"Clinton, Obama spar over her comments on civil rights battle" - by Michael Krandish
New York
senator, Hillary Clinton, who is in an increasingly bitter contest for the Democratic nomination for the Presidency with Illonois senator, Barak Obama, went on NBC''s "Meet the Press", and was grilled about comments she made a week earlier on Fox News Channel, that some
black leaders claim was defamatory to the memory of Rev.
Dr. Martin Luther
King Jr.. In that previous interview, Clinton said that, "Dr. King''s dream started to be realized when
President Lyndon Johnson passed the Civil Rights Act of 1964", and that the dream, "became a reality in peoples'' lives'' because we had a president who said ''we''re going to do it'' and actually got it accomplished." Many black leaders accused Clinton of diminishing King''s role in the civil rights movement, and giving the bulk of the credit to President Johnson, with those comments.
Clinton sought to diffuse the contraversy by saying that Dr. King did more than, "just give speechs." She pointed to King''s active involvement in marches, and the violence he endured like being gassed and beaten in defense of his cause; but she added that, "he understood that he had to move the political process and bring in those who were in political power."
South Carolina''s largest newspaper, The State, had ran a story on its front page a day before Clinton''s appearance on "Meet the Press", that said many black people were offended by Clinton''s remarks about Obama and King, and labeled her statement as, "painful". 50 percent of South Carolina''s Democratic party voters are black, so it''s obvious why the Clinton campaign finds it so important to clarify her remarks. Both Senator Clinton, and her
husband, former President Bill Clinton, have recently sought to portray Obama as an adept orator, but contend that his
record is flimsy when its comes to achieving major accomplishments. Senator Clinton was quoted on the program as saying she had, "the greatest respect for rhetoric and particularly the ability Senator Obama has to, you know, lift our sights, and our hearts with his oratory", but continued by saying, "I think it''s fair to point out that he has not had a record of producing positive change."
Clinton was also pressed about her husband''s recent remarks that Obama''s claim of consistently opposing the Iraq War was a, "fairy tale." Senator Clinton defended her husband''s words, and pointed out that Obama''s candidacy was predicated on a 2002 speech he made opposing the war, but as senator he voted to fund the war, and in 2004 he said that he didn''t really disagree with George Bush''s handling of the war.
Obama quickly responded after the interview, and fired back that he had always been oppoad spent an hour on television, "talking about me and my record in a way that was flatout wrong."
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