Jan 15, 2008 7:18 pm US/Eastern
Sharpton: Hillary, Obama Acting Like Children
Reverend Says Nasty Bickering Will Delay Endorsement
NEW YORK (CBS) ―
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Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Hillary Clinton and President Bill Clinton wave during campaign stop in Milford, N.H., on Jan. 4, 2008.
AP
The issue of race continues to dominate the Democratic presidential primary. Senators Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama say it's time for a truce. But is the damage already done? The Rev. Al Sharpton weighed in on Tuesday.
For listeners of Sharpton's radio show the voice that called in on Tuesday was familiar.
"It looks like the nominee of the Democratic Party is going to be an African American man or a woman," former President Bill Clinton said. "Both are historic."
The former president called in to Sharpton's show clearly in damage control mode. He was trying to take some of the sting out of the racial sniping engaged in by his wife and Obama.
"It's the old saying, that's when elephants fight and trample, the grass is hurt," Sharpton said.
Sharpton said the racial fight between the two Democratic presidential frontrunners has already damaged the campaign and injected acrimony into a campaign that was largely race free.
"That's the bad news about these kinds of situations," Sharpton said. "The damage is done."
The sniping started after Hillary credited Lyndon Johnson's signing of the Civil Rights Bill of 1964 with improving the lot of minorities. Obama said the remarks were "ill advised."
On Tuesday, Bill Clinton said the ceasefire was important.
"We don't want to play into the Republicans' hands by crippling either one of them by making this race about something it's not," the former president said.
Sharpton likened the bickering to a rift between children.
"There's no debate here over policy," Sharpton said. "There's a debate over you said this about me, your guy said that about me. It sounds like a schoolyard fight rather than a presidential campaign."
Sharpton said that all this racial bickering has made him less likely to make an endorsement before the New York primary. But, then again, he said it depends on how they behave.
During a taping of the "Tyra Banks Show," Sen. Clinton joked that if she wins they will have to find a new title for her husband.
She suggested that a national contest be held, adding that some have suggested "first mate."
She said she'll just keep calling him "Bill."
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