With all due respect to Toni Morrison, Bill Clinton is about as black as Ryan Seacrest, and even if he were an octoroon on the low, his antics over the past few weeks prove even he could benefit from a few after school specials on racial tolerance.
If Melissa Harris-Lacewell’s article on Black Americans’ love for the Clinton family being based on the myth that Blacks surged under his administration didn’t do enough to get some people to reevaluate Bill Clinton, perhaps more of his race baiting antics will.
As charming and brilliant as Bill Clinton is, he covets honesty almost as much as Britney Spears embraces sanity. He recently told NBC News, “My message has been 99.9% positive.” Perhaps, like me, he needed to hustle his way out of algebra to graduate from college, because he can’t be too good with numbers throwing out distorted stats like that.
Then again, when much of what comes out of your mouth is a distortion, you start to believe your own nonsense. On his attack-dog like stumping for his wife, the reformed chubby chaser said, “I think that when I think she’s being misrepresented, I have a right to try with factual accuracy set the record straight, which is what I’ve tried to do.” And what does Slick Willie think of his critics, like John Kerry, who claim that he’s been misrepresenting facts to demonize Obama plead his wife’s case?
“Did you notice he didn’t specify. They never do. They hurl these charges, but nothing gets specified.” Well, I can think of one thing off the bat: His mischaracterization of Barack Obama’s comments on Ronald Reagan. Saying someone had an idea isn’t the same thing as championing it. There’s your specificity, Bubba.
Now back to the race baiting. While the old 1960s, pro-establishment, let’s repeat the same old trite rhetoric over and over again until we all fall into a coma brigade that’s latched onto the Clinton campaign mouths off to the press that it was Barack Obama’s camp that took the issue of race and pushed it to the forefront of this primary season, anyone able to discern truth from bullshit can see who the true culprit is.
On Saturday, before the results, when the reporter asked Billy Boy what it said about Obama that it took two people to beat him, he responded with, “That’s just bait, too. Jesse Jackson won South Carolina twice, in ’84 and ’88. And he ran a good campaign.”
Translation: Barack Obama is Black, Negro, Colored, African American, and that other word we can’t really say out loud. He’s purposely trying to marginalize Barack Obama as the Black candidate, with the hopes that it will play off the racial prejudices that often not so subtly permeate American culture. You can play all the saxophones in the world, but the second you push the “Southern strategy” to get ahead, you have shown your true colors.
A month ago, Barack was losing to Billary in the polls in South Carolina, but I guess when the results don’t go your way, it’s better to trivialize the results. You know, 500,000 people voting doesn’t really matter when millions vote in a week.
Yes, Jesse Jackson won both caucuses (not primaries as they are now), but as usual, Bill is being misleading. Neither of Jesse’s wins were highly contested contests; the nominations were practically already secured. You can click here to read more.
Clinton’s point no doubt was to remind us for the millionth time that Barack Obama is Black. I’m put off by the fact that instead of debating the issues, Bill and Hillary would much rather play into stereotyping and fact-distorting to get ahead. That style of politics won’t win her a majority and it won’t do any of us any good. Though her campaign says they have “unintentionally” made Barack Obama “the Black candidate,” hopefully that is not the case. Their attempt to take an intelligent, immensely talented orator that speaks of hope over fear and cynicism (no, it’s not always needed) and place him in a racial box is as insulting as it is infuriating. Hopefully people won’t fall for the okie doke, and will judge the man by who he is and what he believes in and vote accordingly.
With all due respect to Toni Morrison, Bill Clinton is about as black as Ryan Seacrest, and even if he were an octoroon on the low, his antics over the past few weeks prove even he could benefit from a few after school specials on racial tolerance. 
