Both Senator Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama will be attending Sunday's commemoration of the historic 1965 Selma voting rights march. Hillary will be bringing her husband, former president, Bill Clinton, who is well-liked in the black community; which creates some solid competition for Obama. The question at hand here is whether or not Bill is helping or hurting Hillary. He is so well-liked, yet he might actually outshine his wife rather than giving her more attention. Also, although the black community generally liked Bill, who is to say they are truly loyal to Hillary. On Sunday Former president Clinton will be inducted into the Voting Rights Hall of Fame. This will be Bill and Hillary's first public appearance together since she announced she was running for the 2008 presidential election. It seems to me that this is a day to praise Bill Clinton, rather than a day to gain the loyalty and respect among the black community. Being that Obama is black, he has a very good chance with the black community, therefore using her husband to gain support might not work. In an ABC News-Washington Post survey taken last week it found that Obama was the choice of 44 percent of black democrats, while Hillary was the choice for 33 percent of black democrats, with a sampling error of plus or minus 8 percentage points. It will be interesting to see whether or not her husband helps or hurts her in the presidential election overall.
Article: http://www.cnn.com/2007/POLITICS/03/02/clintons.obama/index.html
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
14 comments:
I don't think that Bill Clinton will hurt Hillary's Campaign. Since he is so well liked it can only help her gain more black votes. There was plenty of times when Hillary out shined Bill during his presidency. Hillary and Obama have to equally get black votes. I wonder if people are trying to make this into a race campaign? In this day and age black and white should not be an issue. Thats why Martin Luther King Jr. died to rid racism, we are all equal, the question should be who can do the job efficently and effectively? Who is the best candidate for President? The Black and Whites votes will play a role in the decision but it should not be the main focus in my opinion.
I agree, I don't think that race should be a serious issue. I also think that Bill Clinton can only help Hillary. He can help attract votes and some positive publicity that doesn't necessarily hurt Hillary, but draws some positive limelight to her I don't think the black community is going to think negatively of Hillary for deciding to bring Bill with her, and I think it's too early to make an accurate judgement of who is going to vote for who.
I think some people might think that Hillary is bringing Bill Clinton along just to help receive more votes. However, I don’t think he’ll attract votes, but I do think he will attract more people to show up at any of her events just because people want to meet the former president of the United States. This will help her because more people will show up to listen to what she has to say and also get to know who she is.
I also don’t think anyone will think negatively about her bringing him along. I mean your family can be very involved in your political campaign, and they are husband and wife.
I think that Bill will be a big help to Hilary int this entire campaign. He was very popular in the black community, and I think Maya Angelou called him the first black president, and no one made a big deal. Although this time, Obama is going to take away a lot of the support from that community. Hilary really needs all the help she can get from Bill. Anytime he speaks, he has a huge contingency that listens
I think Clinton will help Hillary gain more votes whether their black or white votes. When former President Clinton was in office the economy was great and we were not at war so I believe that the former President is of help the Hillary and not a hinderance.
I also think that Bill will be a great addition to Hillary's campaign. In respect to gaining more black votes, he will be a very important asset. Bill was very popular with the black community and could in some ways have even more pull with the community than Obama will. While of course Bill himself is not black, he has already proven himself to the community and the nation. Again, Obama (according to polls) is favored, however I would definately not count out Hillary and Bill (Billary).
Whatever can be used to help a campaign, should absolutely be used. Bill Clinton was a popular president and is now a very popular ex-president. Obviously people will realize that Hillary is not Bill, however, having Bill backing her up, could never hurt people's perspective of her (as First ladies have helped out their husband's presidency in the past, you never know what Bill could accomplish as a First man).
I also agree that who can do the job efficiently and effectively should be the issue at hand. Whether or not the whole country believes that though, could be an issue. Also, it is very early for people to make their final decisions as to who they'd rather vote for, so I say that candidates should absolutely do whatever it takes to get media attention (of course in a positive light), and if a spouse can help out your popularity and media attention, definitely use them.
I think Bill Clinton will, in turn, hurt Hillary's campaign. Yes he did have great support from the African American community, but lets forget the legacy the Clinton administration left behind. He left behind economic problems that we are still struggling with to this day, in addition to the Monica Louinski contraversy. Im sorry, but when I think Clinton, I think of the vuglar comments and actions the President took with his mistress. I tend to believe that the public will not remember what he has done for the black community during his Presidency and if Hillary does not present how she intends to help poverty in Southern community and continue their efforts to support blacks, she will lose the majority of her votes to Obama, as he can relate to the minority more than Hillary. Bill will only bring more contraversy to Hillary's campaign and more doubts about what she could do for the african american community, let alone the country.
I think that former President Clinton can help Hillary because he was so well liked by the black community. I also think it will help because, despite everything that went on during his presidency, he still has an overall positive image and relationship with the American people. I do not think that Hillary has to worry about Bill overshadowing her. I think when he was President it was always the other way around, and she sometimes outshone him. I think Bill's overall positive relationship with the people can only help Hillary in the long run.
I do feel that Bill Clinton will outshine Hillary but I think that it will help her gain respect and voters from the black community. I also think that it is good that Hillary is with Bill because it will show that he is supporting her. However, I wish we were in a day and age where race and gender didn't matter. I feel like the only stories I read about Hillary and Obama are that one is a woman and one is black; very rarely anything on their views. I do hope that people are smart enough to decide who is better for the job not based on race or gender.
I think Bill will help Hilary as well. Besides the race factor, I think anything that will take *some* attention off of Hilary all the time yet still promote her will help. I don't know about anyone else but I'm already getting sick of the early campaigning. But yes also because of his popularity amont black voters. I think the threat of him overshadowing Hilary at this point is next to impossible.
Obviously there has been some discussion in the media that Hillary comes off as stiff and not very appealing to the public. She is not some light airy woman but rather a strong and firm female who is serious about her policies and politics. Could she afford to loosen up? Probably. Due to this, I think that any thing could help her public appeal, especially through the assistance of her husband, who is still very popular and well-liked in the heart of many Americans. Especially in a circumstance like this, when facing the black community, if her approval rating is lower than Obama's, then she should use a tool like her husband's approval rating from this community to help her image. I am actually suprised that he has not shown up with her at more public events. Perhaps if she would have used him earlier, she would not be fighting the reputation that she has today. Overall, Bill Clinton is still very liked and people are interested in him. So if they are interested in him, and he is making appearances with her, than people will be more inclined to watch or pay attention to things that he is involved in, hence, being exposed to Hillary, even if it is just by circumstance. I'd rather take good publicity by means of cricumstance then no good publicity at all.
I don't think that it will hurt the campaign, however I do agree that Bill might overshadow Hillary when they are out. I also think that the "odd" couple will definitely be the brunt of a few jokes in the media also, seeing how theirs roles have been reversed. I am not sure if that is a bad thing because of that saying any publicity is good publicity, but I do think it will be played up more than need be in the media. Although Bill was at the head of controversey, he did do a fairly good job in running the country and I think that it in the end it will help Hillary.
-Mike Kytoski
Most of the comments have defended Bill Clinton in their posts. I like Bill Clinton, so I’ll just say that. But, what about the rest of the country? I do not think that Clinton is as well received in the so-called red states; in which case he certainly would figure to be a detriment to his wife as opposed to a helping hand. I think his wife is trying to make her own name and distance herself just for that reason. This is evidenced by the fact that they are making their first public appearance together this weekend since she has been on the campaign. So while Bill could help, I do not believe that Hillary necessarily wants it.
Post a Comment