And then it was over--sort of. After a week of increasingly heated sniping over race,
Barack Obama yesterday afternoon sought the high ground, telling
reporters during a hastily called news conference in Reno, Nev. that
everyone should just, you know, chillax.
You
have seen a tone on the Democrat[ic] side of the campaign that has been
unfortunate. I want to stipulate a couple of things. I may disagree
with Senator Clinton and Senator Edwards on how to get there, but we
share the same goals. We all believe in civil rights. We all believe in
equal rights. They are good people. They are patriots.... I
don't want the campaign at this stage to degenerate to so much
tit-for-tat, back-and-forth, that we lose sight of why we are doing
this... Bill Clinton and Hillary Clinton have historically been
on the right side of civil rights issues. They care about the African
American community.… That is something I am convinced of. I want
Americans to know that is my assessment.
A smart move politically--and as a human being. Eager to seem
equally above-it-all, Clinton quickly released a statement of her own.
"We differ on a lot of things," she said. "And it is critical to have
the right kind of discussion on where we stand. But when it comes to
civil rights and our commitment to diversity, when it comes to our
heroes--President John F. Kennedy and Dr. King--Senator Obama and I are
on the same side. And in that spirit, let's come together."
Can
you feel the love tonight? I know I can. Unfortunately, no one told New York Rep.
Charlie Rangel, a prominent Clinton supporter. As Hillary's statement
hit inboxes in newsrooms across the country, Rangel just happened to
sit for an interview on the NY1 cable channel--where he said Obama was
"absolutely stupid" for calling Clinton's original Martin Luther King,
Jr., remark "ill-advised."
“How race got into this thing is because Obama said
‘race,’” said Rangel.
A Clinton adviser told the New York Times that Rangel was "speaking for himself."
Those pesky surrogates. Clinton may want to muzzle them in the future--or else some folks might start to suspect that they're speaking for her.
UPDATE: More on loose-lipped surrogates from the Washington Post. As Clinton confidant James Carville put it: "Someone said, 'You can't unring a bell' -- well, the biggest bell in American politics just got rung."
