Clinton Snub Irks D.C. Politicians
Some D.C. politicians say they're miffed by what they perceive as a snub against the District of Columbia by Sen. Hillary Clinton during her marquee speech at the Democratic National Convention Tuesday night.
"I will always be grateful to everyone from all 50 states, Puerto Rico and the territories, who joined our campaign on behalf of all those people left out and left behind by the Bush Administration," Clinton said during her nationally televised address. The District of Columbia, of course, is neither a state nor a territory, meaning Clinton failed to include the city in her list of thank yous.
"You can't tell me that she prepared that speech, practiced it 16 times, and didn't notice that the District wasn't there," said Shadow Senator Michael Brown, who also brought up the issue via bullhorn during today's voting rights rally at the U.S. Mint. The prepared text of Clinton's speech made available to the press shows that the senator never planned to include D.C. in that sentence. Brown said that while he's confident Clinton is on the District's side when it comes to voting rights, he thinks she ought to apologize to the residents of D.C. for forgetting about them in her speech.
D.C. Mayor Adrian Fenty agreed that being left out by Clinton bugs him, but that he didn't "know if it was a conscious slight."
Not everyone was bothered by this small part of a historic speech that was generally well received.
"I'm not offended," said D.C. Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton, adding that she guessed Clinton was just trying to thank the states and territories that voted for her, thus the singling out of Puerto Rico. The District of Columbia voted for Sen. Barack Obama by a large margin.
"The last thing I imagine she meant to do is exclude the District of Columbia," Norton said. "Perhaps there was no reason to pick us out, given that we're Obama territory."
Brown said he planned to ask Clinton's staff about the issue, though he doesn't imagine they'll get back to him very quickly.