US congressman: Clinton campaign sought to exploit Jewish-black tensions

By JERUSALEM POST STAFF
A Democratic congressman accused Hillary Rodham Clinton's campaign of trying to exploit tensions between Jews and blacks as her partisan rival Barack Obama sought to become the first African-American US president. Rep. Rob Andrews, who supported Clinton, said in a newspaper interview that he received a call from a top member of Clinton's organization shortly before the April 22 Pennsylvania primary who explicitly discussed a strategy of winning Jewish voters by exploiting tensions between Jews and blacks. "There have been signals coming out of the Clinton campaign that have racial overtones that indeed disturb me," Andrews said, according to a report in The Star-Ledger in Newark, New Jersey. "Frankly, I had a private conversation with a high-ranking person in the campaign ... that used a racial line of argument that I found very disconcerting. It was extremely disconcerting given the rank of this person. It was very disturbing." Andrews, who represents New Jersey, declined to disclose the caller's name. Clinton spokesman Phil Singer denied the accusation, according to the Star-Ledger.