In an almost comic reversal of Obama's "denounce and reject Farrakhan" moment, Hillary Clinton was faced today with an almost exact mirror image in the form of an openly racist Texas woman and supporter named Adelfa Callejo.
New York Daily News reporter Michael McAuliffe's pool covered a conversation between Clinton and a Dallas TV station regarding the woman's comments.
Here is the exchange:
She was asked by KTVT in Dallas about a Latina backer who said that black politicians never do anything for Hispanics. Her name is Adelfa Callejo. Apparently she’s 84.
[The question: "She recently told us that African-Americans never help Hispanics when they gain power and influence and that she would never vote for Sen. Obama, and now quoting here she said 'Obama’s problem is that he happens to be black.' How do you react to those comments?"]
The newscaster quoted her saying "Obama’s problem is that he happens to be black."
Clinton: "Well obviously I want us judged on our merits. I believe strongly that the fact that we have an Aftrican Ameircan and a woman running for the Democratic nomination is historical and I’m very very proud of that . I want people thought to look beyond, look beyond race and gender, look at our records, look what we stand for, look what we’ve done and I think that;s what most voters are looking for."
Q (paraphrase) Is this something you reject and denounce?
"People have every reason to express their opinions. I just don’t agree with that. I think that we should be looking at the individuals who are running."
Q - Do you still want her support, though?
Clinton laughed and said, "You know This is a free country. People get to express their opinions. A lot of folks have said really unpleasant things about me over the course of this campaign. You can’ take any of that as anything other than an individual opinion."
"I would urge all of my supporters and Sen. Obama’s supporters to stay focused on the two of us,. Don’t vote on race don’t vote on gender, vote on the qualifications each of us present for the presidency."
Q- But you criticized Obama for not rejecting the support form Farrakhan,
"I don’t see any comparison at all with what you’re referring to and I don’t know the facts of what you’re telling me over the TV. So I’m just going to repeat that I want people to judge us on the merits."
It's worth noting the particular form of racism Ms. Callejo employs here. It's more of an "all the blacks stick together" kind of racism that assumes Barack Obama only cares about blacks and nobody else than it is the classic "It ain't right for a black man to be in the White House." I suspect that this form of racism is much more common in the Democratic primary electorate than many of us are comfortable admitting. It's a crude sort of identity politics racism where one assumes that a candidate will only care about his or her own people and nobody else. Since there's nothing in Obama's record or rhetoric to suggest that he's running for President just to serve the black community, one can only conclude that this remark is irrational and based on bigotry.
Whatever Ms. Callejo's motivations, however, it should have been a slam dunk for Hillary Clinton to distance herself from this woman. Instead, she played the victim card and said that she had been poorly treated in this campaign. Well, that may or may not be so, but her failure to condemn the remarks of a supporter who says, "Obama’s problem is that he happens to be black," - just one day after slamming Obama for his supposedly weak condemnation of Farrakhan - bespeaks a deep cynicism in Hillary Clinton's campaign.
UPDATE: Hillary Clinton campaign aid Doug Hattaway issued a statement on the matter: ""If it was actually said, of course she rejects and denounces it," Hattaway said."
But here's the video of Ms. Callejo's remarks.
http://cbs11tv.com/...
Folks, this is even worse than I thought. I was under the impression that Adelfa Callejo was some random woman and possibly misquoted. But she's actually a significant figure in the Texas Latina community and she spells out in detail that she will not vote for Obama only because he's black and because she's had run-ins with African Americans on some contentious issues in Texas. She obviously carries some influence - as the Obama supporter on the video remarks. Hillary Clinton needs to distance herself from this woman personally. In fact, this is very much like the crap that Louis Farrakhan has said about Jews.