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Hospitals are grateful for their volunteers
Akron, Summit County jobless rates increase
Future members of school board get early lessons
Browns lose game they never should have lost
After 30 years at the helm of Akron Children's, Considine still looks to future
Utility mines new power source
Most Read Stories
2 men shot during party in Fairlawn
Akron man killed in crash on his street
Akron Children's Hospital CEO, wife announce $1 million gift to support research
Cancellation of Christmas not an option
Victim of beating in Kent last week is declared dead at Akron hospital
Police: Pennsylvania man killed misbehaving puppy before Steelers game
Akron Circle K store robbed for second time this month
Police accuse bank robbery suspect of gobbling up note (with dashcam video)
KSU suspends basketball player
Blogs:
Pets:
A Dog Named Christmas – Pet for the Holidays
The Heldenfiles:
Viewing Notes
Patrick McManamon:
Of pass interference and alleged "fake" injuries
Akron Zips:
No. 1 Akron to play Stanford next
Tribe Matters:
Seven players added to Tribe’s 40-man roster
Cleveland Browns:
Audio: Mangini disputes Poteat call, accuses Lions of faking injuries
Kent State Sports:
Flashes travel to Florida Atlantic
Cleveland Cavaliers:
Gameblog: Cavs vs. Philadelphia 76ers
Buckeye Blogging:
Buckeye Football – Present and Future
Varsity Letters:
Gulley to visit Central Michigan in December
All Da King's Men:
The Onion, By Any Other Name…
Blog of Mass Destruction:
Glaring Contradictions
Akron Law Café:
Don't Try to Have Fun if you are Depressed
See Jane Style:
Vintage Chic
Car Chase:
What Automotive Thing Are You Thankful For?
Let's Talk Real Estate:
Faye Dunaway to be Evicted?
Ohio Travels with Betty:
Monique asks how to get tickets for the Polar Express.
Sound Check:
Steely Dan Plays "The Royal Scam" at E.J. Thomas Hall
HRLite House:
Personal Rant – Why I am Glad I live in NEO
Akron Gamer:
Nintendo's Mario endures even as games come and go
South Carolina primary will test whether voters paid attention to Clinton-Obama confrontation
By Beth Fouhy
Associated Press
Published on Tuesday, Jan 15, 2008
NEW YORK: Barack Obama accuses Hillary Rodham Clinton of making an ''unfortunate'' remark about Martin Luther King Jr. She retorts that King's a hero to her — and no one should be thinking Obama is a new MLK.
Racial politics, quietly simmering for months, have burst into the open in the Democratic nomination fight between the woman who would be the first female president and the man who would be the first black. Will it make a difference to voters, black or white?
The first big test will be in the South Carolina primary a week from Saturday. It will be the first Democratic primary this year in a state with a substantial black population — as Michelle Obama declared over the weekend, ''Ain't no black people in Iowa'' — and the first in the South.
Clinton spent part of Monday praising King, the civil-rights leader who was killed in 1968. Speaking at a ceremony honoring him in New York, she said, ''I remember hearing him speak when I went with my church to downtown Chicago to see and hear for myself someone who had burst through the stereotypes and the caricatures, who could not be held back by being beaten or gassed or jailed.''
But a lot of people were still talking about her comment that came out over the weekend, to the effect that King's dream of racial equality was realized only when President Johnson signed the Civil Rights Act.
The remark didn't sit well with Audrey Quantano, a Harlem resident who said she hasn't made up her mind about whom to vote for. She described herself as a longtime Clinton supporter, but she was not happy about the comment about King.
''I'm still working on that one,'' she said. ''I'm processing that one.''
In South Carolina, Lonnie Randolph, president of the state chapter of the NAACP, said voters won't be swayed by ''a sound bite taken out of context.'' Still, he said he wasn't surprised that race had become an issue.
Added Todd Shaw, an assistant professor of political science and African-American studies at the University of South Carolina, ''I don't think it's seismic, but I think it is having some impact.''
Both sides are trying — in public statements — to calm the furor before it gets out of control.
Clinton sent out a statement Monday night saying there had been ''a lot of discussion and back and forth, much of which I know does not reflect what is in our hearts.''
''I believe we must seek common ground,'' she said, and she added that ''when it comes to civil rights and our commitment to diversity, when it comes to our heroes — President John F. Kennedy and Dr. King — Senator Obama and I are on the same side.''
Likewise, Obama, who criticized her comment over the weekend, said Monday in Nevada that it was time to stop ''so much tit for tat, back and forth.'' He said he sometimes disagrees with Clinton but he added, ''I think that Bill Clinton and Hillary Clinton have historically and consistently been on the right side of civil-rights issues. . . . I think that they care about the African-American community and they care about all Americans and they want to see equal rights and equal justice in this country.''
Clinton's husband, the former president, said last week that Obama was trying to sell a fairy tale, a comment that some in the Obama camp portrayed as having a racial tinge.
Bill Clinton has made the rounds of black radio, explaining his ''fairy tale'' reference to Obama — it was about Obama's opposition to the Iraq war, not his candidacy, Clinton said. Mending fences, the former president planned to return to the Rev. Al Sharpton's radio show, and Sen. Clinton was to tape an hourlong appearance with Tyra Banks, a former model who hosts a daytime talk show popular with black women.
Indeed, the situation is especially vexing for Bill Clinton — so popular among black voters, he was once nicknamed the first black president. Many in politics believe Hillary Clinton's popularity among black voters is derived almost entirely from their favorable view of her husband.
''He's not on the ballot, and Hillary is very white,'' said David Bositis, a scholar at the Joint Center for Political Studies, a black think tank. ''Anything that is there for her is a superficial transference, not a permanent transference.''
Sen. Clinton herself has suggested Obama doesn't hold a candle to King in terms of activism and results.
''Dr. King didn't just give speeches,'' she said on NBC's Meet the Press — a slap at Obama's oratory, which the Clinton campaign contends is rarely backed up by results.
NEW YORK: Barack Obama accuses Hillary Rodham Clinton of making an ''unfortunate'' remark about Martin Luther King Jr. She retorts that King's a hero to her — and no one should be thinking Obama is a new MLK.
Get the full article here.
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