Today, former President Bill Clinton will begin campaigning with Hillary Clinton as part of a strategy to help the former Secretary of State secure the Democratic nomination for President. While the Clinton campaign is seeking to leverage the former president’s popularity, some of her critics including, Republican frontrunner Donald Trump, are preparing to renew a national conversation about Mr. Clinton’s personal indiscretions. As Mr. Clinton reemerges, however, some of his actions during Mrs. Clinton’s previous bid for the democratic nomination may be of even greater interest Black voters.
Back in 2008, one of the most powerful African American in Congress, House Majority Whip James Clyburn (D-SC), publicly noted serious concern about the “venomous” tone of the Clinton campaign; a tone that was set by Mr. Clinton. Mr. Clinton, controversially, compared Barack Obama’s victory in South Carolina to Jesse Jackson’s victories in ’84 and ’88, seemingly casting then Sen. Obama as the 2008 elections “black candidate.” When questioned about negative reactions to those comments Clinton responded aggressively,
“I think that they played the race card on me. We now know, from memos from the campaign, that they planned to do it all along.”
Rep. Clyburn notably told Mr. Clinton to “chill out,” fearing that the tone of the campaign may negatively affect voter turnout for the general election. In Rep. Clyburn’s memoir, he details a heated 2 a.m. phone call from Mr. Clinton where the former president held Clyburn responsible for Mrs. Clinton’s poor showing in South Carolina. In the phone call, Mr. Clinton noted,
“If you bastards want a fight, you damn well will get one.”
Mr. Clinton would later apologize.
What is the significance of this all? On one hand, Bill Clinton isn’t running for President – this is Mrs. Clinton’s campaign. Also President Obama seems to have forgiven Mr. Clinton, if he ever even held any animosity in the first place. (Remember the 2012 Democratic Convention). However, one of Mrs. Clinton’s challenges as she seeks to succeed President Obama is reassembling the “Obama Coalition” of young diverse (and Black) voters. To accomplish this, Mr. Clinton certainly cannot allow himself to become a racially divisive figure.
Mr. Clinton is scheduled to appear at two of Hillary’s campaign events today in New Hampshire.