Here's the New York Time's take.
But later in the day, with Mr. Biden coming under fire from some black leaders, Mr. Obama issued a statement that approached a condemnation. “I didn’t take Senator Biden’s comments personally, but obviously they were historically inaccurate,” he said. “African-American presidential candidates like Jesse Jackson, Shirley Chisholm, Carol Moseley Braun and Al Sharpton gave a voice to many important issues through their campaigns, and no one would call them inarticulate.”Or unclean, but whatever.
Glenn Reynolds is funnier:
Yep. Calling Obama the first "articulate and bright and clean" black candidate for President is unfair. Say what you will about Al Sharpton, but his personal hygiene appears to be excellent.Silly, silly Joe Biden.
“African-American presidential candidates like Jesse Jackson, Shirley Chisholm, Carol Moseley Braun and Al Sharpton gave a voice to many important issues through their campaigns, and no one would call them inarticulate.”
ReplyDeleteIf I remember right, Chisholm and Braun announced candidacy with no realistic hope of getting the nomination, Sharpton did it as a publicity stunt (with the added advantage of holding the real candidates' feet to the fire), and Jackson could be either of the above.
Obama is the first candidate running more like a candidate than a "BLACK candidate (TM)". (Some say he has no choice; Clinton has already got the black vote in his/her pocket, so Obama can't count on unlimited support from that quarter.)
My only beefs with Obama as-presented are:
1) He's a stealth candidate, with little known about him.
2) He's a first-term Senator, without any track record. (See above. Also, Governors are more likely to get elected Prez than Senators.)
3) He's an Illinois Democrat, from a state where Dem machine politics go back more than a century; is he "Boss Daley's Man" or what?