Is James Clyburn Really Staying Neutral?
by Todd Beeton, Tue Jan 15, 2008 at 10:22:45 AM EST
As I wrote last week, The New York Times reported that House Majority Whip Rep. James Clyburn was "rethinking his neutral stance" on the South Carolina primary and was considering endorsing Obama in the wake of Hillary Clinton's comments about the civil rights movement that he found insensitive.
Mr. Clyburn, a veteran of the civil rights movement and a power in state Democratic politics, put himself on the sidelines more than a year ago to help secure an early primary for South Carolina, saying he wanted to encourage all candidates to take part. But he said recent remarks by the Clintons that he saw as distorting civil rights history could change his mind.
Today, The Hill reports that he's decided against endorsing.
Clyburn, who also noted that he "has no plans to make an endorsement," also spoke with Obama and Hillary Clinton upon his return, he said Monday night on PBS's "The Charlie Rose Show."
The decision seems to have come after speaking to both the Obama and Clinton campaigns upon his return from a 10-day trip yesterday.
Seeking to quell the fight between the presidential campaigns of Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) and Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.), former President Bill Clinton spoke to House Majority Whip James Clyburn (D-S.C.) within an hour of the lawmaker returning from a 10-day trip abroad.
Or perhaps he just floated the suggestion that he'd endorse to get the attention of the squabbling campaigns. I don't think it's a coincidence that both campaigns issued statements, essentially calling a truce, on the same day they spoke with Clyburn.
But hidden within the Hill article is an interesting quote from Clyburn, I believe from his appearance on Charlie Rose, speaking of his conversation with Bill Clinton yesterday, in which he almost appears to give a defacto endorsement of Barack Obama.
"We talked about the unfortunate circumstances that we find ourselves in," Clyburn, who is black, said with regard to his conversation with the former president. The lawmaker pledged to Bill Clinton that he would do his "level best to help get us beyond this, because this campaign is about change."
What do you think? Sounds like code for "vote for Barack Obama" to me.
Tags: 2008 Presidential election, Barack Obama, Democratic nomination, Hillary Clinton, James Clyburn, South Carolina Primary (all tags)









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