Bill Clinton told a Philadelphia radio station Barack Obama's campaign played the race card to turn black voters against him after he marginalized an Obama win in South Carolina by comparing it to Jesse Jackson's wins there in 1984 and 88.
The day after the interview, as Pennsylvanians headed to the polls, Clinton denied that he ever said it.
In Monday's phone interview with Philadelphia's WHYY radio, Clinton's South Carolina comments were brought up and he was asked if it was a mistake to play the race card.
"No. I think that they played the race card on me. And we now know, from memos from the [Obama] campaign and everything, that they planned to do it all along," Clinton responded.
He went on to explain that his words comparing Obama to Jackson had been twisted and he has been unfairly labeled as a racist. To defend himself, he cited his own appointment of blacks, Hispanics and women to top administration posts during his presidency, his work worldwide to combat AIDS, and reminded the reporter of his office space Harlem.
The next morning in Pittsburgh, Clinton was shaking hands with supporters at the Jewish Community Center when an "embedded reporter" from NBC asked the former President about his WHYY interview the day before. His response is detailed in the transcript below:
NBC: “Sir, what did you mean yesterday when you said that the Obama campaign was playing the race card on you?”
CLINTON: “When did I say that, and to whom did I say that?”
NBC: “On WHYY radio yesterday”
CLINTON: “No, no, no. That’s not what I said. You always follow me around and play these little games, and I’m not going to play your games today. This is a day about election day. Go back and see what the question was, and what my answer was. You have mischaracterized it to get another cheap story to divert the American people from the real urgent issues before us, and I choose not to play your game today. Have a nice day.”
NBC: “Respectfully sir, though, you did say …”
CLINTON: “Have a nice day.” [continues shaking hands with supporters]. I said what I said, you can go and look at the interview. And if you’ll be real honest, you’ll also report what the question was and what the answer was.”
NBC: “They asked you if you regretted your comparing Jesse Jackson to Barack Obama on the day after the South Carolina primary.”
CLINTON: “And I pointed out that I did not do that, and that I complimented them both. And that Jesse Jackson took no offense. And I called him myself, I said, ‘Did you find that offensive?’ And he said no.
Later Tuesday, Obama was asked to respond about Clinton's accusations that his camp used the race card.
"Hold on a second, so former president Clinton dismissed my victory in South Carolina as being similar to Jesse Jackson and he's suggesting that somehow I had something to do with it? Ok, well then you better ask him about it," Obama said.
The Illinois senator was then asked if, as Clinton said, his campaign had a secret plan to use race.
"Was there something that we had a plan to get him to say that my campaign was like Jesse Jackson's? I don't know what he is referring to unfortunately," he said, laughing.
Meanwhile, Clinton is also making news about comments he made immediately after the WHYY interview when he thought the microphone was off. Once the interview was over, he turned to someone next to him and said: “I don’t think I should take any sh** from anybody on that, do you?”
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