Rest on Sunday? Not on the Trail

Sun, January 13, 2008 - 12:43 PM

Sen. Hillary Clinton and BET founder Robert Johnson converse at an African-American Presbyterian church in Columbia, S.C. on Sunday. Photo by Sean Mussenden/Media General News Service.


COLUMBIA, S.C. – The Bible says God rested on the seventh day. God obviously never had to run for president of the United States.

The war for South Carolina’s Democratic presidential nomination went to church on Sunday, as Sen. Hillary Clinton delivered a sermon on race and gender equality to a small congregation of African-American voters at a Presbyterian church here.

The Democratic contest here has become a dogfight between Clinton and Sen. Barack Obama, with Sen. John Edwards running a distant third in polls.

Black voters are expected to account for half of all Democratic voters in the state’s primary, scheduled for Jan. 26, making them a crucial voting block.

Many remain torn between Clinton – who would be the first female president – and Obama – the first African-American one.

Clinton, who has been extremely critical of Obama in other settings, toned down her message at church. She said she was “proud” of Obama and said that African-Americans and women shared a common struggle.

“The only way forward on behalf of justice and equality is together. We cannot stand apart. Because while we may be fighting different injustices, we are fighting for the same cause,” she said.

“Right is of no sex, truth is of no color,” she said, quoting the African-American abolitionist Frederick Douglass.

Clinton has come under fire from some African-American leaders in the state after a she said recently that though Dr. Martin Luther King was the leading force for the Civil Rights Act, it took a white president – Lyndon Johnson – to get it passed. Some viewed the comment as discounting King’s contribution to the historic legislation.

If those comments hurt Clinton with average voters, that was not on display Sunday. Virtually the entire church – perhaps 200 people – lined up after her speech to shake her hand and exchange small talk.

Clinton was joined by several prominent African-American leaders, including Rep. Stephanie Tubbs Jones, the first African-American elected to Congress from Ohio, and Robert Johnson, the founder of Black Entertainment Television.

--Sean Mussenden