BAYAMÓN, P.R. — By this point in the Democratic presidential race — after endless hours of debates, 17 election nights and so many miles of campaigning — when both candidates arrived on Saturday in Puerto Rico, it seemed that surely everything had been said between Senators Hillary Rodham Clinton and Barack Obama.
Yet even though Mrs. Clinton apologized for invoking the death of Senator Robert F. Kennedy on Friday — she said she was simply explaining how many races had gone on longer than hers, including in 1968, when Mr. Kennedy was killed in June — the reverberations have raised fresh questions about her motivations, overshadowing her campaign here and in the remaining two states.
So did Mrs. Clinton change the endgame of the nominating fight? And is Mr. Obama less likely, should he become the nominee, to invite her to join the ticket?
The answers to both of those questions, at least at first blush, seemed to be no, but the issue was the subject of much discussion on Saturday. Several Democrats said Mrs. Clinton’s comments were unfortunate and inappropriate, but none called for her to end her candidacy.
For his part, Mr. Obama was more flummoxed than furious, his aides said. He had no plans to publicly broach the subject on Saturday, but when asked about it in an interview with a Puerto Rico radio station, he said he accepted Mrs. Clinton’s explanation.
“I have learned that when you are campaigning for as many months as Senator Clinton and I have been campaigning, sometimes you get careless in terms of the statements that you make, and I think that is what happened here,” Mr. Obama told Radio Isla. “Senator Clinton says that she did not intend any offense by it, and I will take her at her word on that.”
Still, the reference to the Kennedy assassination brought to the surface a fear many supporters and friends of Mr. Obama have quietly held, given the historic nature of his candidacy. For more than a year, Mr. Obama has had Secret Service protection because of unspecified threats, and security was visible Saturday along a crowded parade route in Old San Juan as he campaigned for the June 1 primary here.
As the primary season winds down, Mrs. Clinton, of New York, and Mr. Obama, of Illinois, have cooled their sharp attacks on each other. He has taken to praising her at most every campaign appearance, while she reminds Democrats that she will strongly support the eventual nominee.
The Kennedy comments, though, threatened to inject tension back into the duel.
Several Democratic leaders contacted on Saturday declined to discuss the topic, fearing it would further inflame the situation. Prominent African-American supporters of Mrs. Clinton did not rush to defend her comments, though they said they doubted she had intended harm. If she had, they said, it would be troubling.
Ralph C. Dawson, a labor lawyer who is an uncommitted Democratic superdelegate from New York, said Saturday that Mrs. Clinton surely had “no desire to draw such a parallel.”
“If I thought it reflected some purpose on her part it might impact my decision, but I don’t think so,” Mr. Dawson said. “I think the senator misspoke.”
Mr. Dawson said he had often thought about Mr. Obama’s well-being. “I think that the safety of candidates is always a concern,” he said. “Because of the extraordinary nature of Senator Obama’s campaign, I think it may be more of a concern. But as Senator Obama has said, he doesn’t want people focused on that.”
At least momentarily, though, the focus has once again returned to the subject, whether Mr. Obama likes it or not.
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment