Obama: Chill-Out Bill: Black Leaders Admonish Clinton!
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By Franklin Otorofani, Esquire
01.27.08
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It is not usual
for Nigerians and Africans in the Diaspora to publicly comment on issues
bordering on domestic politics in the United States and perhaps, elsewhere in
the developed world, which they have presently made as their second (?) homes.
Some would argue, and with some justification too, that these countries have
indeed now become their first homes as their homelands gradually slide into
varying states of anomie and hopelessness.
However, this loud reticence is, for the most part, nothing but self-imposed
censorship. Nothing stops Nigerians and Africans in the Diaspora from publicly
commenting on political happenings in their adopted countries. Freedom of
speech, at least, as observed in Western democracies, does not discriminate
between natural born citizens and immigrant citizens and residents alike. Yet,
discretion is always the better part of valor. Therefore, immigrants have learnt
to be cautious in making public comments about the politics in their adopted
countries. Whatever comments they permit themselves to make are presented by way
of anecdotes or other innocuous references and/or inferences that would not
cause a frown on the eyebrows of the authorities.
I intend to break out from that mold here for the sake of Barack Obama—
the first viable enough black presidential candidate in the history of the
United States to shake the Democratic Party establishment, which has been
dominated by former President Clinton after thirty years, and gun for the
Presidency of the world’s most powerful nation. And in doing so, I intend to
step on the toes of former President Bill Clinton who has become the surrogate
candidate for his wife, Hillary Clinton in this campaign season.
Former President Bill Clinton (dubbed the ‘Black President’) enjoys larger than
life image and influence within the Democratic Party establishment in the United
States. Bill Clinton is to the Democratic Party what Ronald Reagan is to the
Republican Party. Both men are icons in their respective parties. In fact, I
would go so far as to state that both men are political tin gods that are
worshipped by their respective party faithful in the United States, with huge
international goodwill as well in and out of office.
Bill Clinton, in particular, enjoys enormous good will in the African American
community, which in fact, regard him as one of their own even though he is
white. That recognition has robbed off on his wife, Hillary. It’s not surprising
therefore that Clinton pitched his tent in Harlem in New York City, dubbed the
“Headquarters of Black America.” The Clintons, who are from the State of
Arkansas, migrated to the State of New York and made the state their home state.
Senator Hillary Clinton who is now squared up with Senator Barrack Obama in the
presidential primaries race, contested a senatorial seat for upstate New York
barely six months after the Clintons bought a home in Chapauqua, in upstate New
York.
However, the honeymoon between the Clintons and the Black community in general,
appears to have taken a hit in the wake of the President Clinton’s steady stream
of negative attacks against Barrack Obama’s candidacy. It is now clear that
Hillary Clinton who was badly drubbed by Barrack Obama in the Iowa’s Caucaus has
recruited her husband to play the role of an attack dog against Obama and Obama
alone and nobody else amongst the army of white candidates on the Democratic
ticket. The yeoman role being currently played by Bill Clinton that has greatly
diminished his public standing in the United States and probably elsewhere in
the world. It has reduced his presidential and international status to the level
of an ordinary die-in-the-wool, mudslinging politician who is out to win at all
costs.
President Clinton has thrown presidential decorum and caution to the wind and he
is fighting dirty like an ordinary politician for his wife. He has deployed such
words as “rolling the dice” and “fairy tale” to describe the Obama
candidacy—words that clearly have racial undertone. Many Americans, including
the press and not just African American leaders, have not taken kindly to the
un-presidential role currently being played by Bill Clinton and have therefore
asked him to chill out. Tom Daschle, for example, a white, and ex-Minority
Senate Leader of the Democratic Party described Bill Clinton’s conduct as
“un-presidential.” President Bill Clinton has lashed out at the press and
recklessly thrown mud at others for daring to criticize his role and for
allegedly playing cool with Obama. He has used every opportunity to distort
Obama’s records and public utterances such his comments about Ronald Reagan,
which were twisted and distorted to stiff Democratic Party primaries’ voters.
Now, here is an ex-President who has been consistently accused of being
economical with the truth, and in fact for acts of perjury. In fact, “Clintonspeak,”
is now an expression coined by the American media to denote attempt by someone
to stretch the meanings of words beyond their plain and ordinary meanings.
Hillary Clinton, a known feminist, who should be standing on her own feet,
appears to be the only candidate who does not seem to be able to stand on her
own feet to face the other candidates and has had to fall back on her husband to
do the dirty work for her. All the other candidates have not enlisted the
services of their spouses to do their dirty work as Candidate Hillary has done.
