Was Hillary's statement about LBJ and MLK Jr. poorly crafted with the potential to offend?

[Quixote1818]

[msongs]

1. LBJ was primarily responsible for getting Civil Rights act passed. that's a fact

he was also willing to pay the political price for his efforts because it was the right thing to do.

there is a famous quote of his about this, to the effect that the law would be passed and the democrats would lose the south for a long time.

and he was right, all the racist southern democrats became...ta da...republicans and Nixon scooped them up.

Msongs

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

2. He also killed civil rights legislation in 1957.

LBJ never would have signed anything for civil rights if it wasn't for activists like MLK Jr.

[Proud2BAmurkin]

4. Inspirational leaders inspire, experienced government officials get things done. Non racial fact.

Non racial fact.

[lisa58]

5. It really took the death of JFK ...

...for the political will of the civil rights amendment to pass.

[Quixote1818]

6. True but if I were Hillary I would have crafted the statement differently

She should have put it something like this:

"Not to take anything away from MLK Jr and all the incredible things he did etc. etc. etc. but we also need to give credit to LBJ for turning it into law."

Even Randi Rhodes who was defending Hillary doesn't know whey she brought any of this up and thought it was stupid.

[madrchsod]

13. if she would have said that then

she would`t have had the problem. she had a chance to correct her original statement but from what i have read she decided to "attack"..in my opinion that was the major error

[lisa58]

3. I think she did it because...

...she was trying to make a point that to put a "dream" in place you need a president.

The thing I don't get is that Obama is running for president so he can have a dream and put it in place.

The whole thing still confuses me.

[Quixote1818]

9. I was thinking the same thing. And what could be better for race relations than to have a black

president? :shrug:

[lisa58]

11. Exactly....

...what the Clintons fear is that they don't corner the market on civil rights anymore and they don't know how to deal with it.

I'm sure they are sincere, but they still have that ambition thing where they think they are the only ones (or just want to be the ones) that DO IT!

If Obama is the better candidate, he should have the nomination and if he's not, he's not. Let the voters decide.

Of course that hasn't happened since before the 2000 election.

[madrchsod]

14. another du`r last night said something to this effect...

she thinks change comes from the government instead of the people. i think all politicians share this view where others believe change comes from the people. i think she has held this view since she became "aware" during her high school days. her early education in her in the rights movement in chicago is interesting reading.

[Barack_America]

7. I'm going with "not on purpose" even though I think her advisors meant it...

I just don't think she did.

[lisa58]

8. That's very sweet of you n/t

[jenmito]

10. She did it to belittle Obama.

[lisa58]

12. Agreed

[jenmito]

15. Thanks...

and I agree with your posts above. Especially post #3. I've said the same exact thing. :hi:

[lisa58]

19. So why don't the MSM get it?

[jenmito]

23. They do.

"She diminished MLK's role in the civil rights movement." That's aknowledgement of her attempt to diminish Obama's "MLKness."

On edit-you probably meant the fact that Obama would be president so he'd be able to make the changes. I DID hear one pundit say as much.

[lisa58]

30. MLKness...

...nicely done. That's exactly what it is. Thanks for coining a phrase.

[jenmito]

33. Thanks...

I tried to be concise yet creative. :D

[Kahuna]

17. Right you are! nt

[jenmito]

31. Thanks, Kahuna!

:hi:

[madrchsod]

18. i have to disagree

it`s not about barrack it`s about who has the power to change-the government or the people. after reading her history during her goldwater days and her wellesley paper,i have come to the opinion she never understood the slogan-"power to the people". she has and always will believe that the people can not be trusted to effect change with in their own lives and community.

[jenmito]

22. It was ALL about Barack. That's why she later said MLK did more than deliver a great speech...

how could you not see that?

[lisa58]

27. I second that n/t

[jenmito]

32. Thanks, lisa.

:hi:

[madrchsod]

34. i try to take the high road......

barrack scares the crap out of her because she actually is being challenged on her views of race and politics that she has never had to answer. she`s skated for so long and now she actually has to defend her views. after the 60`s she decided to go the route of the government and i went the way of the power belongs to the people. that`s why i will never vote for her unless she gets the nod. ya i`m an old commie leftist sds`r that realized my "mistakes" then corrected them and never lost my principals.

[NastyRiffraff]

16. Much ado about nothing...

How long is this going to go on? It was perfectly clear to me that she was talking about the FACT that it did take the political process (via LBJ) to bring MLK's dream to a reality. In hindsight, she should have emphasized that MLK was the originator of the dream, and risked life and limb, and reputation, to push it through. But I really don't think that AT THE TIME she thought it was necessary; it was a given.

When someone (okay, just a DU-er) says that her saying she was "proud" of the country, the people and Obama himself is a racist statement, things have gone way out of proportion.

[Mark E. Smith]

20. Just bullsh*t politics

Nothing more.

[quickesst]

21. of course not.....

Personally, I think people are being given way too much credit for being intelligent enough to understand this. Maybe Hillary thought most democrats were astute enough not to interpret her statement for anything other than what it was. A fact. Thanks.
quickesst

[Quixote1818]

24. If it was so clear then why did

Skinner raise an eyebrow the first night the comment was posted? And Skinner is required to stay neutral on DU. I was a little taken back by the comment to until I took the time to really take a close look. I didn't think it was racist but it did come across as arrogant. It was clearly poorly crafted and was stupid to bring up in the first place. What did she expect to gain from such a comment?

[quickesst]

28. If Skinner...

is "required" to remain neutral, and you didn't throw that in there as mild intimidation, then he won't have any comment on my opinion. I'll even insert a "raised eyebrow at first", or an "after I took a second look" to disqualify someone from my opinion. I will not, however, exempt anyone from my opinion who cannot fathom the intent, even after days of retrospection. Thanks.
quickesst

[Zynx]

25. I do not believe anyone on this board is truly offended.

They thought they found an issue. That's it.

[Quixote1818]

26. I don't think many of us thought it was racist but it sure came across as arrogant

I am not offended just wondering what the hell she thought she would accomplish with this. :shrug:

[Cha]

29. Yeah, either hillary is

stupid or a racist and since charlie rangel is calling Obama "stupid" then they're either trying to deflect hillary's stupidity or deflect that she's trying to out rove rove.

[Quixote1818]

35. I don't get what she expected to gain from the comment

Thats why I wonder if it was carefully crafted to offend and create a fire storm but because it was basically true she could then point the finger at Obama and say he is playing the race card. It has "Rove trap" written all over it. Obama didn't take the bate but of course a couple of people on his campaign suggest it was an unfortunate comment and then she gets to go on Meet the Press and say "Obama's campaign" is turning this into a racial issue.

Hillary bringing up MLK Jr. and using poor wording while running against a black candidate? She certainly had something up her sleeve. If it was down to her and Edwards there is no way she would inject MLK Jr. And of course she then gets all these inside the beltway black supporters to attack Obama.