It’s now time for Hillary Clinton to step down from the race. She is an embarrassment to herself, to the Democratic Party and to this country. She has now made a series of insensitive and racist comments throughout this campaign, and there can no longer be room for leniency in interpreting her remarks. She has crossed the line. Yet again. And there should be no “deal†for the vice-presidency, either.
[Elections 2008: Clinton’s Dangerous Comments]
Hillary Clinton’s loose chickens have now come home to roost.
The New York Senator’s most recent “misspeak” — her bizarre and disturbing reference to Bobby Kennedy’s assassination as justification for persisting in her race against Barack Obama — reveals yet again her unsuitability to assume the top job in this nation.
Or the Number Two slot. Amidst calls for her to join Obama on the Democratic Party ticket in November, she has again made it crystal clear why Obama must distance himself from her particular poison — an inexplicable pattern of “misspeaking” throughout the presidential campaign.
Clinton’s latest foot-in-mouth moment came earlier today in a South Dakota meeting with the editorial board of the Sioux Falls Argus Leader, in which she declared, ““We all remember Bobby Kennedy was assassinated in June in California.” This was in response to a question about why she was staying in the race when Obama holds a commanding 200-delegate lead and has all but sealed the nomination.
We all remember what?
Recall that her backdoor comments about Reverend Jeremiah Wright and Obama also came in a meeting with an editorial board, that of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review. It has become all too clear that Senator Clinton will do anything and say anything to get elected—particularly when she thinks she can get away with it behind closed doors.
The time has come to stop cutting Senator Clinton any more slack. Her penchant for “misspeaking” reflects poorly on her judgment, on her ability to think on her feet and on her basic credibility as a human being. I most certainly don’t want Senator Clinton anywhere near that red phone when it rings at three in the morning.
The response from the Obama campaign to this latest Clinton gaffe was swift and direct: “Senator Clinton’s statement before the Argus Leader editorial board was unfortunate and has no place in this campaign,” said Obama spokesman Bill Burton.
It was all the more appalling in light of the latest tragedy to befall the Kennedy family, the news this week that Senator Edward Kennedy has been diagnosed malignant tumor in his brain.
Senator Kennedy and many members of the Kennedy family have publicly supported Obama in the campaign.
Clinton’s remark also comes in the aftermath of Mike Huckabee’s equally appalling and bizarre joke at the National Rifle Association Convention about Obama having a gun pointed at him.
What is wrong with these people?
What is wrong with this country?
Clinton’s half-hearted apology for her remarks was almost equally absurd. “I was discussing the Democratic primary history and in the course of that discussion mentioned the campaigns of both my husband and Senator (Robert) Kennedy waged in California in June in 1992 and 1968 and I was referencing those to make the point that we have had nomination primary contests that go into June. That’s a historic fact,” she said.
Apparently Senator Clinton was unaware that the Democratic Party had made rules and policy changes this year so that the presidential primary did not drag on into the summer in 2008. It’s an apples-and-oranges argument.
In fact, Clinton said almost precisely the same thing in an interview with Time magazine in March: “Primary contests used to last a lot longer. We all remember the great tragedy of Bobby Kennedy being assassinated in June in L.A.”
Once again, her comment today was no accident. Referencing the RFK assassination is all a part of the Clinton scri pt. It is cold. It is calculated. And it is ugly.
It’s now time for Hillary Clinton to step down from the race. She is an embarrassment to herself, to the Democratic Party and to this country. She has now made a series of insensitive and racist comments throughout this campaign, and there can no longer be room for leniency in interpreting her remarks. She has crossed the line. Yet again. And there should be no “deal” for the vice-presidency, either.
I’ve said it once and I’ll say it again: Bad behavior should not be rewarded.
Let’s get on with it. The race between Barack Obama and John McCain has begun.
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Award-winning filmmaker and journalist Geoffrey Dunn, Ph. D., is the former recipient of a both a John L. Senior Fellowship to the Cornell University Graduate School of Government and a National Newspaper Association Award for Investigative Journalism. His most recent film is Calypso Dreams. His article for The Black Star News on racism in the Clinton campaign can be read here: http://blackstarnews.com/?c=135&a=4470
