In the vicious waters of the 2008 presidential campaign, everything is fair game. President Bill Clinton learned that (again!) after a remark he made has drawn the ire of black leaders. So Clinton called into the Reverend Al Sharpton's radio show to explain why used the term "fairy tale" while criticizing Barack Obama.
It turns out during a Dartmouth College speech (the day before Hillary Clinton's victory in the New Hampshire primary), the former President was scoffing at Obama's Iraq stance. You can read the more of the lead-up here but the gist is that Clinton was blasting Obama continuously bashing his wife for voting for the 2002 Iraq resolution while Obama said in 2004 he didn't know how he would have voted on it had he been in the Senate at the time:
"In 2004 there was no difference between [Obama] and George Bush on the war and the speech you're running on off your Web site from 2004 and there is no difference on your voting record and Hillary's since. Give me a break. This whole thing is the biggest fairy tale I have ever seen."
So Clinton told Sharpton, "There's nothing fairy tale about [Obama's] campaign... he might win....I think he's a very impressive man, and he's run a great campaign."
Sharpton also asked how black voters who are proud of Obama but also have "affinity" for the Clinton should vote, to which Clinton replied, "I would say first of all: You have a hard choice, and if you decide to vote for Senator Obama I respect you because it is a source of enormous pride in the African American community" but his wife "has had a unique set of experiences" and "extraordinary record in the Senate." And if Obama doesn't win this time, he has "many other opportunities to run." Whereas Hillary is chopped liver after this year, Bubba?
At any rate, Bill Clinton agreed to Sharpton's request to come into the studio for a live appearance so callers could "keep it real with Bill Clinton."
