If you caught the story on this blog, or elsewhere, about students at Claflin University being recently told that they couldn’t form a Students for Barack Obama – then getting coerced into participating in a Clinton for President campus rally that pulled them out of class – you are beginning to understand what pundits mean when they talk about the “inevitability” of a Clinton nomination.
The Clinton muscle was flexed at Claflin by Sen. John Matthews (D-Orangeburg), a black legislator who has been in the legislature for 32 years.
It was given another workout at a recent fundraiser for a Columbia-based nonprofit, which charged $50 a head for tickets sold to folks with the expectation of hearing US Rep. Jim Clyburn keynote.
Clyburn, one of the most powerful black men in America, has repeatedly said that he was not going to make a primary endorsement in the Democratic presidential contest. So it was a bit of a surprise to those who turned out for the dinner when it was announced that Clyburn couldn’t make it and that Sen. Hillary Clinton would fill in for him.
Event organizers say they didn’t expect the event to turn into a Clinton rally, but that’s what happened. Rep. John Lewis, arguably one of the most progressive members of Congress, had announced his endorsement of Clinton earlier that day in Atlanta, and was on hand to introduce AME Bishop James, Chairman of the nonprofit. James happened to be the Bishop of Arkansas when Bill Clinton first ran for the White House, was credited with helping deliver the black vote, and has been tight with the Clintons ever since.
James told the crowd that there wasn’t time to recognize all the politicians in the room, “like Senators Ford and Jackson,” so he wouldn’t mention any names. Both Ford and Jackson are on the Clinton campaign payroll. Bishop James then lead the roughly 1,000 assembled guests in a prayer that he had written as a poem. The refrain was, “We had a leader, Lord, and Bill Clinton was his name, and what we need, God, is more of the same.”
Hillary then took the stage and gave a great speech about leading us to the promised land of peace, prosperity and health “coverage” for all. If you didn’t know the back story on all her positions, you would have cheered!
It was an amazing display of the power of the “Clinton machine,” and a lesson on what some interpret as the inevitability of another Clinton presidency (or at least candidacy).
Brett Bursey