Obama Needs a History Lesson about Hillary and King

The Obama camp did it again. They manufactured yet another issue out of a non-issue when they pounded Hillary Clinton for supposedly defiling Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. by minimizing his role in the civil rights struggle. Here's Hillary's terrible sin per the Obama campaign crowd: she said that Dr. King's dream was realized when President Lyndon Johnson shoved the 1964 Civil Rights Bill through Congress. This was anything but a put down of King.

Hillary paid tribute to King for laying the groundwork for the civil rights bill and gave justifiable credit to Johnson for ramming the bill through a bickering, divided and very recalcitrant Congress. Her point was that presidents that have their public policy priorities screwed on right can make changes, monumental changes, for good.

If Hillary could be faulted for anything it's that she didn't go far enough. If Johnson hadn't forcefully intervened and jawboned, prodded, arm twisted, and embarrassed the slew of wavering and hostile Congressmen to the bill into supporting the bill, or at least tempering their opposition to it, King's dream would have remained just that, an empty dream. King recognized that. In a Playboy interview in 1965, he said this about Johnson: "He has demonstrated his wisdom and commitment in coming to grips with the problem (racial discrimination). My impression is that he will remain a strong president for civil rights." History amply proved that, and Johnson despite his Vietnam War tumble from historical grace, still is regarded as the president that did more for civil rights than any other president.

But I'd go even further still. King gets much deserved praise and is much honored for igniting the national fervor for civil rights and galvanizing thousands to put their bodies on the line in the civil rights battles. Yet, there's an ugly side and often forgotten note to that. The street marches and demonstrations also stirred the first tremors of white backlash. The George Wallace surge in the North, the open hostility of many Northern whites to housing and school integration, and the Republican reawakening in the South was a direct outcropping of the civil rights push. This stiffened the spines of Southern Democrats and conservative Northern Republicans who dug their heels in and flatly opposed the bill, piled amendment after crippling amendment onto the bill initially, and employed every legal and parliamentary dodge and stall tactic they could dredge up to delay a vote on it, if not to kill it outright.

King could do nothing about this. JFK who introduced the bill couldn't do anything about it either. He was at his wits end after months and months of Congressional ducking and dodging on the bill about how to get it moving. By the time Johnson took office, following JFK's murder, the bill was still born in Congress. There was every chance that it could be shelved. However, Johnson would have none of that. He was a Southerner and he knew the mood and temper of the South. From his decades in the Senate he knew where the political skeletons were buried and how to rattle them. He did what King and Kennedy didn't have a prayer of doing, he got the sympathetic ear of enough Southerners to take some of the steam out of their vehement opposition to the bill. The rest of course is history. The Civil Rights Bill, not King's marches and demonstrations, broke the back of legal segregation in America and became the watchword for progressive, visionary social legislation for decades to come.

King and all the top civil rights leaders knew that history had been made with the passage of the bill, and that the man that played the towering role in making that history was LBJ A t the signing ceremony for the bill, King and the other civil rights leaders beamed when Johnson handed them the pens after the signing. They effusively praised him for his tireless effort.

Hillary's statement was a simple, honest, and respectful nod to Johnson for his indispensable part in making civil rights a legal fact and reality in America. This was the same nod that King and the civil rights leaders made more than four decades ago to him.

This is a nod that the Hillary haters have forgotten or deliberately distorted in their clinical obsession to smash mouth every Hillary utterance. This is a history lesson that Hillary got right about King and Johnson, and one that the Obama campaign flunked badly.

Earl Ofari Hutchinson is an author and political analyst. His forthcoming book is "The Ethnic Presidency: How Race Decides the Race to the White House" (Middle Passage Press, February, 2008).

Comments

[MartiP]

The Clintons are not racist, any more than John Kerry was a gutless coward.

These accusations by Obama's camp are Swiftboating of the nastiest, ugliest sort.

I am completely disgusted with Obama at this point. His playing of the song "99 Problems But A B**ch Ain't One" at one of his events confirmed it. Ugh.

[resonate]

How come everyone analysing Hillary's statements won actually quote what she said. I keep seeing paraphrasing and cropped quotes like the NY times. She came across as having said MLKs dreams only "began to be realised" when the president pushed it through. It took a president to do it. That to me didn't give a lot of credit to the organising, marching, efforts of the people who had to scream at the presidents for years to so anything about it in the first place!

[nyawker]

This phony race tussle has helped me make up my mind. I'm voting for Clinton, and if she's not the nominee, I'd rather have McCain with a big Democratic majority in both houses. So now Obama's a victim? Give me a break.

The kind of ignorant hateful rants I read on here remind me that the whacks on my side are every bit as dangerous as whacks on theirs. I blame it on the ignorance of the typical American voter, who has reduced politics to pretty faces and catchy slogans.

[deadskunk]

It is sad the Obama team started playing the "race" card in the spin room after the NH loss. Mr. Obama needs to end the false argugemet that HRC is a racist if he expects to be considered a serious national canidate. Until this cynical move by his campain, I was considering a vote for Obama. Not now!

[buddyd]

Finally real facts.. How can we get this article on the evening news..Plea­se send it to Roland Martin, Donna Brasile,Tom Joyner and the rest of the crew.. They cannot hide their own Bias. If Obama wasn't runnig for Pres, The same Black radio And Tv Personalities would be fighting to get Bill And Hillary on their show. Now all of a sudden it's all Obama. I don't have a problem with who they support indivually, However, when you try to steer an entire listening group to see it your way by misrepresenting the truth, I have a problem with that..Thin­k of all the White people who have been an still supporting Sen Obama. At some popnt they will beging to fade away because of the unfairness this is all bringing about.Mr Obama doesn't need the help of the talk show group. He can make it on his own.. I am an African American who who will be voting for Hillary.. Leave Ms.Clinton and Mr Obama Alone and may the best Women or Man win.

