|
|
| |
| Sat, Jul. 5, 2008 |  |
 |
|
||
| |
Sensational, sappy and stupid Sunday, Apr 29, 2007 By David Sanders On Monday, Hillary Clinton likened Harriet Tubman's legacy to her struggles with a malfunctioning microphone. "There may be some bumps along the road," Hillary said at a fundraiser. "You know this reminds me of one of my favorite American heroines, Harriet Tubman. For when she made it to freedom after having been a slave and she got to New York and she could have been so happy to just stay at home and just breathe a big sigh of relief, but she kept going back down South to bring other freed slaves to freedom. And she used to say, 'No matter what happens, keep going.' So we're going to keep going until we take back the White House." Substance isn't her only problem. When speaking to predominantly black audiences, she rolls into a contrived and abysmally executed Southern drawl. Unlike her husband, whose inflection versatility seems to come naturally, Hillary's intonation is embarrassing and insulting. Her latest offense occurred while trying to rev up the crowd at Al Sharpton's National Action Network Conference in New York last weekend. "When I walk into the Oval Office in January-two-thousund-and-nine, I'm uhfraid I'm gonna lift up the rug and I'm goin' to see so much stuff under thar. "Ya ? ya know, what is it about us, always havin' to clean up after people? I ask ya to join me on this journey ? But this is not just going to be pickin' up socks off the floor. This is going to be cleanin' up the guverment ? ," she told the crowd. This wasn't the first time. In March, she shed her Yankee lilt for black congregants who'd gathered in their Sunday-best to pay tribute to slain civil rights workers from Selma, Ala. And in January, she stretched her words while speaking at a Harlem church service commemorating Martin Luther King Jr.'s legacy. She likened Republican rule in the House of Representatives to life on the plantation. "? you know what I'm talkin' about," she told the congregation. Attempting to emulate her husband reminds black Democrats that she is nothing like the man Toni Morrison called "first black president." Are her attempts to connect with black voters having any impact? Not so much, apparently. According to the New York Times, the Big Apple's black leaders are having second thoughts about Hillary. They are reportedly giving serious consideration to Barack Obama, who would be the country's second black president. Speaking of outlandish references, there's Howard Dean. He told bankers Wednesday that locking out the media is the best way to get presidential candidates to speak openly about issues. Dean made his comments in full earshot of reporters who covered his remarks to the Mortgage Bankers Association conference. After his speech Dean took questions from the audience. One attendee prompted Dean's bizarre proposal when he asked the Democratic Party chairman how the presidential candidates could get beyond sound bites. "I suggest you have candidates in to meetings like this and bar the press," Dean said, according to The Associated Press. He suggested presidential candidates can't speak openly because of the media's increasing "corporatization," which puts profits over the quality and has reduced news to "info-tainment." He suggested that the media caused those who run for office to be reluctant to "say anything" unless it's written and approved by their campaigns. "And if you want to hear anybody's true views, you cannot do it in the same room as the press," Dean added. "If you want to hear the truth from them, you have to exclude the press." Are we to assume, then, that the bankers weren't hearing the truth from Dean? ------- David Sanders writes twice weekly for the Arkansas News Bureau in Little Rock and is a host of the Arkansas Education Television Network's "Unconventional Wisdom." His e-mail address is DavidJSanders@aol.com. |
