Hillary Clinton has been making statements about MLK’s role in historical events in contrast to Barack Obama, and the results have been mixed at best.

Both New York Sen. Clinton and her husband, the former president, have engaged in damage control this week after black leaders criticized them for comments they made shortly before the New Hampshire primary last Tuesday.

The senator was quoted as saying King’s dream of racial equality was realized only when President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the Civil Rights Act of 1964, while Bill Clinton said Illinois Sen. Obama was telling a ‘‘fairy tale’’ about his opposition to the Iraq war.

The former president since has appeared on several black radio programs to say he was referring to Obama’s record on the Iraq war, not on his effort to become the nation’s first black president.

Hillary Clinton on Sunday praised King as one of the people she ‘‘admired most in the world,’’ and suggested his record of activism stood in stark contrast to Obama’s.

‘‘Dr. King didn’t just give speeches. He marched, he organized, he protested, he was gassed, he was beaten, he was jailed,’’ she said, noting King had campaigned for Johnson because he recognized the need to elect a president who could enact civil rights into law.

Of course all of this discussion is coming as the primaries move to South Carolina “whose Jan. 26 primary will be the first to include a significant representation of black voters. Blacks were 50 percent of primary voters in the state in 2004 and the number is expected to swell this time.”

(T)he former first lady said in a spirited appearance on NBC’s ‘‘Meet the Press.’’ ‘‘I don’t think this campaign is about gender, and I sure hope it’s not about race.’’

Says the Candidate who has spoken excessively about the “boy’s club”, and brings up civil rights leaders pointedly while campaigning in states with a larger black population.

While Clinton praised Obama’s eloquence and ability to deliver a soaring speech, she also stepped up her contention that his record did not match his rhetoric.

She noted that while he had spoken out eloquently against the war in 2002 before coming to the Senate, he voted repeatedly to fund the war once in office.

‘‘If you are part of American political history, you know that speeches are essential to frame an issue, to inspire, and lift up,’’ Clinton said. ‘‘But when the cameras are gone and when the lights are out, what happens next?’’ Clinton, who voted in favor of a 2002 Senate resolution authorizing the invasion of Iraq, tangled with moderator Tim Russert over why she voted as she did.

She reiterated her contention that she had not voted for ‘‘pre-emptive war,’’ even though the resolution clearly gave President Bush that authority. When asked whether she or Obama had exercised better judgment about the outcome of such an invasion, Clinton bristled.

‘‘Judgment is not a single snapshot. Judgment is what you do across the course of your life,’’ she said.

For example, across the course of her life, she gained years of experience being First Lady- which is kind’ve like Presidential experience, you know, if experience functions like an STD. Of course, if that were the case, we could vote for Monica Lewinsky.

No related posts.

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.