Why can't Clinton connect with Black voters? Why the dismal performance?

[Bonobo]

It seems that Clinton can't connect with normal, everyday black voters. The ones that work hard for a paycheck everyday, the blue collar worker-types. Why is that?

Does anyone have an explanation? She seems to have a very narrow appeal among only the minority White vote...

This troubles me because it makes me think she couldn't win in the General Election.

[HysteryDiagnosis]

1. There is quite an income gap between the people who you

mention (don't want to lock this one) and myself as well as several hundred million other people in this country. That may have something to do with it, some may see the person(s) in question as "elitists".

[stray cat]

2. Its those under 30 who worry me - all those elitists trying to start a career.

[napi21]

3. I honestly think it's no different than people being happy to see

"somebody like me" finally being President. I think it's quite similar to the reason why Hillary is connecting to women 40+.

I am a 64 yo woman, and it was VERY HARD for me to make a decision on who to vote for. I would LOVE to see a successful woman POTUS, and I DO believe Hillary's HC plan is better than Barack's, but I was also bothered by the Bush/Clinton/Bush/Clinton thing. I am afraid Barack's "different kind of campaign" will allow the Pubs to burry him in the GE. I honestly believe either candidate would be a great POTUS and as I walked up to the voting machine I was still debating with myself on who would be best. I finally decided to vote for Barack, and if he is our nominee, all of US will have to do the bare knuckled fighting against the Pubs so he doesn't have to.

[2rth2pwr]

4. They have decided to vote for the black candidate.

Edited to add- Like Michelle Obama said, they "woke up".


Sen. Hillary Clinton's lead among African Americans voters, who consistently favor the former first lady to Sen. Barack Obama (D-IL) in presidential primary polling, is just a temporary phenomenon, according to Obama's wife, Michelle.

"First of all, I think that that's not going to hold," Mrs. Obama said of Clinton's current numbers in an interview with MSNBC's Mika Brzezinski. "I'm completely confident."

Acknowledging a certain reluctance in the African American community to back her husband for president, she said that support would come -- but it would take time.

"Black Americans will wake up and get it," Obama said. "But what we're dealing with in the black community is just the natural fear of possibility. When I look at my life, the stuff that we're seeing in these polls is played out my whole life: always been told by somebody that I'm not ready, you know, I can't do something, my scores weren't high enough."
http://rawstory.com/news/2007/Michelle_Obama_Black_America_will_wake_1112.html

[candice]

5. Blacks are voting for the first viable black candidate

Blacks and Women are the major constituencies of the Democratic Party. One votes with one's heart during the primary and with one's head during the General Election. (I worked my butt off for Kerry, but he wasn't my first choice.)

In Deep Southern states, the majority of the Democratic Party membership is Black. The whites were brought over to the Republican Party as part of Nixon's strategy to recruit whites from the party of Lyndon Johnson and Civil Rights. Reagan announced his presidency in Philadelphia, Mississippi where Civil Rights workers had been murdered (wink, wink). That and tax breaks (whites are told the Dems are taking their tax dollars and giving it over to welfare) brought over most of the whites to the Republican Party. For example, a white in Georgia is assumed to be Republican, and most are. The ones who are not are a liberal minority. The state of Georgia will more than likely go for McCain because there are more Republicans than Democrats now. I can't tell you how many people there still love George W. Bush.

Some blacks are upset at the attacks on Rep. John Lewis (from Atlanta), a Civil Rights hero, who was a dedicated Clinton supporter. He was told in no uncertain terms that he would lose his seat if he didn't switch to Obama. Rumors are that he is in hiding. Tavis Smiley learned what it was like to not be on the Obama train.

Obama's father was a short-term resident of the U.S. (an exchange student who left Obama's mother and her son when Obama was 2-years-old to study at Harvard). He already had a wife and children back in Kenya.

Obama, Jr. was raised by his white mother and grandparents (and had an Indonesian stepfather for several years). Living in Hawaii (and four years in Indonesia), Obama didn't share a similar cultural experience to most American blacks. When he came to California to Occidental College from Hawaii, he was able to start forming an American black identity.

