What Did Hillary Say?

16.04.2008

Alan Wolfe, a professor of political science and director of the Boisi Center for Religion and American Public Life at Boston College, is a contributing editor at The New Republic.

Both Chris Orr and Michael Crowley have brought up Ben Barber’s recollection of how angry Hillary had been at a 1995 Camp David retreat that was attended by a number of intellectuals. “Screw ‘em” was the term of art she directed--shall I say bitterly?--against white working-class Southerners. Harry Boyte, who was there, has also chimed in, pointing out, along with Barber, that Bill, by contrast, talked about the need to reach out to them.

"So, you've got two guys we've barely heard of remembering a verbatim quote from 13 years ago?... Sounds totally and completely reliable," responded Jay Carson from the Clinton campaign. Make that three. I was there. I hope people have heard of me. And Barber and Boyte have it right.

A lot of people compare Barack Obama to Bobby Kennedy. To me, he most resembles Bill Clinton, at least the Bill Clinton I knew then.

--Alan Wolfe

Posted: Wednesday, April 16, 2008 10:57 PM with 9 comment(s)

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sdemuth said:

Wow, first person history, right here in The Plank.

Must be tough on Clinton to be so memorable. To bad it matters so little to the real issues at hand.

April 16, 2008 6:27 PM

jacobt1 said:

Alan Wolfe,

You have no shame.

Why would you recall this now? Where were you before?

What else Obama suppporters would recall at convinient for him time?

BTW, Does it mean that everything that Obama said for the lst 10 years is a fair game?

April 16, 2008 6:32 PM

miceelf said:

If Obama criticises Clinton for saying something milder than he said himself and blows it out of proportion, then it's fair game.

April 16, 2008 7:31 PM

WoodyBombay said:

Wow - jacob's post is both intellectually AND grammatically incoherent. What two-fer!

April 16, 2008 7:52 PM

ackyri said:

Miceelf's on the mark. Furthermore, Jacob, this incident wouldn't have been relevant before now.

April 16, 2008 8:03 PM

mpatrickhendri said:

No shame? All he said was that he was there and the quote was accurate. I'd bet my left nut that she said it and that she's lying now. Her campaign has become an endless parody. Enjoy until Indiana.

April 16, 2008 8:07 PM

rrnewman said:

Let's see - In a private discussion at Camp David in 1994 after the Democrats lost controll of he House, Hillary Clinton, evidently in a moment of anger, stated that the Democrats should not count on Southern blue-collar Democrats as a part of a strategy to re-take control of the House. That is probably the context of Hillary Clinton's "screw-em", if you take Alan Wolfe and the report on The Hunnington Post, at face value and accept that Hillary Clinton actually said "screw-em.". By contrast, at a public fundraising event - public, not a private political strategy session - Obama asserts that adherence to a set of specific cultural values by working-class, small town whites are in essence pathological - they are defensive reactions to times of uncertainty and of hardship. There is no comparison between the two instances - one a moment of anger expressed after the loss of the House in 1994 in a private conversation, the other a public statement to a bunch of well-heelied Californians trying to explain the mind set of small town Midwesterners. Those on the left of the Democratic Party - I am not one of them - will forgive or excuse Obama anything, it appears, but Judis was correct in his post regarding the fact that Obama's statement at the fundraiser will pose a real obstacle to winning in the general election. This will not go away any more than Obama's failure to confront his pastor, Jeremiah Wright, will go away. And no attempt at uncovering an utterance made by Hillary Clinton in anger back in 1994 will change that fact.

April 16, 2008 10:53 PM

3mjesus said:

You Obama people are really starting to embarrass yourselves. Good job.

April 17, 2008 1:22 PM

Wandreycer1 said:

Stay classy Hill.

April 17, 2008 1:54 PM