Obama: I Don't Think Clintons Made "Deliberate Effort" To Racialize Campaign
In his interview with Fox News Sunday, which is airing right now, Obama said flatly that he didn't think there's been a deliberate effort by the Clintons to racialize the campaign.
Obama was asked by Fox's Chris Wallace whether he agreed with James Clyburn's recent criticism of Bill Clinton on this score, or whether he thinks there's been a deliberate effort by the Clintons in general to play the "race card" in the campaign.
"I don't think there's been a deliberate effort," Obama said, adding that he takes the former President "at his word."
Pressed by Wallace on whether Bill's South Carolina comparison of Obama to Jesse Jackson constituted racializing the campaign, the furthest Obama would go was to say that Bill was "somewhat dismissive."
Separately, recall that a senior Obama adviser promised that Obama would "take Fox on" in today's interview. It hasn't happened yet, but stay tuned.
Overall, the interview is going well so far. I thought it was going to be far more combative.
April 27, 2008 9:22 AM | Reply | Permalink
I don't know, but I'm getting the feeling this was, indeed, a good idea to go on Fox. Wallace seems determined to make himself un-ABC like in his approach, and Obama seems confident and obliging. I'm not seeing a "take on Fox" attitude here but I'm also not seeing a "take on Obama" attitude, either.
Obama's going for those GOP crossovers....
April 27, 2008 9:36 AM | Reply | Permalink
"HE KICKED ASS" David Axelrod
I think Barry kicked that potted plants ass in todays debate, moderated by Chris Wallace. We are lining up a series of these debates which will showcase Barry's dynamic platitude dance steps.
Next Up: Barry debates a bowl of plastic fruit.
VOTE YOUR CONSCIENCE
NOT YOUR GUILTY CONSCIENCE
April 27, 2008 3:33 PM | Reply | Permalink
Ok, the interview is over and I am calling it a success. Wallace did a great job and Barack was able to communicate his message clearly.
April 27, 2008 9:45 AM | Reply | Permalink
Hmmm...the follow-up punditry didn't seem particularly off-putting, either. Frankly, while I don't share Kristol's passion for Hillary, I do agree with the panelists that Obama needs to "get out there" more in these final days and be more assertive about his own solutions to problems - and to give us his take on important issues in the news (as blogger Gary Cohen suggested). Hillary's out there for her own swan song reasons, but her resulting hogging of the limelight is something Obama should not allow, particularly because he is, as he noted, still far lesser known.
Overall, not a bad interview for Obama, and he got a few good tips on how to make his winning campaign look even more like a winner.
April 27, 2008 10:04 AM | Reply | Permalink
I've got an idea, how about a debate so he can "get his ideas out there".
Obama cannot speak off script. The measured reviews by Obamites reveal there fear that whenever he has to speak off script there is a real fear that he will be shown for what he is, an empty suit, a facade, an actor, a liability.
For Fox this was a setup. Wallace was measuring Obama for Round 2. Should Obama be the nominee they will slaughter him during a general election interview.
What's this about Obama going on ESPN for color commentary?
April 27, 2008 11:57 AM | Reply | Permalink
Obama was being diplomatic, I bet he knows damn well that they tried to race-bait him:
http://www.thepersonalispolitical.com/2008/01/jesse-jackson-plan-or-clinton-plan-b.html
April 27, 2008 10:23 AM | Reply | Permalink
Fortunately, Russert asked Dean all the race questions about the Clinton campaign.
April 27, 2008 10:30 AM | Reply | Permalink
Indeed he was.
Something the author of this post does not quite understand yet.
April 27, 2008 10:38 AM | Reply | Permalink
Finally, the truth from Obama.
KO and Clyburn owe the Clintons another apology and KO is the worst person in the world.
April 27, 2008 10:46 AM | Reply | Permalink
Real inventive in your thinking.
April 27, 2008 12:20 PM | Reply | Permalink
Actually they dont owe the Clintons an apology at all, because they are correct! Obama has to take the high road when it comes to race, because morons like you will call him racist if he calls people out on their bs.