The Clintons have done a tremendous amount for black Americans. Clinton was known as the "first black President," but he can't match Obama's African genes.


The Obama campaign was able to twist South Carolina political history into a "racial" attack and trash Bill Clinton early on.
Kind of similar to to some of the "racism" that colors Obama's biographies as the source of his despair, which in reality was caused by his missing parents.

Listen to Clinton:


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gxsrGUTcEUc

Then read a bit about how Obama has recast his life story to emphasize race in retrospect:


http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/politics/chi-0703250359mar25,1,6124597.story?coll=chi-news-hed




But the reality of Obama's narrative is not that simple.

More than 40 interviews with former classmates, teachers, friends and neighbors in his childhood homes of Hawaii and Indonesia, as well as a review of public records, show the arc of Obama's personal journey took him to places and situations far removed from the experience of most Americans.

At the same time, several of his oft-recited stories may not have happened in the way he has recounted them. Some seem to make Obama look better in the retelling, others appear to exaggerate his outward struggles over issues of race, or simply skim over some of the most painful, private moments of his life.
The handful of black students who attended Punahou School in Hawaii, for instance, say they struggled mightily with issues of race and racism there. But absent from those discussions, they say, was another student then known as Barry Obama.
In his best-selling autobiography, "Dreams from My Father," Obama describes having heated conversations about racism with another black student, "Ray." The real Ray, Keith Kakugawa, is half black and half Japanese. In an interview with the Tribune on Saturday, Kakugawa said he always considered himself mixed race, like so many of his friends in Hawaii, and was not an angry young black man.
He said he does recall long, soulful talks with the young Obama and that his friend confided his longing and loneliness. But those talks, Kakugawa said, were not about race. "Not even close," he said, adding that Obama was dealing with "some inner turmoil" in those days.
"But it wasn't a race thing," he said. "Barry's biggest struggles then were missing his parents. His biggest struggles were his feelings of abandonment. The idea that his biggest struggle was race is ."
Then there's the copy of Life magazine that Obama presents as his racial awakening at age 9. In it, he wrote, was an article and two accompanying photographs of an African-American man physically and mentally scarred by his efforts to lighten his skin. In fact, the Life article and the photographs don't exist, say the magazine's own historians.

[cali]

9. disgisting hillarian dogshit

and it's important to you that his father was Kenyan, why? And it's important to you that he didn't have an "average American" upbringing, why?

people who post this crap look like they endorse filthy bigotry. You want to look like that, fine. But you ain't getting a pass on posting racist dogshit. It's smeared all over YOU.

[MethuenProgressive]

17. Michelle Obama said "We need blacks to wake up," didn't she?

That was "dogshit"?

[Liberal Gramma]

12. It sounds to me like you think Obama is only where he is because of a race he assumed

His campaign has transcended race. He is an outstanding candidate of any color. And if you can't accept that, so be it.

[cali]

21. you're kinder than I am

I've seen enough of this nonsense.

[Liberal Gramma]

22. Probably I'm not

She went on my Ignore list shortly after that comment.

[Buzz Clik]

33. You forgot the part where you infer that he's Muslim.

Anyway, thanks for responding the question about Hillary with a smear on Obama.

Going on Ignore in 3, 2, 1 ...

[sniffa]

36. I'm ahead of the curve

as I see people responding to Ignored. :woohoo:

[ScarletSniper]

40. Thanks for all that...and I'm still voting Obama!!!!

[TahitiNut]

55. "The Clintons have done a tremendous amount for black Americans."

There was a land of Cavaliers and Cotton Fields called the Old South... Here in this pretty world Gallantry took its last bow... Here was the last ever to be seen of Knights and their Ladies Fair, of Master and of Slave... Look for it only in books, for it is no more than a dream remembered. A Civilization gone with the wind...

Well, Missy candice, I'm sho' 'nuf glad Massah Bill and Massah Hill bin so helpfuh to dem po' black 'mericans.

Sho' 'nuf.

:puke:
:puke:
:puke:

[IsItJustMe]

6. K&R

Love to see someone spin the spin.

[suston96]

7. Why can't Clinton connect with black voters? That's easy.....

....because her opponent is black !

