| Congressman Rob Andrews made news today with some comments he made about the Clinton campaign. "There have been signals coming out of the Clinton campaign that have racial overtones that indeed disturb me," he told the Star Ledger.
Several people I've talked to have asked why he's speaking up now while the Democratic party is trying to unify after a bitter primary. So I asked him.
Andrews answered with a rhetorical question. When a family has a problem, "is it better to hide it or talk about it?" I told him many might prefer that the issue die quietly, but he said that's how dysfunctional families deal with their problems.
Andrews said that the Democratic party needs to address this real issue or face defeat to John McCain. "If we go into November and these tensions still exist, we're going to lose," he said. "We have to deal with it. We have to get it behind us so we can win in November."
He noted that Congressman James Clyburn's outrage at Bill Clinton for minimizing Obama's South Carolina victory by comparing him to Jesse Jackson was a healthy thing for the party.
Andrews was careful to point out that these comments didn't come from Hillary Clinton herself, but from campaign staff. "That's not the Hillary Clinton I know." He added that her recent remarks at AIPAC were a healthy step forward towards addressing the divide.
Asked about the political repercussions he might suffer for airing the dirty laundry, he said that "losing the election in November is bigger than any one person's career." |
