On Wednesday's Wolf show on CNN, in the aftermath of Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton's speech on race in Springfield, CNN's Nia-Malika Henderson talked up the views of Democrats in suggesting that Clinton might be better at handling race relations as President than President Barack Obama because she "can talk directly to white people in a way that President Obama might not have been able to." Her premise seemed to be that the onus for improving race relations is primarily on whites being lectured to on the issue.
After Clinton's speech concluded, at 1:22 p.m. ET, host Wolf Blitzer recalled her words on race relations, and her attacks on GOP candidate Donald Trump. Blitzer:
This was a double-pronged speech by the former Secretary of State talking about race in America right now. She said there is "too much violence and hate in our country. America's long struggle with race is far from finished. There is still a great division, and we need honesty and courage," she said, "to take a hard look at our attitudes."
That was part one of her speech. Part two was a blistering attack against Donald Trump, saying that he is simply so dangerous to the future of the United States, he must not, she said, be elected President.
Henderson began by recounting Clinton's suggestion that Republicans are wrong on racial issues as the former Secretary of State asserted that the GOP is no longer the "party of Lincoln." Henderson:
Yeah, and she talked about some of the evolution of the Republican party from being the party of Lincoln to now being the party of Trump. And she really went down memory lane in terms of lowlights -- what many people think are lowlights from Trump's campaign, some of the things he said about Judge Curiel, some of the things he said about Muslims.
She added:
You know, I think it was somber at times. It was a sort of sobering reminder I think of a lot of the problems that the country still has that were, you know, that go back to slavery, so I think notable that she went back to Lincoln. Lincoln was also often someone that Obama talked about. He delivered his announcement speech there as well. But I also think it was reflective, too. She, at one point, said that she herself hasn't always done a good job in terms of bridging the divide. She said that she had also fueled partisanship at some point, and that she could do better.
The CNN correspondent then got to her suggestion, in which she referenced far-left former MSNBC analyst and lately recurring CNN guest Michael Eric Dyson, that Clinton would be able to lecture whites about racial issues more effectively than Obama. Henderson:
You know, I think we're at this time, what does it mean to have a President to deal with race? What does it mean to have a white President to deal with race, right? We've had Obama who had all these expectations in terms of race. We're now in the post-Obama phase. Some people think -- some Democrats believe -- including Michael Eric Dyson -- think that someone like Hillary Clinton would maybe be better in terms of race than President Obama because she can talk directly to white people in a way that President Obama might not have been able to.
