One thing you have to remember about Bill Clinton when it comes to race...

[WCGreen]

Is he is a powerful white guy who is completely at home with black folks...

It's just the way he is...

I can't think of another white politician who is as comfortable with all African Americans, not just the ones who appear for Photo Opps...

When he was in Cleveland, he went into one of the most poverty stricken and crime ridden African American neighborhoods, one where there ain't no white folk for miles to be seen, he went there and was completely at ease...

I have tried hard to be that guy, the white guy who is comfortable no matter where he is, but it is hard to damp down the perceptions that still come at us, although, thank god, more subtle than when Bill and I were growing up...

There were more than a few times when I was the only white guy in the room...

I went into to those same neighborhoods to try and help build up the party in Cuyahoga County and was able to feel almost, almost at ease, but not like Bill and I challenge you to bring any other white politician who is as comfortable around Blacks as Bill...

That's why I feel that the media is just blowing this whole "race" thing way out of proportion...

Maybe Bill just feels comfortable enough to say what's on his mind...

who knows...

All I really know is that the media definitely has a bias against anything Clinton...

We all have to keep that in mind when trying to get to the bottom of anything reported concerning the Clinton's...

[Proud2BAmurkin]

1. Because he was born in the South with a dirt floor. Relates more to blacks than Obama does.

[WCGreen]

2. Good pont....

[grantcart]

3. when evaluating Clinton's interactions with Black America

you still have to factor in the unfortunate case of Ricky Rector who after shooting a policeman suffered substantial mental loss after he attempted suicide and blew most of his brain away and was severly retarded during his trial and execution. His execution came up during 92 campaign and

quote
By 1992, Bill Clinton was insisting that Democrats "should no longer feel guilty about protecting the innocent" and took a position strongly supporting capital punishment. To make his point, he flew home to Arkansas mid-campaign to affirm that the execution would continue as scheduled unquote
unquote


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ricky_Ray_Rector

The fact is that in campaign mode Clinton is more than willing to take liberties on the race issue to get elected. There is no question that he wanted to paint Obama as the black candidate and pigeon hole him after Obama had done his best to transcend the question.

The good news, I think, is that there was almost universal reaction to it and it is unlikely that anyone anywhere will try it again.

[zbdent]

5. Didn't GWB insist on executing a mental incompetent?

(and no, I'm not making a Bush joke ...)

[grantcart]

6. GWB simply didnt review any of the executions under his watch

there were a couple of cases that probably not have succeeded an objective mental challenge. There were also well documented cases of indadequate defense.

[WCGreen]

9. I don't remember f Ricky Rector was black or wihite...

But I still think Bill would have run home to execute him...

And anyone who looks at Obama knows he is the black candidate in the contest so what is your point...

Perhaps if we still only had radios to broadcast news I could see your point...

Otherwise, I don't think there are too many peole in the US or the world for that matter that don't know Obama is "the Black Candidate..."

[pampango]

11. Everyone certainly knows that Obama is a black candidate. Bill's tactic was to

portray him not a black man who can transcend race and appeal to everyone, but as a BLACK candidate, like Jesse Jackson, who will appeal mainly to black voters, not white. He will be no more of a threat to a white candidate than Jackson was.

Bill is not racist (far from it), but he is also a political animal who wants his wife to win. He is also a skilled, no-holds-barred campaigner who knows how to create an image that may resonate with the voters. He probably believes that whatever racial tension he created in SC would be temporary and blow over by the GE, particularly because he started with a great deal of credibility with African Americans.

[grantcart]

12. if you don't understand the difference between a

candidate who happens to be black

and

the Black Candidate

then I am not going to waste my time trying to bring you up on the last 30 years

[WCGreen]

14. Here's a little bit of time wasting on my part...

Who cares...

[grantcart]

15. about as articulate as the rest of your OP

or alot, but not all, of the Clinton diehards here.

[WCGreen]

19. Pushhaw...

I am not a Clinton Diehard...

You assume to much...

You can warble all you like...

But I, sir, just calls them as I sees them...

[psychopomp]

17. Yes, then-Gov. Clinton interrupted his campaign to oversee that execution personally

if I recall correctly. Then there was the Sista Souljah flap. Not to mention that it was under President Clinton that many hurting and needy people saw their government assistance taken away under the rubric of "reform."

[CaliforniaPeggy]

4. That's an interesting bit of history about Bill...

I wasn't aware he'd been in the scarier parts of Cleveland...

Good for him!

I can see you being comfortable wherever you go...Just like Bill...

I think the media might have a bias against him since he was out of control the other night, yelling and carrying on...

I dunno though...

[islandmkl]

7. oh yeah, when i think of Bill Clinton

...I think of a white guy who REALLY, NO REALLY relates to blacks. Are you kidding me? He knows, better than most of his comtemporary players, where and how to get the votes. Loved him, but it's time for the names Clinton and Bush to give us all a break. Between the lot of them, where are we now? (As bad as W and his gang are, this shit didn't start 7 years ago by itself.)

[WCGreen]

10. I didn't say one word about who should be elected...

I love how people paint other people so quickly with a broad stroke...

Just because I spoke up about Bill Clinton doesn't mean I am pledged to Senator Clinton for president...

[Catherine Vincent]

8. William Jefferson Clinton!

My beloved!

[UALRBSofL]

13. Those are good attributes

But if you look at him growing up in Hope, Arkansas (I'm from Arkansas too), his father was a drunk who ran out on him and his mom. His mom was a nurse that raised him. So, he was poor growing up but was able to pull himself up.

[islandmkl]

16. All I'm saying is

all of these people are driven for myriad reasons to want to lead us. No, wait a minute. They want to be the leader of the most powerful nation in the world (I won't use the term free-world unnecessarily). So I don't need all the historical re-writes about their motivations. Hell, I'm from small-town Kansas, and I can tell you how many small-town white women who married a foreign black man have a son vying for a major political office anywhere: ONE. And I can tell you it has nothing to do with the mother being from a small town in Kansas or anything else. The drive of BC, BO, HRC, JM, MR, etc. to be President of the United States says all one needs to know. It ain't a bad thing, but it is what it is.

[VotesForWomen]

18. yep; the racism trashing of the clintons has been disgraceful. nt