Bill Clinton is all over the place on a rampage on her behalf. That, in and of
itself, shows that she will not be up to the job on her own in the White House
without her husband on her side to do the work for her. The implication of that
possible scenario is that in the highly unlikely event that the highly
chauvinistic, male-dominated, American society elects Hillary Clinton as their
next president, it would, in effect, be electing the former President Bill
Clinton for a third term! Hillary will wind up being a figure head wearing the
crown while Bill runs the show in front and behind the scenes, as he, is in
fact, doing already. What a back door route to third term!
Did I say, third term? Oh, my gosh, those words again! They ring a bell in
Nigeria, don’t they? The way and manner the former President is going about the
campaign, it is difficult to tell who is, in fact, vying for the office—Bill or
Hillary? In fact Obama has said he is finding it increasingly difficult to tell
who he is running against—Bill or Hill. It looks more he is running against Bill
than Hill. Some have creatively referred to the Clinton ticket as “Billary”
being a combined ticket of Bill and Hillary!
In this regard, however, it should be noted that when President Clinton left
office in 2000 he was reported in the press as having regretted leaving office
at such a young age and advocated an amendment to the United States Constitution
that would allow young incumbents like him to go for a third term in office. Oh,
those words again—third term. They keep popping up as if I’m writing about
Nigeria! Never mind. He may well be campaigning for a third term indirectly
already!
Would ex-President Clinton read this article? I doubt. Would any of his
supporters read this article? Probably, yes. However, regardless of who is
reading this article, I have a word for President Bill Clinton and his thinning
clan of supporters, in addition to the admonitions of the American press and the
black leaders that have rightfully taken him to task over his ignoble role:
It is fundamentally distasteful to see a former President running around as an
attack hound to hack down a young promising black presidential candidate whether
or not his wife is in the race. His wife is not the only candidate with a
spouse. That is no excuse to be less than presidential and throw his enormous
goodwill and respect to the wind. There is something like presidential decorum
demanded of public office holders at the highest level of government. His
comments are not only reckless but demeaning of the American presidency. If this
is the icing on the cake as it were for Monica Lewinsky’s affair, Americans are
not amused and they are saying that loud and clear. He had better chilled out
now for his own political good and image.
He has done incalculable harm himself and to the Democratic Party. Whatever
happens at the end of the day, thing will never be the same again for him in the
public domain, especially in the African American community; forget about Monica
Lewinsky. And in the end, he will find out that he has been fighting a losing
battle all along because even if Hillary becomes her party’s nominee, the
bitterness he has created will rob off on her candidacy against the Republicans.
Worse of all, America is not ready for a Woman President. All the Hillary talk
is mere window dressing. When the chips are down Americans will all drift to a
male candidate in the Republican Party who will rout Hillary, Bill or no Bill. A
Hillary Clinton will not become American President during Bill Clinton’s
lifetime.
As for the revolutionary Candidate Barrack Obama, his candidacy has had a
liberating effect on the bruised and battered psyche of the African American
community in the United States. This bruised and battered psyche was responsible
for the initial reluctance, even hostility, of the leadership of the African
American community towards the Obama candidacy. Obama was treated like a
political orphan by his own people and I felt terrible for him. It’s one of the
lingering legacies of 400 years of slavery. The blacks did not believe a
Blackman could ever smell the Presidency in the United States and considered
their votes for Obama a waste of valuable electoral assets and as a consequence
thereof pinched their tents with Hillary Clinton. It took Obama’s drubbing of
Hillary Clinton in the all-white State of Iowa to shake off this negative
mindset. Today’s result of the South Carolina primary will show whether that
mindset has truly been shaken off the poll results notwithstanding.
But this much is clear to this point: Barrack Obama is both the promise and the
fulfillment of the American Dream. It’s past time the United States shook off
the historical and lingering baggage of racism and embrace the American reality
of a multi-racial society that is a beacon to the world. If the United States
could do away with slavery in the face of dogged resistance of the Jim Crows of
this world, it sure can and should do away with racism and this is the time to
demonstrate that resolve to the world. The world is watching. This race is will
pass an historical judgment on the American society on the issue of race
relations. Ride on Barrack Obama—The Canon of History!
Franklin Otorofani, Esq. (USA)
Contact: mudiagaone@yahoo.com
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