Hillary Clinton, has once again, put her foot in her mouth. Like Barack Obama, I will give her the benefit of the doubt. I don’t think that she would be that callous and dumb at the same time as to infer that she is remaining in the race because there may be a connection with the assassination of Robert Kennedy and Barack Obama. Barack Obama took the high road by saying in a statement to Puerto Rican radio station Isla, that “I have learned that when you are campaigning for as many months as Sen. Clinton and I have been campaigning, sometimes you get careless in terms of the statements that you make. And I think that is what happened here.””Sen. Clinton says that she did not intend any offense by it,” he added, “and I would take her at her word on that.”
Clinton’s remarks to the editorial board at the Argus Leader in South Dakota Friday struck some nerves partly because it came in the wake of Massachusetts Sen. Ted Kennedy’s health problems and because of longstanding concerns about Obama’s security.”People have been trying to push me out of this ever since Iowa,” Clinton said Friday. “I find it curious because it is unprecedented in history. I don’t understand it.”You know, my husband didn’t wrap up the nomination in 1992 until he won the California primary sometime in the middle of June. Right?” she added later in the conversation. “We all remember Bobby Kennedy was assassinated in June in California. You know, I just– I don’t understand it.”
She apologized and was backed up by a supporter, Robert Kennedy, Jr. who said in a statement: “It is clear from the context that Hillary was invoking a familiar political circumstance in order to support her decision to stay in the race through June.” Today, the Rev. Al Sharpton talked to Clinton about her remarks and gave her the benefit of the doubt.”I don’t believe that anyone is dumb enough to suggest that something happen to Sen. Obama,” Sharpton said.
Her remarks were an enormous misstep for her, but I really do not believe she was being malicious in any way. This is further proof that this nomination process has gone on way too long and people are just tired of the back and forth between both candidates. Mathematically, Clinton cannot win the nomination but I suspect she may be jockeying for the VP spot, which in my opinion would be a bad idea for Obama to pick her, but her popularity with millions of people across the USA cannot be ignored.
Her comments were unfortunate and is a sensitive matter because Barack Obama has received a lot of death threats. It is puzzling as to why she brought Robert Kennedy’s name up. She could have cited other candidates to invoke a political circumstance similar to hers. She’s saying that anything can happen in this campaign, but it was a lack of sensitivity on her part. She has told us repeatedly that Barack Obama does not have a lot of experience and she is the best person for the job. With a gaffe like this, I seriously doubt that she can stake that claim now with a straight face. To add her to the ticket does not bode well for her because one has to ask, with comments like this, how trustworthy could be she? She has dealt a serious blow to what is left of her campaign and I wish she would take her cue to leave. Just my thoughts, you be the judge…..
Filed under: Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, John F. Kennedy, Robert Kennedy
Black Political Thought 