Commentary: Why Bill Clinton's still upset By Roland S. Martin CNN Contributor (CNN) -- Poor Bill. Stuck in no man's land, no longer able to stand before adoring crowds of African-Americans who would welcome him as the "nation's first black president" with thunderous applause and all kinds of pats on the back, he clearly is having issues dealing with the new world order. Almost two months after Sen. Barack Obama captured the Democratic presidential nomination, the former president is still brooding about his wife's loss. And his chief source of anguish? That supporters of Barack Obama accused him of injecting race into the campaign. Never mind that the Obama camp -- loaded with white male advisers -- was so afraid to bring up race that it wasn't funny. When Bill Clinton compared Sen. Barack Obama's win in South Carolina to that of the Rev. Jesse Jackson, it was seen by African-Americans as an attempt to marginalize Obama. That has always been a fear of African-Americans who achieve mainstream success -- and it left even close friends of the Clintons aghast. That was the tipping point, along with other perceived slights -- and we know a person's perception is his or her reality. What Bill doesn't understand is that the masses of black people know what it feels like to be marginalized, and many saw that in those comments. In an interview with ABC's Kate Snow, Clinton, when asked about regrets in the campaign, immediately threw out, "I am not a racist." He kept insisting that he isn't angry, but we've all seen that stare, change in body language, and the parsing of words. Even when Snow asked whether Obama was ready to be president, Clinton answered in the third person, never actually saying he's ready or not. The only thing left was the eruption, and he promised to share all in January after the November election. Bill, we get it. You're still peeved. At Obama. At Rep. James Clyburn. At the media. At anyone who you determined was against you and Hillary. Many have said that Clinton wants his legacy intact, and a lot of that has to do with the reality that no group gave him more comfort than the black community. When he was facing the end of his presidency, he called on black folks like no others, using the love and affection to get him through the Monica Lewinsky scandal. He relied on black support to keep his poll numbers high. And we all know it. But what Bill knows -- and we know -- is that you don't have to be a racist to use race as a tool in a political campaign. An inference here, a comparison there, and you can send the right signal at the right time, to the right people. He says he did nothing wrong. Yet perception is very powerful, and denying it doesn't make it go away. Bill, and the legions of Clinton supporters and former campaign aides, are quick to act as if the comments made by African-Americans -- the regular folk -- simply didn't exist. That was his bread-and-butter group, and its members were none too happy. But what the Clinton folks also fail to grasp is that they did offend older African-Americans like Clyburn, and Dr. Johnnetta B. Cole, and others who were always in the corner of the Clintons, but could no longer remain silent. It's clear that Bill can't deal with the fact that his black supporters didn't stay quiet. Many of them recoiled at what they heard, and didn't offer the Clintons cover. As for what's next, some Hillary Clinton fundraisers have said Obama should help restore Bill's reputation and show respect for both Clintons, according to the Huffington Post. But the truth is that there is nothing that Obama can do to salvage the reputation of Bill Clinton before most African-Americans. Bill lost that on his own, and he's going to have to get it on his own. And the Clintons need to stop living in la-la land, listening to the same folks soothe Bill's bruised ego. They thought they would win the nomination and then blacks would fall in line. Harold Ickes said as much. But in this new world order, when young black folks don't see Bill as the Great Messiah and really didn't have a love affair with his eight years, he needs to recognize that a lot has changed. Bill, you clearly have issues with what took place, and sure, you can be mad. But denying you're angry doesn't help.
Mrs. Clinton: âIn the past few years, the number of corporations flocking to places like the Cayman Islands to evade U.S. taxes has exploded.â Bloomberg: âBill Clinton, 61, has a financial stake in three investment entities registered in the Cayman Islands by Burkleâs Yucaipa Cos. LLC.â * *http://blogs.dailymail.com/donsurber/
I'd be annoyed too if I was Bill. A lot of their "friends" turned out to be backstabbing ingrates. At least he still has Dubai.
Not enough attention is being paid to this...Bubba still carries clout and unles OB goes and makes peace and kisses Don Bubba's hand as a sign of respect.....he can make things really hard on him
I'm sitll getting the picture together in my head regarding American politics. I just was never interested when I was young and did not learn much, but i'm picking up more and more the more I argue online, it's the best thing for sharpening the wits and firming up the ideas.... The Democrats won over the Black vote with Roosevelt's programs in the depression. What was a little money to some Whites was a lot of money to a lot of Blacks, and it was available to Blacks too, they were not used to that...... the thing is that currently the Democrats can't even lose a fraction of the Black votes or they are out of the game. It's been like that for decades. That makes the Democrats little more than the minions of Blacks in all respects... Clinton changed things for the lenders so they had to make a lot of bad loans, the Democrats claimed it was racist to not loan in Black neighborhoods with a wink wink to their absolute masters, the Black voters and we got the subprime mess, what could lenders do in the face of being forced to make a lot of really bad loans... they got very creative and some made a ton of money in the process to the detriment of the rest of the entire economy of the US... that is how far the Democrats will go to please those Black voters, push the US economy to the brink of disaster... and they are not done by any means, they never have to take any flack for their horrendously screwed up ideas at all, not where it counts, in the public arena where voters can see it.... so they turn things into these kindergarten-like scenarios and keep people focused on themselves like celebrities do, basically they are fiddling while Rome burns and loving it......
Wow,democrats ruined the ecomny by making subprime loans to blacks ? What about Bush spending Hundreds of billions in Iraq(With many of those billions going to Chaney's company Haiburton by way of no bid contracts) What about Oil man Bushes energy polices that have allowed gas prices to raise to over 4.00 a gallon ? When Clinton left office gas was around 1.20 9-11 had a bad effect on the economy,oh yeah ,9-11 happened on Bushes watch.Maybe if Bush had taken less vacation time he could have acted on the numerous AL Queda warnings What about Bush's polices letting investment banks run wild because they knew Bush would bail them out How much has the value of the US dollar dropped under Bush's administration ? Its amazing Republicans would criticize Clinton's economic polices