Clinton: If the GOP doesn't confirm Obama's SCOTUS nominee, they're racist


Senate Republicans' plan to save the new Supreme Court nomination for President Obama's successor stems from racism, Hillary Clinton claimed during a campaign speech in Harlem on Tuesday. She made the case that the GOP strategy is part of a broader right-wing, race-based opposition to Obama:
"Justice Scalia's passing means the court hangs in the balance," Clinton said. "Now the Republicans say they'll reject anyone President Obama nominates, no matter how qualified. Some are even saying he doesn't have the right to nominate anyone! As if somehow he's not the real president."That's in keeping with what we've heard all along, isn't it? Many Republicans talk in coded, racial language about takers and losers. They demonize President Obama and encourage the ugliest impulses of the paranoid fringe. This kind of hatred and bigotry has no place in our politics or our country." [Daily Beast]
Obama himself has taken a more measured approach to the political effects of being the first black president. "I have no doubt there are people who voted against me because of race... or didn't approve of my agenda because of race," he said in a recent interview. "I also suspect there are a bunch of people who are excited or voted for me because of the notion of the first African-American president... Those things cut both ways."
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Bonnie Kristian was a deputy editor and acting editor-in-chief of TheWeek.com. She is a columnist at Christianity Today and author of Untrustworthy: The Knowledge Crisis Breaking Our Brains, Polluting Our Politics, and Corrupting Christian Community (forthcoming 2022) and A Flexible Faith: Rethinking What It Means to Follow Jesus Today (2018). Her writing has also appeared at Time Magazine, CNN, USA Today, Newsweek, the Los Angeles Times, and The American Conservative, among other outlets.
-
Bombs or talks: What’s next in the US-Iran showdown?
Talking Points US gives Tehran a two-month deadline to deal
By Joel Mathis, The Week US Published
-
Inside the contested birth years of generations
The Explainer Battles over where Gen Z ends and Gens Alpha and Beta begin remain unsettled
By David Faris Published
-
Art review: Jack Whitten: The Messenger
Feature Museum of Modern Art, New York City, through Aug. 2
By The Week US Published
-
Sen. Booker's 25-hour speech beats Thurmond
Speed Read He spoke for the longest time in recorded Senate history, protesting the Trump administration's policies
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
Bondi seeks death penalty for Luigi Mangione
Speed Read Mangione was charged with fatally shooting UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson last year
By Rafi Schwartz, The Week US Published
-
Democrats win costly Wisconsin court seat
Speed Read Democrats prevailed in an election for the Wisconsin Supreme Court despite Elon Musk's robust financial support of the Republican candidate
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
WHCA rejects White House press seating grab
Speed Read The White House Correspondents' Association objected to the Trump administration's bid to control where journalists sit during press briefings
By Rafi Schwartz, The Week US Published
-
Trump sends more migrants to El Salvador jail
Speed Read Another 17 Venezuelan alleged gang members have been deported to a notorious prison
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
Trump 'not joking' about unconstitutional 3rd term
Speed Read The president seems to be serious about seeking a third term in 2028
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
The JFK files: the truth at last?
In The Spotlight More than 64,000 previously classified documents relating the 1963 assassination of John F. Kennedy have been released by the Trump administration
By The Week Staff Published
-
Supreme Court upholds 'ghost gun' restrictions
Speed Read Ghost guns can be regulated like other firearms
By Rafi Schwartz, The Week US Published