[cali]

10. hello. she led him in black support up until the winter

it was her, uh, campaign tactics that caused black voters to flee.

[suston96]

13. ...and then all those white dudes started dropping out of the race....

...and blacks all over the land started figuring that it was their time.

And so here we are........

[Saturday]

8. You won't want to hear this but...

the black voters have abandoned her for a black candidate. Both her and Bill have been working for civil rights for years BUT a black candidate came along that is a viable candidate and they have been abandoned by their black base. Simple as that. There can be no other explanation for a 90% voting block of blacks for a black. Just as Michelle predicted, they will come around. They have. It has the potential to put a big rift in race relations IMO.

[Jed Dilligan]

15. Name one major advancement in civil rights between 1992-2000

that the Clinton admin had a hand in. All I remember were mandatory minimum sentences and don't ask don't tell.

[suston96]

24. One accomplishment? Google is your friend......

http://www.theleftcoaster.com/archives/011797.php

If that doesn't help. you name one major civil rights problem that was ignored by Clinton-Gore.....

[Jed Dilligan]

60. First of all, that article announces its anti-Obama bias

Second, I don't really see the Motor Voter Act making up for the Omnibus Crime Bill and Welfare "Reform."

Third, most of the stuff on that list has nothing to do with civil rights and isn't even supposed to.

[EffieBlack]

27. Those ungrateful negroes . . .

How DARE they "abandon" Hillary and Bill after all that they did for them.

Of course, it CERTAINLY couldn't be the case that those ungrateful Clintons abandoned black folk after all they did for them, could it?

[ScarletSniper]

41. yeah, blame the black candidate & black folks for the potential "big" riff in race relations..

Nice.

[Cha]

11. I'm thinking there's more people

in America today who are savvy to m$$$fm lies and can see right through clinton Bullshit..Black or White.

[Raine]

14. Probably connected to the high negatives

she has for trustworthiness.

[MethuenProgressive]

16. Until Obama;s Swiftboating of the Clinton's on race, she was fine.

Obama apologizes on live TV for Swiftboating the Clintons on Race:
http://raceproject.org/2007/06/outsourcing-attack-politics-obama.html

[tabasco]

44. LOL! Thanks for the reminder how Hillary has supported offshoring!

“HILLARY CLINTON (D-PUNJAB)’S PERSONAL FINANCIAL AND POLITICAL TIES TO INDIA” and goes on to note:

“The Clintons have reaped significant financial rewards from their relationship with the Indian community, both in their personal finances and Hillary’s campaign fundraising. Hillary Clinton, who is the co-chair of the Senate India Caucus, has drawn criticism from anti-offshoring groups for her vocal support of Indian business and unwillingness to protect American jobs. Bill Clinton has invested tens of thousands of dollars in an Indian bill payment company, while Hillary Clinton has taken tens of thousands from companies that outsource jobs to India. Workers who have been laid off in upstate New York might not think that her recent joke that she could be elected to the Senate seat in Punjab is that funny.”

Obama scolded his staff for the terrible "(D-Punjab)" reference.

Why aren't you outraged that Hillary joked she could be elected Senator from Punjab?

[MzShellG]

49. Until she and hubby showed their true colors, she was fine......

Then after many black people decided to vote for the candidate they could connect with and relate to, Hillary could no longer 'close the deal' with the black working class voters. She and Bill blew it and its noones fault but there own.

[demo dutch]

18. That's a stupid question, you know damn well why Obama appeals to the everyday

black voters! Other than the black voters, she's been able to carry the Dem base pretty well, Jewish, latino, blue collar, union etc. She carried every large state that is generally necessary for a Dem candidate to win the GE. In those traditional states she polls better than McCain. That is not to say that Obama couldn't carry a few as well in the GE plus attain new votes, but that is unproven territory. I don't think that if Clinton gets the nomination, that the entire black community will suddenly switch to McCain.

You're just trying to stir it up and as you're obviously an Obama supporter I can understand that. Look at this point I don't really care who get the nomination, both are capable, both platforms are similar. I just want the Dems to win in November, and we'll have to make the best of it with either candidate. Unfortunately, the Supers will decide most likely. Let's just hope we don't see a repeat of the Hart/Mondale mess in 1984 or worse the McGovern mess!

