http://www.counterpunch.org/gray1207.html No other president in United States history has managed to get so much black support for giving so little. But what makes Clinton's race act so successful is that black America never asked him to do much to begin with. In the 1980s, Clinton was the first white candidate for governor to reach out to Arkansas's black voters, to eat on their porches, pray in their churches, invite them into the governor's office. For 12 years before Clinton, Ronald Reagan and George Bush insulted and ignored black people. Consequently, when Clinton wooed African Americans, most were just happy someone was finally paying attention. To some degree, black support of Clinton is also acknowledgement of the black community's need for white acceptance.
.....A couple examples of his racial hypocrisy come to mind. One was his initiative requiring citizens, mostly black, in public housing to surrender their Fourth Amendment or privacy rights. Another was the "one strike and you're out" policy under which public housing residents convicted of a crime, along with anyone who lives with them, are evicted without consideration of their due process rights. But while the Rehnquest Court upheld these assaults on the rights of the poor, Jeb Bush (via his daughter Nicole) and Clinton (still on the public dole) all remain exempt from the laws they promote.
For years after his 1st election, I kept a picture of Clinton and then-Georgia Senator Sam Nunn posing in front of a phalanx of black inmates in white prison suits taken at Stone Mountain, Georgia. Historians generally give Pulaski, Tennessee the dubious honor as the birthplace of the Ku Klux Klan. But Stone Mountain is hailed as the Klan 2nd home. The picture appeared in newspapers all across the south the day of the southern primaries in 1992. That picture is what Clinton has always represented to me.
>From: Michael Pugliese <michael098762001 at earthlink.net>
>Reply-To: lbo-talk at lbo-talk.org
>To: lbo-talk at lbo-talk.org
>Subject: Re: [lbo-talk] March 20, 2004, Columbus, OH: A Day That Will
>LiveIn Infamy
>Date: Mon, 22 Mar 2004 06:48:19 -0800 (GMT-08:00)
>
>Joseph Wanzala <jwanzala at hotmail.com>>...It is mainly middle-class blacks
>who
>bought into the 'black president' foolishness.
>
>Amazon.com
>It's fitting that after he left the White House, Bill Clinton moved his
>office to 125th Street in Harlem--the most famous black district in the
>country--for African Americans have consistently been the most supportive
>segment of his constituency. Even during his impeachment and other
>difficult times, blacks stood with him; on better days, Clinton's approval
>rating among black Americans was often higher than that of Jesse Jackson.
>In Bill Clinton and Black America, USA Today reporter DeWayne Wickham
>conducts a series of interviews with African American politicians, pundits,
>journalists, activists, entertainers, and educators to explore Clinton's
>"special bond with blacks" as both governor and president. As these
>interviews make clear, their love and support goes well beyond mere
>allegiance to the Democratic Party; in many ways the African American
>community sees Clinton as one of them. Several of those interviewed even
>refer to him as the "black president" because he was so r!
> eceptive to their needs and because he worked to include them in the
>political process more than any other president.
>
>Reasons cited here for Clinton's popularity among blacks include his poor
>Southern upbringing and underdog status, the fact that he appointed more
>blacks to his cabinet and other federal posts than any other president, and
>good timing (he came into office after three consecutive Republican
>administrations). But perhaps the biggest factor discussed is the genuine
>ease with which Clinton relates to black Americans. Blacks trust him to
>consider their perspective and do not view him as just another white
>politician who appears only during election years. This is not to say that
>Clinton always did their bidding; he often disappointed them. But they also
>shared common enemies and a common outlook that brought them together. He
>may not be their president any longer, but a majority of blacks still see
>him as a friend--and now, a neighbor. --Shawn Carkonen
>
>
> >From Publishers Weekly
>The first black president: "single-parent household, born poor,
>working-class, saxophone playing, McDonald's-and-junk-food-loving boy from
>Arkansas" was how Nobel Prize-winner Toni Morrison described Bill Clinton.
>And, indeed, Clinton enjoyed his highest rating with blacks even when his
>popularity was at its lowest. This collection of short pieces and
>interviews with Clinton, edited by USA Today columnist Wickham (Woodholme:
>A Black Man's Story of Growing up Alone), gathers a wide variety of... read
>more
>
>Michael Pugliese
>
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