Sen. Hillary Clinton said she believed she would be the best president, but emphasized a need for unity, regardless of who the Democratic Party’s nominee is in November.
“Those of us who have fought together for decades to right wrongs and break barriers cannot allow differences in our choice over who should be elected undermine our fundamental unity to change the course of this country,” Clinton told an estimated audience of 5,000 at the Ernest E. Morial Convention Center in New Orleans.
Clinton appeared at the end of this year’s ninth annual State of the Black Union symposium, hosted and presented by commentator Tavis Smiley, which focused on the role black Americans will play in the 2008 presidential election.
After brief remarks, Clinton sat down for several questions from Smiley, emphasizing the need for unity and defending the record of her husband, former President Bill Clinton, who has come under attack in recent weeks for remarks that offended many African-Americans.
Earlier, during the forum, the Rev. Al Sharpton accused the Clinton campaign of allowing surrogates to use racially charged rhetoric against Sen. Barack Obama, her rival candidate.
Before the symposium began, Sharpton cited comments about Obama's past drug use by Billy Shaheen, then a co-chair of Clinton's New Hampshire campaign, and from Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell, a Clinton supporter, who told a Pittsburgh newspaper there were some conservative whites in his state who were not ready to vote for a black candidate.
"They have to explain the language we've heard," Sharpton said.
During the forum, Sharpton also said Clinton's campaign also was trying to change party rules by seeking to have Florida and Michigan delegates seated at the Democratic National Convention.
The Democratic National Committee penalized Michigan and Florida for moving their primaries to earlier dates in violation of party rules. Both states were stripped of their delegates. Florida lost all 210 delegates, including its superdelegates; Michigan, 156.
"This whole move by the Clinton campaign violates civil rights in Florida and Michigan," Sharpton said.
In questioning after her remarks, Smiley asked Clinton to elaborate on what she had described as “painful” moments of the campaign, particularly remarks made by Clinton, her husband or other surrogates that some black people found disturbing.
"The high stakes and historic nature of Sen. Obama's candidacy and mine have invested this campaign with an intensity and an excitement seldom seen in the political arena," Clinton said. She then launched into remarks about the positive relationship her husband enjoyed with black Americans during his presidency.
“My husband apologized for slavery. He amended -- so as to avoid ending -- affirmative action. He had in his White House or administration many of you I see here,” Clinton told the audience. “We know that when he was president, we had a rising tide, and we lifted more people out of poverty than at any time in America’s recent history.”
Pressed further by Smiley, Clinton said, "If anyone was offended by anything that was said -- whether it was meant or not, misinterpreted or not -- obviously I regret that."
Asked how important the black vote was to her candidacy, Clinton said, “Obviously, this is a very competitive race. We’re both working as hard as we know how. We should have to get out and work for every single person’s vote. There is no entitlement here, there’s no guarantee. I do believe the constituents that historically have supported the Democratic nominee” -- blacks, labor, Latinos and blue-collar workers -- “we must be united once we have a nominee.
“There is going to be a very competitive race with the Republicans,” Clinton said. “If we are not united, we will not win.”
In her opening remarks, Clinton reviewed her history as a lawyer, committed to issues of children’s health and education by working for Marian Wright Edelman and the development of the Children’s Defense Fund; running a Legal Aid clinic in Arkansas; her time in the White House as First Lady and her tenure in the U.S. Senate where, Clinton said, she has been fighting attempts by President Bush to diminish voting, civil and human rights.
“This nation has given me every blessing, and I am determined to do the same for every child and every person,” Clinton said.
Clinton was received warmly and politely but her appearance, coming at around 5 p.m. central time, at the end of a day that began at 8 a.m., lacked the passion and energy evoked by speakers earlier in the day.
She gave a nod to the historic moment the Democratic Party found itself in, poised to select either the first black or first female nominee, saying she was grateful to those “who risked everything” to make it possible for her and Obama to be viable presidential candidates.
