Publication: Progressive Review
Democrats Face Racial Issue Again | |
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THE PROGRESSIVE REVIEW - March 17, 2008
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Democrats Face Racial Issue Again
By Patrick Healy and Jeff Zeleny
The New York Times
After the Democratic primary in South Carolina turned
racially divisive in January, Senators Hillary Rodham
Clinton and Barack Obama essentially declared a truce
and put a stop to fighting between their camps. But
this week, race has once again begun casting a pall
over the battle between the two.
On Wednesday a close ally of Mrs. Clinton, Geraldine A.
Ferraro, the Democratic vice-presidential nominee in 1984
who was on the Clinton finance committee, resigned from
the campaign after being criticized by Mr. Obama's
advisers, among others, for her recent comments that "if
Obama was a white man, he would not be in this position"
as a leading presidential contender.
Ms. Ferraro did not disavow that remark. Mrs. Clinton,
while calling it regrettable, did not break with her.
Mr. Obama, speaking to reporters on Wednesday, said he
did not believe that there was "a directive in the Clinton
campaign saying, 'Let's heighten the racial elements in
the campaign.' I certainly wouldn't want to think that."
He said he was puzzled at how, after more than a year of
campaigning, race and sex are at the forefront as never
before.
"I don't want to deny the role of race and gender in our
society," he said. "They're there, and they're powerful.
But I don't think it's productive."
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Yet race, as well as sex, have been unavoidable subtexts
of the Democratic campaign since the two candidates began
seeking to be the first African-American or the first
woman to lead a party's presidential ticket. In the
primaries and caucuses this winter, too, Mrs. Clinton
has enjoyed substantial support from women, while Mr.
Obama has increasingly drawn overwhelming votes from
blacks.
The Tuesday primary in Mississippi, a state where the
electorate has historically been racially polarized,
generated one of the most divided votes. Mrs. Clinton
received 8 percent of the black vote, and Mr. Obama
received 26 percent of the white vote, according to exit
polls by Edison/Mitofsky for The Associated Press and
television networks.
Mrs. Clinton's advisers said Wednesday that they were
concerned about her standing among blacks, once a core
constituency for her and her husband, but that they also
believed that black support for Mr. Obama was a foregone
conclusion at this point.
They said they were wrestling with ways to make inroads
with blacks in Pennsylvania, which holds the next primary,
on April 22.
Mrs. Clinton's reluctance to sideline Ms. Ferraro, who
made her comments last week to The Daily Breeze in
Torrance, Calif., left the specter of race hanging over
the Democratic contest.
That decision drew a sharp rebuke on Wednesday from the
Rev. Al Sharpton, the black political leader in New York
and a former presidential candidate, who questioned
whether Mrs. Clinton's campaign was keeping the issue
alive as a way to win white votes in Pennsylvania.
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In addition to Ms. Ferraro's remark, Mr. Sharpton cited
Mrs. Clinton's decision not to fire her top ally in
Pennsylvania, Gov. Edward G. Rendell, for saying in
February that some white voters there were "probably
not ready to vote for an African-American candidate."
"When you hear the lack of total denunciation of Ferraro,
when you hear Rendell saying there are whites who will
never vote for a black, one has to wonder if the Clinton
campaign has a Pennsylvania strategy to appeal to voters
on race," Mr. Sharpton said in an interview. "I would
hope Mrs. Clinton would make it clear that she is not
doing that."
Mr. Sharpton ran against Ms. Ferraro in 1992 in New York
in a primary for a Senate seat.
Howard Wolfson, the Clinton campaign's communications
director, said in response: "She has made it clear. She
makes it clear all the time."
From virtually the start of the contest between Mrs.
Clinton and Mr. Obama in January 2007, they have sought
to move beyond race and sex, acknowledging that their
possible nominations would be historic, yet saying they
were running on their qualifications.
At the same time, each has used the issue against the
other. Mr. Obama's advisers suggested that Mrs. Clinton
was playing the sex card last fall after a brutal debate
where several male contenders criticized her.
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Mrs. Clinton's advisers and former President Bill Clinton
suggested that black candidates like Mr. Obama had done
well in South Carolina because of support among African-
Americans there.
Although Mr. Obama did not directly call on Ms. Ferraro
to quit the campaign finance committee, his aides worked
to keep the issue alive. They set up a conference call
with reporters to draw attention to the comment.
On Wednesday, Mr. Obama called the remark wrongheaded but
said he did not believe that Ms. Ferraro intended it to
be racist.
"The Clinton campaign has talked more during the course
of the last few months about what groups are supporting
her and what groups are supporting me and trying to make
a case that the reason she should be the nominee is that
there are a set of voters that Obama might not get," he
said. "And that seems to track in a certain racial
demographic."
Mr. Obama's advisers noted that his support among whites
in Mississippi increased, to a small degree, over that in
South Carolina, when some Democrats had feared that Mr.
Obama could be called a candidate who appealed just to
black voters.
Race has been a defining feature of the primary contests.
Beyond Mississippi, Mrs. Clinton was backed by 5 percent
of black voters in Illinois, Mr. Obama's home state; 8
percent in Wisconsin, where black voters made up 8 percent
of the Democratic primary vote; 9 percent in Delaware;
10 percent in Virginia; and 11 percent in Georgia, all
states Mr. Obama won.
Mr. Obama's 26 percent support among whites in Tuesday's
primary was one of his worst performances with this group.
He had previously been supported by 16 percent of white
voters in Arkansas; 23 percent in Florida, where the
candidates did not actively campaign; 24 percent in South
Carolina, where John Edwards was still competing; and
25 percent in Alabama.
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Dalia Sussman contributed reporting.
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