James Clyburn Happy to Play His Familiar Part Once More

Once again -- and for the last time -- the Democratic primary campaign has moved into a southern state, North Carolina, with a large African American population as well as a considerable university and college town liberal vote. Once again, the Barack Obama campaign and its supporters, fresh from a stinging defeat, are trying to stir up false accusations that Hillary Clinton and her campaign have cynically injected racial animosities into the campaign.

The latest round of charges about the Clintons have come from a familiar source, Representative James Clyburn of South Carolina, the highest-ranking black leader in Congress. In January, after the Obama campaign suffered stunning defeats in New Hampshire and Nevada, Rep. Clyburn, although nominally uncommitted, joined a chorus of concerted complaint about Hillary Clinton's supposed denigration of Martin Luther King, Jr. and his contributions to the 1964 Civil Rights Act because of her observation that President Lyndon Johnson had played a crucial part in guiding its passage. (Clinton's actual remarks, rarely reported, praised King enormously and were historically accurate.)

Clyburn then jumped on flimsy accusations that former President Bill Clinton had supposedly made subtle racial remarks by calling Obama's claim to unwavering opposition to administration policy in Iraq a "fairy tale," and by likening Obama's eventual victory in South Carolina to those of Jesse Jackson in 1984 and 1988. (The first had nothing whatsoever to do with race: Obama had said in 2004, 2005 and 2006 that he didn't know how he would have voted on Authorization for the Use of Military Force in Iraq because as a state senator he had no access to the intelligence, and Obama voted consistently for war funding as a U.S. senator. On the second matter -- again, rarely reported in full -- Bill Clinton's remark was delivered as part of his praise of Obama's campaign in every state, and Jackson himself publicly deemed it inoffensive.) Clinton had apparently done his wife's campaign a lot of good with his work in New Hampshire and Nevada; but the targeted attack on him had the double effect of marginalizing him while advancing the race-baiter charges.

The Obama campaign had already begun injecting race into the campaign, notably on the morning after the New Hampshire primary, when its national co-chair, Representative Jesse Jackson Jr. of Illinois, went on national television to accuse Senator Clinton of false emotion and racial intent in her tearful description of her commitment to public service. "Those tears also have to be analyzed," said Obama's co-chair. "They have to be looked at very, very carefully in light of Katrina, in light of other things that Mrs. Clinton did not cry for." And then Jackson added, disclosing his underlying political agenda: "Particularly as we head to South Carolina where 45% of African-Americans who participate in the Democratic contest." Clyburn immediately followed up, upping the ante by ripping into Bill Clinton and telling him to "chill." At the same time, an official Obama South Carolina campaign memo surfaced, which specified innocuous statements by Clinton supporters that could be twisted into race-baiting remarks -- including the wild claim, built from distorted quotations that Bill Clinton had said his wife was "stronger" than Nelson Mandela.

The charges leveled at the Clintons by Clyburn and others in South Carolina began what has become a completely predictable pattern among Obama, his campaign, and their supporters. First, Obama loses primary campaigns in key states which he had either expected to win (as in New Hampshire and then Nevada) or had worked desperately hard to win (as in Pennsylvania, where he outspent Hillary Clinton by as much as three-to-one). Then, as the campaign moved southward -- to Louisiana and then the "Potomac" primaries following Super Tuesday, to Mississippi following the March 4 Ohio and Texas primaries, and now to North Carolina -- come the furious but false charges, reported in the press as undeniable truths, that the Clinton campaign has indulged in mean-spirited race baiting, as a prelude to upcoming contests in southern states.

Some of these claims have turned out to be hoaxes, such as the release by the campaign, in the aftermath of Super Tuesday, of a supposedly scurrilous photograph of Obama in native African garb. Posted on the Drudge Report and lifted, as it turned out, from another right-wing website, Free Republic, where it initially surfaced, the appearance of the photograph was nevertheless blamed on the Clinton campaign by Obama's campaign manager David Plouffe who called it "the most shameful, offensive fear-mongering we've seen from either party in this election." (Obama himself, after dismissing the incident in a public debate with Hillary Clinton, returned to the accusation while on the stump with black voters in Mississippi.)