[jesus_of_suburbia]

19. I TOTALLY agree with you. If Clinton is our nominee, the black voters will keep her from Presidency

I'm so worried about that!


I'm worried that they will elect a Republican to punish Hillary. That is so sad!


It would be like the gays not voting for OBama! I'm gay and he certainly has my vote!




Kick and Rec your post, Bonobo! Black voters and Gay voters and Latino voters can't seem to understand that we have to have a Dem in office no matter what!



YOU ARE SO RIGHT, BONOBO! WHITES, BLACKS, HISPANICS, GAYS, STRAIGHTS, EVERYONE! We all have to vote Dem in November!

[demo dutch]

23. Nonsense! Either candidate will do well with the Dems, it's the Indies you have to worry about,

they're the ones that make or break a win!

[Beacool]

51. If Hillary is not the nominee, plenty of whites, hispanics and asians

would prefer to vote for McCain.

:shrug:

[jesus_of_suburbia]

20. Kick and Recommend! Blacks and Whites HAVE to come together this election!

[Tom Rinaldo]

25. Do you know how much African American support John Edwards got in SC?

Edwards got 2% of the total non white vote there.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/South_Carolina_Democratic_primary,_2008

But all people talked about at the time was how little African Support Hillary Clinton received. Edwards finished with 17.5% of the overall vote, Clinton with 25.5%. In other words Clinton got over 5 times the African American support in South Carolina than Edwards did, with far less than twice the overall votes.

John Edwards ran a presidential campaign stressing economic issues and fighting for those less well off in America, yet he could not make a dent in the African American vote. No one accused him of race baiting. I think it is hard to escape the conclusion that Barack Obama is extremely popular with African American voters and has their overwhelming loyalty during the primaries.

[TheDoorbellRang]

26. I don't think most are grasping the point you're making here, Bonobo

Think we need an emoticon for when something goes "whoosh" right over the head.:shrug:

[EffieBlack]

28. LOL!

And the fact that it IS going right over their heads is very telling, isn't it?

[TheDoorbellRang]

32. Yes it is

I'm just sitting here shaking my head.

[Bonobo]

38. This was a little mini-rorschach test.

Very interesting results.

[sakura]

58. That's exactly what I was thinking.

[Rosa Luxemburg]

29. If Obama is the nominee balck and white and all others will come together

[galaxy21]

34. It was a combination of wanting a black president and Bill's behaviour

I think winning Iowa was a big step as well. Possibly a lot of black voters thought whites wouldn't go for him, then he won a lily white state and they realised he was viable.

I think Barack would have have gotten a lot of the AA vote anyway, but Bill and Hillary's tactics ensured it was 90% rather than maybe 50% or 60%.

[GoldieAZ49]

30. LOL, it doesn't matter, she will take it to the convention

Clintons are so easily intimidated by Obama playing the race card

[Hippo_Tron]

31. She can they just like Obama better

Same goes for Obama and blue-collar whites. They will vote for him, they just like the Clinton name better.

[Buzz Clik]

35. Not sure I agree.

Clinton had the African-American community all sewed up prior to Iowa. I heard an interesting but befuddling comment on the radio last summer: "I'm voting for Hillary becauase if I vote for her, I also get Bill." At that time, she held a strong majority of the Black vote in opinion polls.

It's become shockingly clear that Hillary is willing to use innate fears of Black men by white people to try to induce them to vote for her. Now, her numbers among Black voters now are getting into GOP territory of less than 10%. That strikes me as more than just a slight preference.

I seriously doubt that she has to worry about Black voters crossing over to McCain in large numbers, but they will stay home.

[Steely_Dan]

37. Methinks you are baiting...

This is so typical of "some" Obama supporters. The OP is clearly posted to stir the pot.

Anyone who states the obvious...that black voters are overwhelmingly supporting the black candidate is called a racist. The fact that 90% of blacks support Obama must say something even to those in denial. If, as has been stated here, blacks were ALL voting for Obama based ONLY on his merits, the number would not be 90%. Sorry. If 90% doesn't tell you that at least some black voters are voting for Obama because he is black, then you are in denial.