April 27, 2008 6:55 PM | Reply | Permalink
Obama does not take responsibility for the actions of his campaign and supporters: there is an early report of a named staffer attempting to goad the media into reporting on Bill, there is an early four page memo listing alleged racial gaffes of any and all Clinton supporters while the like remarks of Obama supporters are completely ignored and all noises out of the Obama campaign suggests that the atmosphere there is that Clinton is monster for campaigning. Throughout it all Obama has been saying Who, Me?
He tried this 'apology' once before -- for both campaigns for something he acknowledged that his campaign had done and for something the Clintons denied doing. Obama appears to reason if I claim that they have done something by accident that they deny having done no one can accuse me Obama of making false claims. Obama is a pretty skilled liar and con artist.
We have heard repeatedly that Pennsyvania was tailor made for Hillary -- when Bill said the same thing about North Carolina that was labelled racist.
I really learned the importance of context in that one -- I found Bill's statement inoffense when played in isolation and when I read the transcript. Then TPM argued that Bill's affect was that of a Southerner making a racist hint and
gave a clip which showed Bill apparently sniggering just before he made the remark. That was possibly telling but flatly wrong -- the immediately prior sequence starts with the press aasking Bill why the two of them cannot beat Obama. The laughter is about that question not about race.
I started being dubious about voting for Obama when he used Donnie McGlurkin as a dog whistle to honmophobes, lied about his own role in setting that up and was clearly unrepentant. I would never vote for anyone who used race in that manner so why should I vote for any one who appealed to homophobia in that manner.
I hope that Obama withdraws from the race -- otherwise we Democrats (voting record and activism have earned me that proud title) will go down in November because quite a number of people like me will be voting for McCain despite the fact that we disagree with 90% of McCain's positions.
April 28, 2008 5:15 AM | Reply | Permalink
Andrea Mitchell says racism is a real issue, a real problem for Obama and shall we all sing "God Bless America" and toast the Clintons for making sure the issue became central in the primary? Doesn't that just make you feel good to be a Democrat? Real proud?
April 27, 2008 10:54 AM | Reply | Permalink
I'm impressed that Greg can write this analysis while also getting the full benefit of the continuing interview, on the overall effect of which he later pronounces.
April 27, 2008 10:59 AM | Reply | Permalink
I think Senator Obama did a nice job, and I commend him for going into the belly of the beast. He did say some things that will, I think, come back to haunt him a bit. For example, I believe he said twice that his relationshiop with Wright is "a legitimate issue".
April 27, 2008 11:31 AM | Reply | Permalink
Well, how very generous of Obama to say that the Clinton's haven't made any "deliberate effort" to racialize the campaign, considering that Obama was the one who played the race card by jumping on the "blame Hillary for belittling Martin Luther King" bandwagon at the beginning of the campaign. It's so big of him to take the high road now.
April 27, 2008 11:33 AM | Reply | Permalink
Racist Troll Alert. Otto the Aryan Nation Troll(ANT) has logged on from his Compound's Sewer System.
April 27, 2008 1:11 PM | Reply | Permalink
Hey why doesnt do this or do that....--say all the Obama haters.....So the guy goes on Fox and is asked a question about whether a former President used race in the campaign, and the attackers take his answer and say see I told you so. Now he needs to apologize to Bill Clinton....You wonder why he can sometimes be vague! Put your magnifying glasses away haters, there is nothing there. You want another debate so you can exploit something in that. Also, I wonder how Clinton would have reacted if she was asked a question like that. Would she stay above the fray....lol...I think not. You guys are unbelievable for real...and your fooling knowone!
April 27, 2008 12:16 PM | Reply | Permalink
What a great guy, causing a major slur on a past president who did so much for black people and now -- once the damage is done -- "generously" appointing himself as Bill Clinton's judge and benevolently saying that he doesn't "think" that Clinton was "deliberately" trying to racialize the campaign. Give me a break. But people saw through him in Pennsylvania and they're going to see through him both in Indiana and -- particularly in North Carolina -- where African American women are getting wise to the fact that they are in the majority! the majority of women and that vote which has already started to switch will trend toward Hillary Clinton. Obama may win in North Carolina but the margin will be significantly lower than the double digits he was showing a week ago.
