Obama on Saturday:
[W]e’re also up against forces that . . . feed the habits that prevent us from being who we want to be as a nation. . . . The assumption that African-Americans can’t support the white candidate; whites can’t support the African-American candidate . . . [W]e are also struggling against our own doubts, our own fears, and our own cynicism. But as hard as it may seem, we cannot lose hope. The choice in this election is not between regions or religions or genders. It’s not about rich versus poor; young versus old; and it is not about black versus white. It’s about the past versus the future.
Bill Clinton on Saturday, representing the forces of fear, and the assumptions and habits of the past:
Jesse Jackson won South Carolina twice, in '84 and '88. And he ran a good campaign. Senator Obama's run a good campaign here.
And, no, Clinton was not asked about Jesse Jackson. He was not asked about past South Carolina primaries. He was asked about why it took two Clintons to battle Obama, and his answer was "Jesse Jackson." Subtle.
More fear can be found in the the Clinton strategists' post-SC spin:
[T]hey said they believe the fallout has had the effect of branding Obama as "the black candidate," a tag that could hurt him outside the South.
And between Bill and Hillary's strategists, they managed to score an AP "analysis" within hours of Obama's win in SC, entitled, "Racial divide could hurt Obama beyond SC vote," and asking in the lead paragraph if "the Clinton campaign successfully marginalized him as the "black candidate?"
The remedy? Find it here:
[W]e are here tonight to say that this is not the America we believe in.
I did not travel around this state over the last year and see a white South Carolina or a black South Carolina. I saw South Carolina. I saw crumbling schools that are stealing the future of black children and white children. I saw shuttered mills and homes for sale that once belonged to Americans from all walks of life, and men and women of every color and creed who serve together, and fight together, and bleed together under the same proud flag. I saw what America is, and I believe in what this country can be.
That is the country I see. That is the country you see. But now it is up to us to help the entire nation embrace this vision. Because in the end, we are not just up against the ingrained and destructive habits of Washington, we are also struggling against our own doubts, our own fears, and our own cynicism. The change we seek has always required great struggle and sacrifice. And so this is a battle in our own hearts and minds about what kind of country we want and how hard we’re willing to work for it.
So let me remind you tonight that change will not be easy. That change will take time. There will be setbacks, and false starts, and sometimes we will make mistakes. But as hard as it may seem, we cannot lose hope. . . .
The choice in this election is not between regions or religions or genders. It’s not about rich versus poor; young versus old; and it is not about black versus white.
It’s about the past versus the future. . . .
And as we leave this state with a new wind at our backs, and take this journey across the country we love with the message we’ve carried from the plains of Iowa to the hills of New Hampshire; from the Nevada desert to the South Carolina coast; the same message we had when we were up and when we were down – that out of many, we are one; that while we breathe, we hope; and where we are met with cynicism, and doubt, and those who tell us that we can’t, we will respond with that timeless creed that sums up the spirit of a people in three simple words:
Yes. We. Can.
Tonight's events led me to make my fourth donation to the Obama campaign. I added a few cents to send a message -- .08, to be precise.
I invite you to do the same -- whatever you can afford, plus .08 -- and choose hope over fear, truth over assumptions, and a future of unity over a past of division.
Join me here.