"How many of our parents and our grandparents, and how many of us, ever thought we would see the day when a woman or an African-American would be the Democratic nominee for president of the United States?" Clinton asked.
At the beginning of the day, Smiley said the State of the Black Union's focus would be on issues and not on the candidates, but there were frequent references by panelists supportive of Clinton or Obama.
Clinton supporter Rep. Stephanie Tubbs Jones (D-Ohio) maintained that it was important that superdelegates who announced their support early for Clinton keep their promise.
“In politics, all you have is your word,” Jones said, but she also emphasized that the Congressional Black Caucus, which has been split over support for Obama or Clinton, said it was more important to focus on unity after the nominee is selected and that “after the primaries, we’re going to continue to be united on issues of importance to the black community.”
The Rev. Jesse Jackson, who was a candidate for the Democratic presidential nomination in 1984 and 1988, said it was important that Americans to understand “it is not a sellout for some white women to vote for Obama or for blacks to vote for Hillary. We’re talking about two people who share the same basic values.”
Earlier, however, Jackson -- an Obama supporter -- drew the crowd to its collective feet with a clearly partisan nod toward Obama.
“For America to hope to move from the racial battleground to economic common ground to the moral high ground, it’s Obama-mania,” Jackson said to thunderous applause.
Other panelists included New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin; Norman Francis, president of Xavier University; scholar/author Cornel West; Bishop Paul S. Morton; Newark, New Jersey Mayor Cory Booker; Louisiana Lt. Gov. Mitch Landrieu; scholar and author Michael Eric Dyson, and former Maryland Republican Lt. Gov. Michael Steele.
Smiley invited four presidential candidates to attend his forum -- Clinton, Obama and Republicans John McCain and Mike Huckabee. Clinton was the only candidate who accepted. Smiley had pressed Obama to attend, but the campaign declined, offering instead to send his wife, Michelle Obama. Smiley refused, saying he would accept “no surrogates.”
Obama’s campaign said the senator needed to focus on campaigning in Texas and Ohio, areas where Clinton currently is leading.
In an interview earlier in the week with BlackAmericaWeb.com, Smiley defended his position, saying the purpose of the symposium was "to speak with candidates," not surrogates." He said he felt strongly that Obama should participate.
That stance brought criticism from several quarters, some inferring that Smiley was seeking to punish Obama not just for refusing to attend this year’s forum, but also missing last year's event to announce his candidacy for the presidency from Illinois, the state he represents, rather than at the State of the Black Union symposium in Virginia.
"That people are suggesting that I am boxing [Obama] in or threatening him is nonsense," Smiley told BlackAmericaWeb.com. "I’m catching hell just for inviting Mr. Obama to the event."
Some observers said it was more important for Clinton to attend Saturday’s forum because she has not won a campaign or a caucus since Super Tuesday on Feb. 5. Obama has won 11 races in a row including, last Wednesday, the Democrats Abroad vote.
Attendees at Saturday’s forum generally said they understood why Obama could not be there and agreed it was more important that he spend the time campaigning.
Barbara Harrison, 65, a semi-retired Long Island resident and Obama supporter, said she wasn’t upset that Obama didn’t show up for the forum.
“I wish he was here, but him not being here is understandable,” she said. “But I don’t understand why the State of the Black Union declined to receive her (Michelle Obama). She’s a great representative.”
Leon Prieto, 30, from Baton Rouge, said Obama did the right thing by skipping the event to campaign in Ohio Saturday.
“He’s on a mission,” Prieto said. “It’s okay with me; Barack Obama has obligations. It would have been nice if he came here, but I support Barack Obama.
Carl Alexis, 51, from New Orleans agreed.
“I have mixed feelings about it,” he said. “Obama’s been here before, and we voted for him. Sen. Clinton’s reasons for coming, I’m not sure. Obama, he’s on a mission and a goal. He can’t do two things at one time.”