April 27, 2008 2:01 PM | Reply | Permalink
keep dreaming.
th e race will end after Obama wins both states may6th.
hillary wont be able to raise a dime and bill will cut her off from the joint account since he made the money.
(young girls are expensive)
April 27, 2008 9:23 PM | Reply | Permalink
Once again, Obama refuses to lower the level of the debate. By default, this "takes on" Fox and every other news org, because all are lost in Wright. Flag. Pin. Muslim. while Sen Clinton is free to threaten a country five times the size of Iraq with 70 million people with erasure.
Non-U.S. press had a field day with that one.
No more Obliteratti.
Pax,
M.
April 27, 2008 2:05 PM | Reply | Permalink
Obama did an acceptable interview . . . He failed to deliver on his spokepersons rhetoric . . . AND gave us all reason to doubt his sanity. The Clinton campaign has done a crap-load of stuff to send this Primary seanson straight into the gaping maul of the porcelin god . . . To deny it is to show a disconnect with reality.
All in all this was a was of prime Sunday morning sleep in time. Another thing he can never repay me for . . .
April 27, 2008 2:14 PM | Reply | Permalink
the second 'was' was supposed to be WASTE.
gotNOlife,
You are insane. The reverse of platitude about one not being insane if one thinks one is is also true. You are rubber-room and keep sharp objects away.
April 27, 2008 2:20 PM | Reply | Permalink
The jury is still out on gotalife. There is evidence to suggest gotalife was written in Java, and haunts TPM like a bad web ad for car insurance. I've tried clicking on it, but the underlying programming does not appear to be responsive, much less user-friendly.
The key is the proclimation-without-debate methodology, which exposes the underlying machine, perhaps itself built by an Anglophile.
If I had the source, I could probably at least render gotalife a LITTLE more pleasant...
Pax,
M.
April 27, 2008 2:32 PM | Reply | Permalink
"So much for black people." Can you give examples?
April 27, 2008 4:07 PM | Reply | Permalink
So, what exactly is the point of this post, beyond just transcribing one small piece of this interview?
Is it to validate that the Clinton Camp has not used race in a divisive way? "See, even Obama doesn't think they've misused race." Or is it to feed this notion that Obama was a huge disappointment for not attacking Fox in their own studios, lashing out wildly against Fox, Hillary, Bill, swinging in all directions?
Inquiring minds want to know? Why was this one single piece chosen to highlight?
April 27, 2008 5:55 PM | Reply | Permalink
Partisans are missing both the forest and the trees.
I watched the Philadelphia debates. In response to questions on their respective economic plans, Senator Clinton said she would entertain raising the capital gains tax rate up to 20%; Senator Obama said he would raise the cap to 28%. At this point, seemingly trying to rescue the Senator from a major economic faux pas, Charlie Gibson instructed him that, in times of economic slowdown in the past, raising capital gains tax to more than 20% actually exacerbated the decline by reducing revenue. Nonetheless, Senator Obama stood his ground, explaining that, at least, this higher rate would be 'fairer.'
I watched Chris Wallace interview Senator Obama today on FOX. In response to questions on his economic plans, the Senator said, 'as I have said, I would raise the capital gains tax to 20%.' Mr. Wallace corrected him. 'Actually, you said you would raise this tax to 28%.' Evidently, he had watched that debacle in Philadelphia, too.
April 27, 2008 6:07 PM | Reply | Permalink
Actually, Obama said he would not let the cap exceed the highest it was during Bill Clinton's administration: 28%.
April 27, 2008 9:13 PM | Reply | Permalink
lol
greg is the bad cop here feeding the lier in chiefs fans just enough to keep them around.
cant hold that against him.
its just politics.
but not the real change the vasy majority of people that are here supporting this site are looking for.
April 27, 2008 9:11 PM | Reply | Permalink
Obama gives the Clinton's an all in free on their efforts to use race to gets vote and all we here from the Clintonistas is more bitching about Obama. They can't even get a gift without whining and trying to use it to stab him again.
April 27, 2008 10:09 PM | Reply | Permalink