Barack Obama & Hillary Clinton Comments … Its Getting Ugly … Race an Issue Between Democrat Candidates

Any one who had any dreams of a Hillary Clinton/Barack Obama Democratic ticket can kiss that thought goodbye. The battle for the Democratic nomination for the presidency has gotten ugly, real ugly.

Normally, its Democrats using the race card against Republicans … not this time. Its Democrat v. Democrat over the race issue. The Clinton campaign may want to take a look as to who brought the issue into play in the first place. The Clinton campaign stupidly touched the third rail of politics when running against a black candidate.  Hillary, just like your husband Bill … you are not black either.

“This is an unfortunate story line the Obama campaign has pushed very successfully,” the former first lady said in a spirited appearance on NBC’s “Meet the Press.”"I don’t think this campaign is about gender, and I sure hope it’s not about race.”

The race issue is now alive and well within the Democratic primary and may just fracture the party.

The Clinton’s need to realize that Bill Clinton was not really the first “Black President” and that would mean that Hillary was not the first “First Lady” married to a black President. News flash to TEAM CLINTON, Bill Clinton was white and Barack Obama really is a black man. Hillary’s comments may come back to bite her when she referenced the late Civil Rights leader Martin Luther King, Jr.

Presently the polls have Obama in the lead in South Carolina by double digits.

Sharp criticism of Barack Obama and other comments about Martin Luther King Jr. — all from people associated with Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign — have generated resentment among some black S.C. voters.

The furor comes just two weeks before those voters will have a significant say in who wins the Jan. 26 primary here.

The Clinton-Obama battle has the potential to become a wrenching divide for black voters. Historically those voters have been strong backers of Bill and Hillary Clinton. But many black voters now are drawn to the prospect of a black man winning the presidency.

Those on both sides say watching the battle unfold in the Palmetto State, where black voters could cast half of the votes in the Democratic primary, won’t be pretty.

“To some of us, it is painful,” said state Sen. Darrell Jackson, a Clinton supporter.

But the state’s only African-American congressman was quoted in The New York Times Friday saying he is reconsidering that stance in light of comments from Clinton.

She raised eyebrows in New Hampshire when she credited President Lyndon Baines Johnson, not the assassinated John F. Kennedy or King, for passing civil rights legislation.

“It is one thing to run a campaign and be respectful of everyone’s motives and actions, and it is something else to denigrate those,” Clyburn told the Times. “That bothered me a great deal.”

Hillary Clinton went on “Meet the Press” (Transcript Here) this weekend in her best impersonation of The Empire Strikes back as Hillary Clinton attacked Barack Obama. How ironic, Hillary Clinton accusing others of being selective with the facts.

Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.) said on NBC’s “Meet the Press” today that the presidential campaign of Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) was “deliberately distorting” remarks she had made about the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King. “This is, you know, a, a — an unfortunate story line that the Obama campaign has pushed very successfully,” she said. “They’ve been putting out talking points. They’ve been making this — they’ve been telling people, in a very selective way, what the facts are.”

Then Barack Obama counters Hillary’s comments, Obama Slams Clinton’s ‘Meet’ Appearance.

Sen. Barack Obama (Ill.) dismissed an appearance made by Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (N.Y.) on “Meet the Press” this morning as “political point scoring,” condemning his main rival for the Democratic presidential nomination for seeking to recast the events of the last several years.

“What we saw this morning was why the American people are tired of Washington politicians and the games they play,” said Obama in a conference call announcing the endorsement of Sen. Claire McCaskill (Mo.) “[Clinton] started this campaign saying that she wanted to make history and lately she has been spending some time rewriting it.”