Last week at the National Association of Black Journalists’ annual conference in Las Vegas, Hillary Clinton was asked if she felt she was more qualified than a Black man to represent Black people. Clinton chuckled before responding,“I am thrilled to be running at a time when, on the stage, you can see an African American man [Obama], a Hispanic man [Richardson], and a woman. Democratic primary voters don’t have to be against anyone. You can be for the person you believe will do the best job as our President.”
All that and she still didn’t answer the question. I know she gave a response, but she didn't answer the question. Yet her response is a perfect reflection of how distanced she is from the Black psyche. First off, Blacks have never felt represented by any white politician, especially the Democratic faction of the Establishment. Had she been aware of this or, better still, willing to make a change for the better, she would have responded like a human being instead of a politician. Secondly, "voting for the best person" does not mean the same thing to Blacks as it does for most whites. In the minds of most Blacks, "voting for the best person translates into "voting for the lesser evil. " Had she been more forthright and less covert and deceptive, she might not, in my eyes, have just become the greater evil. According to published reports, this was Hillary’s M.O. for every question posed to her that night. She was doing the Cha-Cha slide all night; sliiide to the left...sliide to the right..how low can you go? Well, let me tell ya. The New York Times referred to a response Clinton made to Republican Blogger Kiara Ashanti as an “artful diss” and “snap!" moment. Kiara remarked that Clinton’s proposals for healthcare were akin to “socialized medicine.”
“Come introduce yourself to my staff and we will try to give you some information if you're interested in being educated instead of being rhetorical,” she said.Yup. That's definitely a greasy "snap and twist" remark alright.
