Former President Bill Clinton hit the campaign trail in support of Democratic presidential candidate Sen. John F. Kerry Monday as the two conducted a conference call with black clergy and promised them that the 2004 election won’t be like 2000.
“I’m personally offended as a Southerner by the persistent efforts by Republicans to keep people from voting,” said Clinton during the call that included a BlackAmericaWeb.com correspondent. “The last time we weren’t ready. This time we’ll be ready.”
Clinton was on hand to introduce Kerry to the group of about 350 ministers. The former president prefaced his introduction by reminding listeners how crucial this year’s election is.
“You know how important this election is,” Clinton said, “because of the policy differences between the two candidates at home and abroad.”
At Kerry’s request, his campaign workers set up the “African-American Clergy Conference Call,” in which the senator reiterated his campaign promise to focus on the domestic issues of education, healthcare and jobs and build an international alliance to deal with the crisis in Iraq and stop genocide in the Darfur region of Sudan.
“I’ve known Sen. Kerry a long time,” Clinton told the listeners. “I believe he has the ability to be a very great president. He has the No. 1 quality for being president: He doesn’t quit.
“People wrote him off in the primaries and he didn’t quit. They wrote him off before the debates (with President George W. Bush) and he didn’t quit.”
Kerry returned the compliment by calling Clinton’s administration one that was “wonderfully inclusive and courageous” and that “stood up for human rights and common sense.”
Then Kerry told the ministers why it is important for blacks to vote on Nov. 2.
“We’ve learned today that (Chief) Justice (William) Rehnquist is ill,” said Kerry. “Two or three justices may be retiring. Affirmative action was preserved by one vote on the Supreme Court. The (2000) presidential election was decided by one vote.”
Kerry then promised his presidency would address problems that disproportionately affect blacks, noting that one-third have no healthcare, some five million have lost healthcare coverage in the last four years and that the school dropout rate for black youth is 40 to 50 percent.
Bishop Vashti McKenzie, president of the African Methodist Episcopal Council of Bishops, used Kerry’s remarks about domestic issues facing blacks to criticize the Bush administration for spending money abroad.
“It amazes us that the government can find $87 billion to rebuild Iraq,” said McKenzie, adding that the same efforts aren’t being made to spend money at home.
“If you help me become president,” Kerry promised, “we’re going to put the urban agenda back on the table for this country.”
Bishop Ernest Morris, president of Black Clergy of Philadelphia and Vicinity, expressed admiration for Kerry’s stand on gay marriage and said he hoped it wouldn’t become a diversionary issue for black voters.
“My state has proposed legislation in order to change the state constitution so that marriage remains between a man and a woman,” Kerry said. “I believe this is an issue that for the past 200 years has been decided by the states.
“I ask you not to be diverted from the real issue in this case. Fifty percent of the African-American men in New York City are unemployed. That’s unacceptable to me. It’s acceptable to President Bush. There are more black men in prison than in college. That’s acceptable to President Bush. It’s unacceptable to me.”
Rev. John Borders of Boston, after praising Kerry as a “tough-on-crime” prosecutor from his days in Lowell, Mass., asked the senator what he regarded as his strengths in foreign policy.
“The whole world is waiting to see what we do in eight days,” said Kerry. “We’ve already had one genocide in the world in the last 10 years. I don’t think President Clinton would mind my saying that he feels we didn’t respond quickly enough to the genocide in Rwanda. Today in the Darfur region of the Sudan we’re looking at the possibility of 250,000 people dying.”
Bush can’t respond to the Darfur crisis, Kerry said, because he has American troops overextended in Iraq and little support from allies for the war.
“The president,” said Kerry, “has lost the moral suasion and power of the bully pulpit.”