Finally...there is absolutely nothing wrong with voting for a candidate because you identify with them. That identity could be race, gender, or whatever. Blacks supporting a black candidate is not a bad thing...even if you think it is a weak reason for voting for someone. I'm sure that you would like to think that EVERYONE out there (regardless of their ethnic identity) is voting for Obama because of his qualifications. I think it is only natural to vote for someone that you feel you can identify with.


So, I guess that makes me a racist.

By the way...I do not support either of these candidates. They were the weakest of the lot.

-P

[Bonobo]

39. Actually you missed the point. Want another try or do you give up?

[Steely_Dan]

42. Please....

Enlighten me.

-P

[Bonobo]

53. If 90% of White voters voted for Hillary, what would you say about Obama?

That he has trouble reaching white voters, or that white voters are voting as a block for Clinton because she is white?

Hurry up! Answer! Don't think about it!

[Steely_Dan]

56. Sorry, I've been away from my computer....

I do have a life, you know.

Okay, I see your point.

But a few comments if you don't mind.

I would comment that neither of the two options you present are mutually exclusive. It could be one or the other...or even both. I think that this weakens your argument slightly.

Let me ask you this:

If whites were a minority and a white candidate was running and 90% of the white (minority) voted for the white candidate...would you not say that at least some of the white voters voted for the white candidate just because he/she was white?

Finally...
Are you willing to concede that at least SOME black voters are voting for Obama because he is black?

Just curious.

-P

[Secret_Society]

43. Obama's black...

In a primary where ideological divisions aren't that apparent it's easy to vote for someone who is like you since that would not mean a betrayal of your political beliefs. The same reason why Romney did well with Mormons and Hillary does well with women (not as well because I believe people identify more with race than gender, but just a guess from a white kid lol)

[Skip Intro]

45. Reverend Wright? nt

[ginchinchili]

46. No offense, but that's not a very bright question.

I'm sure it's just coincidence that her opponent in the primary is black, I mean, half black.

[Forkboy]

47. This thread is really good, and very telling.

:applause:

[Bonobo]

52. Thanks. Fun to watch the responses, isn't it?

It's like a fucking roadmap.

[Forkboy]

54. It's like lambs to the slaughter. I almost feel bad for them. They truly don't see your point.

And it's fucking funny as hell. :D

[StevieM]

48. Because Obama smeared her. She has run a clean campaign while he has run

the most hateful campaign of personal destruction since 1884 when the Republicans accused Democrat Grover Clevland of fathering an illegitimate child.

Steve

[Beacool]

50. Oh, please!!!!!

The vast majority of AA are voting for him because he's AA himself. It's not about Hillary or the issues, not when 90% plus are voting for him. At this point, Obama could be found with a smoking gun and a dead body at his feet and they would still vote for him.

:eyes:

[sakura]

57. And your reasoning for this is...?

What, exactly? A narcissistic assumption that everyone chooses a candidate in the manner in which you do? If that's not your assumption (and I really hope it's not), why would you make such a blanket statement about that particular demographic?

[bridgit]

59. Maybe the wrong question. AA's flocked in numbers round a cult of personality...

standing inside university gymnasium after university gymnasium grinning/waving within pom-pom'ed cheerleaders for months on end atop a message of 'hope & change' every bit as shape-shift-able as a sand dune in lieu of pertinent questions and the answers they require leaving no per se "Black voters" *to* connect with why is that :shrug:

I met an older black steel worker guy last month after a focus group in the city; a participant in the group as was I. He's been doing what he does for years though is about to retire. After moving through the ranks in his craft & career, he's been sent around the country this last decade or so, supervising the construction of high-rise projects. He said he loves his work; proud of the contributions he's made to the urban American landscape, but is looking forward to retiring. He also said he was supporting HRC so again :shrug:

He never mentioned college, but referred instead to skill sets he acquired in the military, hard work, clean living, and family as keys to success. His hands were ruff, the hands of a working man.

My sense is that many Obama fans here at DU would be too willing to consider him "uneducated".

Which is why I consider the premise's of these kinds of questions questionable themselves.