On other occasions, Obama suggested to mostly black audiences, in coded racial terms, that the Clintons were attempting to confuse them with their criticisms of him. Before the South Carolina, "Potomac" and Mississippi primaries, Obama cheerfully lifted the "hoodwinked, bamboozled" rant from the Spike Lee film Malcolm X, in order to convey to black voters that, whatever he might say about a "post-racial" campaign, racial solidarity against white traducers was crucial to his effort. Denzel Washington, playing Malcolm X, says: "I'm gonna tell you like it really is. Every election year these politicians are sent up here to pacify us! They're sent here and set up here by the white man! I say and I say it again, you've been had. You've been took. You've been HOODWINKED, BAMBOOZLED, led astray, run amok." Barack Obama repeatedly echoed: "Don't be hoodwinked! Don't be bamboozled!"

Other claims have either been either outright fabrications or hysterical distortions: false charges leveled by one popular pro-Obama website, Daily Kos, that the Clinton campaign "blackened" their candidate to make his look menacing by purposely darkening a another photograph of him; and the strained Geraldine Ferraro fracas, in which an awkward remark buried in the Torrance, California Daily Breeze was trumpeted nationally by prominent Obama supporters such as Keith Olbermann of MSNBC's Countdown into accusations said that the Clinton campaign had descended into the politics of a former Grand Dragon of the Ku Klux Klan, David Duke. Then there was the false claim by one of Obama's best known supporters in academia, Orlando Patterson of Harvard, published on the op-ed page of the New York Times, that there was no black child in Clinton's "3 a.m." television ad on national security, a supposedly racist move worthy of D. W. Griffith and Birth of a Nation -- when, in fact, there was a black child in that commercial.

Which brings us back to Representative Clyburn, on the eve of North Carolina, which some have called Obama's firewall state -- a state he must win convincingly in order to head off his latest slide in the primary race. Last week, Bill Clinton belatedly observed that the Obama campaign "played the race card on me" in South Carolina, and cited a conversation he had had with Jesse Jackson to prove his point. Clyburn jumped back in, getting the attention of The New York Times by charging that "black people are incensed" at Clinton and claiming that it is "an almost 'unanimous' view among African-Americans that Mr. and Mrs. Clinton are "committed to doing everything they possibly can to damage Obama to a point that he could never win." Clyburn may well be correct about perceptions of the Clintons among some black voters; but he simply hides how Obama, his campaign, and their supporters have willfully created that impression.

Remarkably, reports about the Clintons' alleged race-baiting have been reproduced so often and so uncritically in the press that they have attained the status of incontrovertible truth. Evidence and arguments to the contrary can expect either to be ignored (with their arguments dismissed, as Ryan Lizza recently and sarcastically did in The New Yorker, as "mysterious"). Or they can expect to be greeted by ad hominem attacks which do not engage the evidence, and which can even stray (as I have learned directly) into attacks on the author as a racist -- the sort who, back in 1860, sneered at Abraham Lincoln as a "Black Republican." There is no honest dialogue on this issue: only constant reiteration by Obama's supporters of the undeniable truth of the charges against the Clintons, and the personal disparaging of any who dare call the charges into question.

Yet, there are, to be sure, some stray signs that the press may be catching on to what is going on here. After Rep. Clyburn's latest tirade, Maureen Dowd of The New York Times -- who has until now been consistently anti-Clinton and pro-Obama -- raised an eyebrow in her column about Clyburn's endorsement of what Dowd called the "Tonya Harding conspiracy theory," that the Clintons and their supporters were out to destroy Obama by the foulest of means. And playing the race-baiter card runs the enormous risk of deepening the racial divide that will make it more difficult for Obama to appeal to white voters, as it has in the past.

But there may not be time for the Obama campaign to worry about that, given the Pennsylvania results, given the possible outcomes in Indiana, West Virginia, and Kentucky, and given the growing perception (deepened by the continuing outbursts by the Rev. Jeremiah Wright) that Obama may not be electable in November. Incensing black voters in North Carolina -- as well as college and university liberals in the Chapel Hill-Durham area -- would be one way to gain the large majority that Obama needs to regain his footing. And so, yet again, the by now routine charges against the Clintons as race-baiters reappear -- with Representative Clyburn of neighboring South Carolina happy to play his by now familiar part once more.

Comments

[2farnorth]

So a close Clinton supporter makes obviously racist and divisive remarks and it's the Obama campaign that plays the race card? I'm positive they didn't put those words in Kantor's mouth or those sentiments in his heart. This will dog her until the end of the Democratic primary which she will lose and the only one to blame is Kantor. Kind of brings into question her judgment now too doesn't it? ;) Oh the irony!

[dawn2dusk]

Whatever, already! My stomache is gurgling from all the pathetic spinning out there.
OBAMA 08/12

[PNolan]

Thank you, Mr. Wilentz. Of all the people whose remarks and behavior I have been saddened by during this primary, Rep. Clyburn's is surely at the top of my list.

