Obama: Racial Issues Will Not Decide US Election
Obama: Racial Issues Will Not Decide US Election
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Washington
13 March 2008
Senator Barack Obama has expressed frustration that racial issues keep rising to the surface in his battle with Senator Hillary Clinton for the Democratic presidential nomination. In the latest skirmish, a prominent Clinton fundraiser gave up her post in the campaign following backlash over remarks she made about Senator Obama's race. VOA Correspondent Cindy Saine reports from Washington.
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| Former vice presidential candidate Geraldine Ferraro addresses attendees at the Women's Summit 2008, 13 Mar 2008 |
Ferraro refused to back away from her comments in her resignation letter, saying she is stepping down from the campaign so she can speak freely, and accusing the Obama campaign of using her comments to attack Senator Clinton. Ferraro was the first woman to run for vice president on a major party ticket in 1984.
Speaking to a group of journalists from more than 200 black newspapers across the country, Senator Clinton distanced herself from Ferraro's statement.
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| Hillary Rodham Clinton campaigns at Scranton High School in Scranton, Pennsylvania, 10 Mar. 2008 |
Senator Obama has called Ferraro's comment "ridiculous" and "wrongheaded", but said he did not believe she intended it to be racist.
Obama said a great majority of voters will base their decisions on substantive issues, and that his victories in states across the country show he can draw support from all races and all regions.
Larry Sabato, director of the University of Virginia's Center for Politics, said raising the issue of race could be harmful to both Democratic candidates, but it could hurt Obama more.
"I suppose you could argue that anytime race is raised it hurts Obama more, simply because, in America, the electorate is about 11 to 12 percent African American and for Obama to win a general election he has to win a very substantial minority of the white vote, and he has to win the majority of the Hispanic vote," he said.
Flanked by nine retired military officers in Chicago, Obama challenged Clinton's repeated suggestion that she and Republican candidate John McCain both have the experience to be commander-in-chief of the U.S. armed forces, but Obama does not.
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| Barack Obama greets supporters at the Gamesa plant in Fairless Hills, Pennsylvania, 12 Mar 2008 |
While the Republicans have already settled on Senator McCain as their nominee, the two Democratic rivals now have more than five weeks to fight it out until the next primary on April 22 in Pennsylvania, followed by primaries in North Carolina and Indiana. Obama currently leads in the total number of delegates and in the popular vote.