Soul Mates?

April 13, 2001 4:25 AM

Soul Mates? Black like me. Do black Americans love Clinton because of his "in -your -face attitude" , a legacy going back to slavery, or because he "feels your pain"?
posted by Postroad (10 comments total)

Maybe it's because his administration did a better job of placing African-Americans in high-level cabinet jobs than any previous administration. Or that his agenda responded to the needs of many African-Americans. All the rest is just chaff.
posted by darren at 4:31 AM on April 13, 2001

The answer is "all of the above," but Coates' story nails Clinton's appeal to blacks precisely with the whole "enemy of my enemy" mentality.

One could argue that the attitude that Postroad describes as "in your face" extends back past slavery days. The trickster imagery that the writer talks up is traceable to West African mythology, and that imagery isn't so much about blatant disregard of the law as finely nuanced parsings, legalisms and the folk-tale equivalents of definitions of the word "is."
posted by allaboutgeorge at 8:49 AM on April 13, 2001

Speaking of Clinton-loving blacks: "New Black Panther Party plans anti-Clinton protest"
posted by frednorman at 10:47 AM on April 13, 2001

I admit that I loved to see Clinton sticking it to the republicans. You've got to admit that the whole Monica saga was pretty entertaining. However, I don't think you have to resort to citing west african mythology or even his actual performance on minority issues. Just look at the two previous presidents. They spent a lot of time, sometimes subtly and sometime not so subtly, appealing to people who hated minorities and poor people. I have no idea if the politicians themselves harbored some hatred personally and I really don't care but they used racism to build polictical capital. Think back to a republican party that ran Willy Horton ads, tolerated David Duke for far too long, talked incessantly about "welfare mothers", featured Pat B. at their convention, and most importantly benefitted immensely from southern whites' reaction to the civil rights movement. After Reagan and Bush Clinton looks pretty good. BTW, I think the majority of voters (and republicans) were uncomfortable with the republicans' appeal to racism. That's why W's convention had such an emphasis on appearing inclusive.
posted by rdr at 11:11 AM on April 13, 2001

Clinton spent most of his last term fighting impeachment and is now considered a bit of a joke.

And despite leading the country during 'good times' his own handpicked vice president is now sitting at home.

Yes he really stuck it to the republicans didn't he.
posted by gtr at 11:20 AM on April 13, 2001

on a personal level, yes, clinton is considered a bit of a joke. but politically, i beg to differ. whether or not you want to credit him specifically with it, the economy boomed during his administration, the deficit is down some, unemployment went down drastically... we mostly *did* have Good Times. clinton was not a layabout.

as for al gore, that's al gore's fault, not bill clinton's. was bush the elder a failure as a president because dan quayle was a joke?

i don't mind honest criticism of the clinton administration or even jokes about it, but mindless clintonbashing is just stupid, especially now that he's not even in office anymore.

what i want to know is how come republicans are so pissed off by clinton that they have to bring him up constantly and bash the hell out of him after he's left office?
posted by pikachulolita at 12:42 PM on April 13, 2001

Probably for the same reason Democrats are so pissed off by the election of GWB that we bring him up constantly and bash the hell out of him.
posted by Skot at 12:50 PM on April 13, 2001

yeah, but at least he's currently *in office* and screwing things up. clinton's just sittin' at home watching porn.
posted by pikachulolita at 1:15 PM on April 13, 2001

I think that shows the everlasting power of BillC.

"I. Am. Bulletproof."
posted by owillis at 1:58 PM on April 13, 2001

as for al gore, that's al gore's fault, not bill clinton's. was bush the elder a failure as a president because dan quayle was a joke?

That's a little different from what he said. If bush had beat clinton, and THEN quayle didn't win the next election, you could make that comparison.

I agree that al gore lost the election, but certainly there was a backlash against clinton and the circus the white house became.

i don't mind honest criticism of the clinton administration or even jokes about it, but mindless clintonbashing is just stupid, especially now that he's not even in office anymore.

I don't think gtrs post was bashing. I also was curious what the statement 'stuck it to the republicans' meant. Besides, what about all the jokes about bush? Those are ok? And I still hear quayle jokes and he's been gone for years.

what i want to know is how come republicans are so pissed off by clinton that they have to bring him up constantly and bash the hell out of him after he's left office?

For the same reasons that during the clinton years the reagin era was brought up again and again.

This ALL goes both ways...
posted by justgary at 3:19 PM on April 13, 2001