[RichLiberal]

Bravo, Prof Wilentz. The truth of the Obama campaign's reverse race baiting (taking otherwise neutral statements out of context and pretending that they are racist and rallying people around being offended at the so-called racist speech) is finally coming out thanks to your efforts.

And I think you have hit the nail on the head w James Clyburn. Apparently Clyburn has played this game before, in particular in the 2006 Congressional campaign.

Here is a story people concerned about Clyburn's casting of aspersions that the Clintons are racist should be interested in:
http://www.reason.com/news/show/121218.html
"Bogus Claims of Bigotry
Does dissing Charles Rangel make you a racist?
Steve Chapman | July 5, 2007"
...
"But lately, we keep hearing that such attacks stem not from normal political competition but from lingering bigotry. That was the claim of Rep. James Clyburn, from South Carolina, during last year's congressional campaign"
...
"Clyburn said that when Republicans warned that a Democratic House would give key chairmanships to Charles Rangel of New York and. John Conyers of Michigan, they were unfairly "bringing race into the equation." "
"But they were not exactly singled out in the 2006 campaign. Even more popular GOP targets were Nancy Pelosi and Barney Frank"
"Republicans also trumpeted the danger of Senate committees being taken over by Ted Kennedy, John Kerry, Carl Levin and Patrick Leahy"

Clearly Clyburn is being selective in his choice of quotes for the purpose of advancing his own agenda.

[Centaur]

Mr. Wilentz, I suppose the reasoning for your article is to try and sway people to your candidate. However, I don't think it helps your case much by attacking Mr. Clyburn. He is one of the few truly honorable men in congress today and in fact, he hasn't endorsed anyone when he could have easily chosen Obama based solely on Obama's solid win in his state. He also warned the Clintons, Bill in particular, about trying to play the "race card" but to no avail and now Hillary is paying the price and will continue to do so.

[kcnativnla]

Willfully, and woefully ignorant.

The Democrats will not win in the fall without the 92% of blacks that vote for them. Period. And I don't know ANY who are going to vote for Clinton. But hey, according to this guy, we're all imagining what we're seeing with our own eyes.

It takes a pretty disgusting human being to run the type of campaign the Clintons have been running. I wouldn't vote for Hillary if Satan himself was on the Republican ticket.

[BubbaC33]

So typical of Obama supporters, attack without providing anything specific. What about the Clinton campaign is disgusting? It was the Obama campaign blaming Ms. Clinton for the death of Benazir Bhutto. It was the Obama campaign falsely calling the CLintons racists. Obama went negative first and has persisted in a negative campaign.

[MPeter]

I don't think you understand Rep. Clybern. Do some research before you go blubbering. You sound like a paid off hack peddling the Clinton nonsense. Pleasen stay clear of Rep. Clybern. He is too honorable.

[ishmael]

"In January, after the Obama campaign suffered stunning defeats in New Hampshire and Nevada,"

Are rational people actually supposed to take you seriously? History doesn't change quite that fast, even for the Clintons. No one thought New Hampshire was even remotely in play for Obama until his victory in Iowa the week before. Clinton had been the "inevitable" nominee for months, and Obama's 8000-vote loss hardly seems stunning by any measure. And I would remind you that Nevada was a caucus primary in a red state - by Clinton's own standards, that's about as meaningless as it gets.

[hank48188]

Obama and his crew thought N.H. was a lock for them , all the polls said Obama would win, then his stunning loss shocked him. Next was S.C., many blacks said he wasn't "Black Enough" so Obama played the race card and started channeling Malcolm and Farrakhan, using the favorite words they used to incite Black Crowds, BAMBOOZELED, HOODWINKED, and OKIE-DOKE. His Black vote shot up to 90% because the blacks saw that Obama was down with Farrakhan. Obama had a big win there, most DEMS in S.C. are black so with 90% of the black vote he won. No eletoral votes in S.C. for DEMS though, that's a RED State

[sandiaview]

Are you blind and deaf? Willfully ignorant that is what you are. As one earlier comment said
"African Americans know race baiting when they see it". No one needs Obama or Clyburn to point it out. That is why Bill and Hillary may be the most dismissed people in the African-American Community and my friend that's not going to change. Sister Soulja & the "Execution" were criticized but the underlying message was not brought home until this election. Nope..that ship of voters has sailed and even John McCain can't steer that bloc back to the Clintons' Port.

[CommanderWhitehead]

William J. Clinton's infamous Bankruptcy Bill was a bit of an assault on many poor, working, African American families.