[CitizenE]

This whole thing is about the endless pc ing of America. The real question should be whose ideas and leadership can effect the most positive change. How and why Edwards is continously left out of the loop is the most perplexing question of the campaign; for me campaign posturing and the perpetual media hype of same is a non stop index finger to the tonsils for anyone who is really serious about the current state of affairs in the US and the world.

[AnnaList]

HOW DARE YOU! It was Martin Luther King et.elt.el., supporters, here and abroad, who brought about the Change, the impetus for LBJ to have signed the Civil Rights Act. Hillary did attempt to marginalize, the actions of Dr. King, the "Dreamer." Like Geo W. Bush, the Clintons speak and act without thinking about the impact of what they do or say.
Bob Johnson too, has come to the defense of Clinton. A man who made his fortune by and degrading women, on BET. He is in the right camp. The Cesspool Camp, similar to the actions of Bill in the White House. Hillary allowed it. Where was her strength or her princibles then? In her desire to eventually become president, she was willing to allow Bill to disgrace the Office of the President, the country, her and their daughter. If she had taken a strong position then, she would have shown a degree of courage and spared the country. Hillary acted in her own self-interest; she wants power. She did not act in the best interest of the country then, and she is again acting in her self-interest now. Yes, judgement counts! Yes, principles count! Neither of which has Hillary shown in private nor in public.

As Bill shook his finger at the voters of N.H. , saying what Mr. Obama said was a "fairytale," I was reminded it was that same finger pointed at us, when he said, "I did not have sex with "That" women. That, was the real "fairytale­."

It was the Clintons who pushed for NAFTA and "Favored Nation Status for China, both of which have left us with bad trade deals, and the loss of American jobs. It was the Clintons who allowed the then Treasury Sec'y to manipulate the banking system, allowing speculation which led to the current melt down in the Real Estate mkt. Sub-prime loans, the loss of homes are the result. Over 40% of those now adversely affected by the mortgage melt-down are black folks. Look more closely at the record.

[SamanthaJaneSalem]

Right now Obama is too busy making history to be reading much history.

But once this is all over-- not that there would be any free time for President Obama-- he can go back and read King's _Why We Can't Wait_ (if Obama hasn't memorized it already).

And what about Malcolm X? Now a black Christian who took his oath of office on the Bible can't escape being called a Muslim, as if that is a crime in America. But Malcolm X and black Muslims contributed a great deal to the civil rights movement too. So as long as Hillary is trying to set history straight, maybe she should talk about Malcolm X's words "Anyone can sit down but it takes a man [sic] to take a stand" and his words against America's imperialis­m/colonial­ism.

Anyway, can't Obama unite the country now (without being smeared as being too nice to neocons) and we'll sort out all this history later?

[heyjoe]

WHO ARE YOU TALKING TO? OBAMA HASN'T SAID A WORD ABOUT THIS NONSENSE. GOOD TRY THOUGH, MR. HUTCHINSON.

[sanglug]

How complex the contortions required to turn this into a spat. Obama did not comment. His campaign has not pounded anybody, though some leaders in the African American community have. Stop trying to marginalize Obama and fracture the Democratic party.

[stlrfan]

LBJ's foreign policy was a disaster but, as far as domestic issues were concerned,I think it could be argued that he was the FDR of his generation. LBJ worked with and finally enabled Dr. King and his crusade and we are all better for it. Perhaps some of this is lost on Mr.Obama and subsiquent generations because they grew up taking for granted the new realities forged by these great men.

[ReggaeFan]

** Another example of the media echo chamber ** Somebody help me, please. When did the Obama camp make this an issue??? All I remember is Black folks everywhere being pissed off at Hillary's and Bill's comments. I do not recall Obama talking about this except when he was asked about it because HILLARY keeps sayiing Obama is making it an issue. Dirty trick #7 by the Clinton camp, or is it the tail wagging the dog?

[awb]

actually the author may need a history lesson on the Clintons--

They put out in the air poison - they make comments they are not proud of --

and instead of saying - let me clarify or I made a mistake -- they are willing to let the poison simmer

Obama was in a lose-lose situation --
If his campaign doesn't defend themselves the bad info stays out there - if he does defend himself - you get blogs like this

The Clinton's have perfected the lawyerly strategy "ASKED and ANSWERED" --

They ask and answer their own questions - and never take responsibility for their actions

Isn't it time to move on?

[TellingTruth2Kooks]

Hey Earl, riddle me this?

Is the Black American family better off since the LBJ Era?

While some Black Americans have prospered very well, isn't 3 out of 4 black children born to unwed mothers these days?

Isn't there more Black Men in Prison than in College?

Isn't the Black on Black crime figures so enormous that they completely overshadow any of the Horrors that were wrought by the KKK?

Doesn't the Tradegy of Katrina, and the current status of our Inner Cities, show the Whole world the Fecklessness of Democratic Socialism, and how those well meaning programs have basically destroyed the Black American Family?

How much more of this Nonsense, do you think that LBJ, MLK, and Hillary Clinton idea of racial harmony, can the average Black American stand?

Black Americans fought tooth & nail for the right to vote, and have voted for Democrats ever since, and just what do they have to show for it?

Racial Genocide?

[lgillooly]

Tell the media to stop trying to pick a fight and stir the pot. This election is huge.Our country is in big trouble and this nonsensical gossip need to stop. I vote that we get rid of the idiot pundits we have and start fresh.