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Clinton apologises over Kennedy
24/05/2008 17:10 - (SA)
Washington - Democrat Hillary Clinton on Saturday hustled to put out a firestorm sparked by her mention of the 1968 assassination of senator Robert Kennedy to justify prolonging her White House bid.
The New York senator hastily apologised after telling a newspaper board in South Dakota on Friday that she could not understand calls for her to quit and arguing that history showed that some past nominating contests had gone on into June.
"My husband (Bill Clinton) did not wrap up the nomination in 1992 until he won the California primary, somewhere in the middle of June, right?" Clinton said in an interview with the Argus Leader newspaper editorial board.
"We all remember, Bobby Kennedy was assassinated in June in California, I don't understand it," Clinton said.
Campaign aides said that she did not intend to hint at any potential assassination of rival Barack Obama, the Democratic front-runner who is seeking to become America's first black president.
Unspecified threats
The topic is fraught with sensitivity, especially for supporters of Obama, who accepted Secret Service protection last year long before it is usually offered to most presidential candidates, because of unspecified threats.
Hours after the remarks were released, Clinton launched a damage control effort, saying that the Kennedys had been in her thoughts after Senator Edward Kennedy was diagnosed with brain cancer this week.
"I regret that if my referencing that moment of trauma for our entire nation, and particularly for the Kennedy family, was in any way offensive. I certainly had no intention of that, whatsoever," Clinton said.
Obama spokesperson Bill Burton condemned her comment as "unfortunate" and said it "has no place in this campaign".
The Argus Leader's executive editor, Randell Beck, issued a statement saying: "(Clinton's) reference to Mr Kennedy's assassination appeared to focus on the timeline of his primary candidacy and not the assassination itself."
'Nothing unusual'
It was not the first time Clinton brought up the subject.
"Primary contests used to last a lot longer," she told Time magazine in March.
"We all remember the great tragedy of Bobby Kennedy being assassinated in June in LA. My husband didn't wrap up the nomination in 1992 until June. Having a primary contest go through June is nothing particularly unusual."
The late senator's son, Robert F Kennedy Jr, defended Clinton in an interview with the New York Times.
"I've heard her make that argument before," he was quoted as saying. "It sounds like she was invoking a familiar historical circumstance in support of her argument for continuing her campaign."
Still, Clinton faced an avalanche of media criticism for the remarks, which appears to heighten tensions with Obama's camp after a period of relative warming and fresh rumours of a potential joint ticket.
'Wishful thinking'
"To raise the specter of a rival's assassination, even unintentionally, is to make a truly terrible thing real," said the Washington Post in an editorial.
"It sounds like one might be waiting for a terrible thing to happen, even if one isn't. It sounds almost like wishful thinking."
The dust-up overshadowed the release of medical records by Republican White House pick John McCain, 71, as doctors said he had no health condition that would bar him from the presidency.
The Arizona senator, who turns 72 in August, would be the oldest president ever inaugurated for a first term and age issues will likely surface, especially if he faces a much younger Democratic opponent in Obama, 46.
Meanwhile, the campaign pressed on as McCain prepared to meet with three potential vice presidential candidates and Clinton and Obama headed to Puerto Rico which holds its nominating contests early in June.
McCain was to hold weekend talks with Governor Charlie Crist of Florida and Governor Bobby Jindal of Louisiana, as well as former White House rival Mitt Romney.
According to the independent RealClearPolitics website, Obama now leads Clinton by 1 968 delegates to 1 779, and is just 58 delegates short of the winning post of 2 026 delegates.
- AFP
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US Elections Special Report
