK YEAH!

Bill Clinton would do himself a big favor by just admitting this... to himself mostly. There are more recent examples of candidate who won early contests but fizzled out. He did not cite them. Bill Clinton reached all the way back to 1988 --- 20 years earlier --- for the example of Jesse Jackson. It is an insult to those of us who want to give him the benefit of a doubt that he can't admit that the parallel he drew was partly on account of race.

[vsign]

I trust that Bill's perspective of this primary will make most sit up and think. Maybe just the threat of Bill telling his story will get the press to stop their groveling at Obama's feet. But I don't really think so. Everyone is making too much money off The One right now. The press has been disgusting except for conservatives. They have actually made sense this season. But I trust that Bill will make the most sense. The Democratic Party leadership, by anointing Obama, gave up more than even democratic principles. They helped define racism differently (aka Trinity Church). The One is the one who thinks he is entitled because of race. Let Bill tell the story of who the real racists are - a year from now.

[Makesense]

I don't like Bill Clinton because of his behavior and big ego. I would argue though that he was one of the best presidents of this country. But Obama would be one of the best and one of the most responsible and humble presidents of America if elected. To make this happen, please let us not bring Bill too much into the picture because it is risky for Obama.

[olivia]

The Clintons are not racists. They only attempted to appeal to the racism in voters for a very brief time, out of desperation.

[superbust]

agreed

[neve]

I don't think Bill CIinton is a "racist" any more than he is "sexist." He is a man who feels he is entitled to the things he wants, and if it means throwing ANYONE under the bus or having affairs with a woman younger than his wife, who happened to be the First Lady of the United States at the time, then, well....