(He was channeling and indeed besting the old wobbly-headed "Gipper' on that one.)

Don't cha think, Sean, old buddy?

[Highwind]

Umm, Bill Clinton said that Barack Obama played the race card on him, when confronted on the issue he said he didn't say that. He was on the radio saying that exact thing. Bill Clinton has problems.

[elbzee]

Must be the water they drink.

[Obama2008]

The first injection of racial stereotyping in this campaign happened when Hillary Clinton's co-chair in New Hampshire gave an interview to a major news publication and stated that if Barack Obama experimented with drugs as a youth, how could we be sure that he was not a drug dealer?

Racism has become more sophisticated in the 21st century, but it exists in full force. I do not believe for one minute that Bill or Hillary Clinton are racist, however I do believe completely that they have injected race in subtle and not so subtle ways. They are desperate to win, and are willing to sacrifice the democratic party in order to feed the insatiable narcissism that they both know so well.

So don't tell me that the Clinton's did not open Pandora's box on this one. They did, and the evil has hovered above us all ever since.

[BubbaC33]

The Clintons have not injected racism into this campaign, it was Obama himself who did this. Obama was the first to go negative and personal. It injected racism into the campaign. And yet you have the gall to claim Obama is above all of this, but the Clintons are so desperate to win they will do anything. What a load.

[Obama2008]

Bubba:
The facts are the facts. Mr. Shaheen, Clinton co-chair in New Hampshire, began the conversation. Google it. Educate yourself. Overcome your Bubba-ness.

We will have a black man as our next president. And you, as well of the rest of us, will be just fine.

[standforpeace]

One thing that can be said about Friends of Bill -- they are far more loyal and concerned about him than he has ever shown himself to be to anyone including his wife and child. But in your loyalty to the Clinton clan, you simply cloud over the bigger picture. Bill and Hill have made a career of subtle race-based appeals to whites. It was there in the Sista Souljah moment (because she was just a nobody until Bill pounced on her) and in the way that Bill publicly left the campaign trail to get back to Arkansas to sign the death warrant for a mentally retarded prisoner.

In this campaign, it runs much deeper than Hillary or Bill's comments to a gameplan that is now grounded solely in the notion that working class whites simply won't vote for a Black guy so the Super Delegates have to give her the nomination. In other words, instead of challenging racism, she is celebrating it and indeed staking all of her hopes on it. And that is both despicable and unforgiveable. And no spin you try to put on it is going to change that reality.

[RAND7044]

No were not as stupid as you think. Hillary, not Barrack, startedout with 85% of the AA vote. Sge would have lost to him amount AA's at the same percentage that he has lost women to her, however, the shrewd Clinton Clan, in effort to gin up more votes in South Carolina, intentionally tried to paint him as the black candidate and get those racist white folk to vote for her. South Carolina didn't bite. Instead of getting beat by 10 or 12 points, she turned a solid defaeat into a complete ass whopping. Come to find out, folks down south don't like northerns coming down and trying to play on racial friction. What once was an unquestioned loyalty to the Clintons, AA's found out that they too can be thrown under the Clinton bus. Disheartning given the fact that AA's and the netroots ( moveon) where the ones who ran first and the loudest to Mr. Clintons defense during his impeachment fiasco. Think Clybirn is wrong ask yourself one simple question. Which party was the one most responsible for ending slavery? Why is that relevant? Because black folk are loyal, probably to a fault, however once we give up on you, thats it. When's the last time AA"s voted enmass for republicans/ The democratic party heed the warning?

[northcan]

This is stupid journalism. Imagine writing a column like this the day after Obama disowns Wright. Sounds something like the a favored block of American voters won't vote for Obama, because they are totally comfortable with Clinton over Isreal. Why stir up all of this. First Clinton camp, right wing camp, news about Hillary and Bill that doesn't get coverage, now this. Voter's want to get off this topic. Always trouble in paradise. Barack has not been playing the race card. First time Clinton camp about drugs, then hannity's glee over Jeremiah, media not exposing Clinton camp, South Carolina, madrasa thing, picture from right wing group in native dress. Was this column necessary. I swear if it's not one part of the Clinton garbage it's another.

Hillary really has had free ride in this whole thing....she is so unpopular with voters, but the movers and shakers want her in. That eliminates the voters vote doesn't it? That is saying we really are controlling the elections so do your thing, go vote but we'll decide. I'm beginning to get a real clear uncomfortable feeling about the media.

[pagopago]

Funny how you right wing sympathizers just love to stir the pot. Go back to O'Reilly and Hannity, and tell them the fish aren't biting.