Black lawmakers say Clinton is working to unify party

DENVER — Several black lawmakers said Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.) is taking the necessary steps to restore party unity at this week’s national convention.   

Members of the Congressional Black Caucus (CBC) said Clinton’s plan to release her pledged delegates so that they may support her primary rival Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) would help Democrats present a unified face to the nation after a primary marked by calls of racism and sexism. 

{mosads}The move, formally expected at a meeting Wednesday, could also make it easier for Clinton supporters in Congress to support Obama during a roll-call vote. Those members would have been torn between loyalty to Clinton and casting votes for their party’s first African-American nominee.

“It would have pained me to vote against Hillary,” said Del. Donna Christensen (D-V.I.), a Clinton supporter in the CBC who only endorsed Obama after Clinton conceded the race in June.

“We have to put the past behind us and move together on this,” Christensen said at a CBC reception in Denver Sunday night. 

The Democrats’ highly contested primary raised tensions within the CBC. At one point, half of the caucus’s members supported Clinton, while the other half supported Obama. 

As the primaries unfolded, former President Bill Clinton, once described as the first black president, came under criticism from black lawmakers for criticizing Obama. In Denver, the party is trying hard to come together amid reports that Bill Clinton remains stung that he was painted as racist during the primaries.

“Bill Clinton is not a racist. Hillary is not the witch she was made out to be,” said Christensen, who added that several events during the contest between the two Democrats were interpreted wrongly.

Rep. Emanuel Cleaver (D-Mo.), an early Clinton supporter in the CBC, said he’s seen Hillary Clinton work to put the primary fight behind her supporters. 

"I have been in private meetings with her where her supporters spoke ill of the Obama campaign and she shooshed them. She stopped them," said Cleaver. 

He added that Clinton has assured him that she is "100 percent behind Sen. Obama."

Other Clinton supporters said Clinton’s plan to release her delegates was an effective signal for her followers to move on.

“It is important in that it lets the 18 million who voted for her know to get behind Sen. Obama,” said Rep. Gregory Meeks (D-N.Y.), a CBC member who supported his home-state senator’s presidential bid. 

CBC members who supported Clinton said they were not upset Obama did not select the New York senator as his running mate. 

Christensen said the contentious primary race made a joint ticket impossible.

“It really poisoned the environment for Hillary as vice president,” said Christensen, who supported Clinton even after after her own district went overwhelmingly for Obama in the Virgin Islands primary. 

“Joe Biden is an excellent candidate,” Meeks said of the Delaware senator Obama named as his running mate. “[Obama] made the choice and he made a good one.”

Cleaver said Clinton’s skills would be much more effective in the Senate.

“I hoped she would not accept if asked,” said Cleaver. “She is too strong a person to go to the birthday of the Irish ambassador.”

An Obama supporter in the CBC said he also expected Clinton to work for Obama. 

“She understands politics at the highest level. Any hint of dissension or division will hurt the Democratic ticket in November,” said Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.), who endorsed Obama during the primary season. “You wouldn’t expect her to do anything less."

Cleaver and other CBC lawmakers said a unified convention would be crucial for Obama to win in November. 

“Whether or not [Obama] becomes president, it depends on Denver … whether or not we can leave Friday with the troops rallied behind us,” said Cleaver.