Hillary stokes the fire over Rev. Wright
Today, for the first time, Hillary Clinton tried to make political capital out of ‘Patstorgate’, telling the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review: "He [Jeremiah Wright] would not have been my pastor," Clinton said. "You don't choose your family, but you choose what church you want to attend."
Clinton’s intervention guarantees that the Wright story won’t die down, as Obama desperately wants it to. Her remarks also hit Obama where he is most vulnerable, on the simple question of why he stayed friends with a man and went to his church when he made such hateful statements. (Obama’s answer to this question, which involves the complexity of African-American identity and his relationship to it, remains unsatisfactory to the downscale white voters that Obama still needs to win over).
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"You know, I spoke out against Don Imus (who was fired from his radio and television shows after making racially insensitive remarks), saying that hate speech was unacceptable in any setting, and I believe that," Clinton said. "I just think you have to speak out against that. You certainly have to do that, if not explicitly, then implicitly by getting up and moving."
Hillary, though, has taken a definite risk with this statement. The race is now on to find out if she or Bill has ever sat in a church where offensive comments were made. If either of them has, expect the press to make hay.
One other particularly noteworthy quote from the interview is her defence of pork: "I am proud of my earmarks," she said sarcastically. "Part of the reason that I won New York by 67 percent are my earmarks." What, in a moment of candour, Hillary is admitting is that she uses taxpayers’ money to boost her popularity in New York state and thus her vote.