Barack Obama not only won South Carolina, he dominated South Carolina despite serious campaigning by both Hilary and Bill. In response to the overwhelming defeat in S.C., Bill said "Jesse Jackson won South Carolina in '84 and '88. Jackson ran a good campaign. And Obama ran a good campaign here." Obviously we know where Jackson's campaigns went from there.
I don't want to read too much into that line but it appears that Bill is attempting to paint Obama as the "black candidate" and marginalize his campaign as nothing more than a sideshow before the Hilary nomination. But the Obama/Jackson comparison doesn't, in my opinion, hold water and here's why:
Unlike Jackson, Barack has not attempted to pit Black America against White America. He has acted as a beacon between the races, attracting support across both race and gender lines. Jackson's primary support was that of Black America because he continually denegrated whites as attempting to suppress the black voice.
Obama also has money. Jackson was never a major fundraising threat. Obama, with high powered supporters like Oprah, has been able to build quite a war chest to maintain the battle beyond S.C. and is able to campaign in all the Super Tuesday states against the Clinton War Machine.
Bill Clinton is obviously trying to turn the Democratic primaries into a White vs. Black race with his jabs towards race at every opportunity. For an enlightened party, the Democratics sure have become affixed on race in this campaign. Maybe it's because they don't have any real issues to show their differences. I should point out that I still believe Hilary will be the eventual nominee but it could get much, much uglier than I ever had envisioned.
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I think when that terrible poet Maya Angelo dubbed Bill the "first black president," he took it too seriously.
All Obama has to do is smile and wave, the Clinton's are destroying themselves.
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