The Clintons Downplay Obama

As you may already know, Sen. Barack Obama beat Sen. Hilary Clinton and Sen. John Edwards last night in the South Carolina primary. Obama received 55 percent of South Carolina’s support, while Clinton got 27 percent and Edwards 18 percent. However, to the Clintons, Obama’s victory in South Carolina is insignificant. Prior to the results of the primary, former President Bill Clinton was quoted as saying,
"Jesse Jackson won South Carolina in 84 and 88... Jackson ran a good campaign. And Obama ran a good campaign here."
It seems as though Clinton was not only insulting Obama’s campaign, but seemed to be implying that because Jesse Jackson had won the South Carolina primary in the past, South Carolina’s vote cannot be taken seriously. Based on this statement, and because South Carolina is known for its large percentage of Blacks that come out to vote in the democratic primaries, one can only conclude that the Clintons are in fact playing racial politics--which they earnestly claim to not be doing. There were in fact, a large amount of Blacks that came out to support Obama--55 percent of Blacks came out to vote, and of that percentage, 78 percent voted for Obama.
Regardless of the racial politics that the Clintons choose to immerse themselves in, Obama is taking it all in stride. He responded to Clinton’s statement with,
“ Jesse Jackson ran historic races in 1984 and 1988, and there's no doubt that that set a precedent for African Americans running for the highest office in the land," Obama said. "I think people want change. I think they want to get beyond some of the racial politics that, you know, has been so dominant in the past."
It must truly be difficult to be in Obama’s shoes. Sen. Barack Obama has a serious campaign, but as usual his race is taking precedent over his character. In Election 2008, I only hope that individuals can get past there own ignorance and truly see each presidential hopeful for their campaign, and not their race, gender or who their husband is. We should be voting for individuals whose beliefs coincide with out own.

Congratulations to Sen. Barack Obama!

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