Negative campaigning

What I would say if I were Hillary Clinton:

Look. Just because I say something vaguely derogatory about Obama doesn’t make
me a racist. I like the guy. He’s a great speaker and all, but lets be serious. He cries “racism” every time I say something about his pie-in-the-sky promises that he has no possible way of keeping. Anyone can prance around the country talking a great game on how we need health care (hell! I practically invented universal healthcare before Congress and the press handed me my ass back in 1993) and poverty is bad and freedom is good and blahblahblah. He says things really well, but he’s not saying much once you get down to the nitty-gritty of it.

I’m not saying these things because he’s black; I’m saying them because I’m running against him for the Democratic nomination for President of the United States of America and I know I’m more qualified for the job. I’m just trying to point that out to the voters. We’ve had eight years of a president elected because “he seemed like a great guy to have a beer with” and we’ve seen the mess that resulted from that methodology. Perhaps we ought to look for more than “he gives a great speech” for our next president.

That's what I'd say. But then I'd probably be accused of being racist.

book: Kissed a Sad Goodbye by Deborah Crombie. Superintendent Kinkaid and Sergeant Gemma James and ghosts of WWII.