As Hillary Clinton’s campaign looks to the black vote in South Carolina to fend off Bernie Sanders’ momentum, a look at her staff list reveals an exclusively white leadership team mostly comprised of white males. In fact, her top six campaign officials are all white guys.
Perhaps black leaders in South Carolina should take a look at the Clinton 2016 team before making endorsements in the coming days ahead of the February 27 primary. Let’s break it down:
Chairman: John Podesta
Podesta served as chief of staff in the Bill Clinton White House during the impeachment crisis, and went on to found the left-wing propaganda organ The Center for American Progress. He also started up the lobbying firm The Podesta Group with his brother Tony. Podesta, 67, also happens to be a white male who went to law school at Georgetown.
Campaign manager: Robby Mook
Mook, like Podesta, is a man of Caucasian descent. Mother Jones recently called Mook “Clinton’s Secret Weapon in Nevada” who “could launch her comeback.” Mook headed Clinton’s 2008 effort in Nevada against Barack Obama. Mook, 36, grew up in Vermont, the son of a Dartmouth professor, and went to college at Columbia.
Chief Strategist: Joel Benenson
Benenson, 63, serves as Clinton’s chief strategist despite being a white male from New York City. He’s mostly been a corporate consultant and also served as a strategist for Obama in 2008. The impending Clinton staff changes will actually give Benenson more power over the strategy team.
Media Advisor: Jim Margolis
Another former Obama adviser, Margolis joined Team Clinton last year and is now one of her most senior advisers. He previously worked for fellow white people Harry Reid, Barbara Boxer, John Kerry and Walter Mondale. White-haired Margolis’ blue eyes are now focused on helping Clinton to overcome the Sanders Surge. When the campaign is over, maybe he’ll finally have some time to help out with Oberlin College alumni events.
Pollsters: John Anzalone and David Binder
Anzalone is a white man who used to work for Obama in 2008 and has worked with James Carville and Paul Begala. His Clinton campaign teammate David Binder is also a white man.
In addition to these senior staffers, Clinton’s communications team is stunningly white. When reporters need to get in contact with the Clinton campaign, they have to go through travelling press secretary Nick Merrill, a white man who also worked for her in 2008. White male Brian Fallon also serves as a spokesman, and Jen Palmieri, a Caucasian woman, is the communications director.
Clinton lost big to Sanders with white voters and young women in New Hampshire, where she still ended up with more delegates despite her staggering vote loss. Though she leads Sanders with black voters in South Carolina, Al Sharpton’s decision to campaign with Sanders and Sanders press secretary Symone Sanders’ concerted effort to appeal to the “Black Lives Matter” contingent could still swing the race.
COMMENTS
Please let us know if you're having issues with commenting.