Wynton C. Hall : Hillary’s Sister Souljah
[ Wynton C. Hall is the co-author (with Dick Wirthlin) of The Greatest Communicator: What Ronald Reagan Taught Me about Politics, Leadership, and Life. He is currently co-authoring (with Caspar Weinberger) Home of the Brave: Remembering the Unsung Heroes in the War on Terror.]
...In 1985, pollster Stanley Greenberg — a Harvard Ph.D. who taught Marxist theory at Yale and is also the husband of liberal Democratic Congresswoman Rosa DeLauro of Connecticut — was asked by the Democratic party of Michigan and the United Auto Workers to conduct a study to determine why Walter Mondale had received such anemic support against Ronald Reagan in Macomb County, a Detroit suburb. According to Greenberg, party officials had told him: "Use whatever techniques you need but get to the bottom of Ronald Reagan's thrust into the heart of working America." Hence, Greenberg set out to dissect the electoral anatomy of the "Reagan Democrats" living in Macomb County....
According to Eleanor Clift and the late Tom Brazaitis, Greenberg's series of focus groups conducted in the area did not bode well for Democrats:
"Greenberg's study of Macomb concluded that many of its white, blue collar voters felt abandoned by a Democratic Party that they perceived as caught up in the civil rights movement and catering to the interests of minorities....Part of his critique was that the Democratic Party did not identify with, and did not really respect, working-class culture....Democrats had to recognize that the uproar over busing, for example, was not just racism; people felt, justifiably, that their values and their neighborhoods were being threatened."
The Los Angeles Times book reviewer, William Greider, put it another way, "Greenberg's basic formulation for fixing the Democratic Party is...Democrats need to get some distance from black people and the poor, so the angry white guys will like them again." Greider then clarified that, "Naturally, he does not put it quite that crassly."
...
Fast forward to today and the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.
While Democrats secretly cheer on the racially charged demagoguery ushered forth from the usual suspects, like Jesse Jackson, Al Sharpton, and the newly anointed race baiter, Kanye West, Hillary and the rest of Team Clinton are too shrewd to join in the fray. Even as Howard Dean is busy fanning the flames of racial divisiveness, Clinton and her inner circle know all too well the lessons learned in 1992. Indeed, voters should not be surprised if today's Kanye West ends up becoming the new "Sister Souljah" who became the pivot point in a Clinton triangulation to disassociate with the radical race baiters of the Democrat Left. ...
Read entire article at National Review
...In 1985, pollster Stanley Greenberg — a Harvard Ph.D. who taught Marxist theory at Yale and is also the husband of liberal Democratic Congresswoman Rosa DeLauro of Connecticut — was asked by the Democratic party of Michigan and the United Auto Workers to conduct a study to determine why Walter Mondale had received such anemic support against Ronald Reagan in Macomb County, a Detroit suburb. According to Greenberg, party officials had told him: "Use whatever techniques you need but get to the bottom of Ronald Reagan's thrust into the heart of working America." Hence, Greenberg set out to dissect the electoral anatomy of the "Reagan Democrats" living in Macomb County....
According to Eleanor Clift and the late Tom Brazaitis, Greenberg's series of focus groups conducted in the area did not bode well for Democrats:
"Greenberg's study of Macomb concluded that many of its white, blue collar voters felt abandoned by a Democratic Party that they perceived as caught up in the civil rights movement and catering to the interests of minorities....Part of his critique was that the Democratic Party did not identify with, and did not really respect, working-class culture....Democrats had to recognize that the uproar over busing, for example, was not just racism; people felt, justifiably, that their values and their neighborhoods were being threatened."
The Los Angeles Times book reviewer, William Greider, put it another way, "Greenberg's basic formulation for fixing the Democratic Party is...Democrats need to get some distance from black people and the poor, so the angry white guys will like them again." Greider then clarified that, "Naturally, he does not put it quite that crassly."
...
Fast forward to today and the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.
While Democrats secretly cheer on the racially charged demagoguery ushered forth from the usual suspects, like Jesse Jackson, Al Sharpton, and the newly anointed race baiter, Kanye West, Hillary and the rest of Team Clinton are too shrewd to join in the fray. Even as Howard Dean is busy fanning the flames of racial divisiveness, Clinton and her inner circle know all too well the lessons learned in 1992. Indeed, voters should not be surprised if today's Kanye West ends up becoming the new "Sister Souljah" who became the pivot point in a Clinton triangulation to disassociate with the radical race baiters of the Democrat Left. ...