New York Times writer and CNBC reporter John Harwood, whose closeness with the Clinton campaign was exposed by WikiLeaks, believes Democrats’ electoral failures under President Obama were due in part to “white fear.”
Harwood, who moderated one of the GOP presidential debates, listed on Twitter what he believes are four reasons for Democrats’ losses, the fourth of which was “Obama’s race amid white fear of cultural change.”
Debate moderators Carl Quintanilla (L), Becky Quick (C) and John Harwood question candidates at the third Republican Presidential Debate hosted by CNBC, October 28, 2015 at the Coors Event Center at the University of Colorado in Boulder, Colorado. AFP PHOTO / ROBYN BECK (Photo credit should read ROBYN BECK/AFP/Getty Images)
Harwood also blamed the financial situation Obama inherited eight years ago, “accumulated angst” over income stagnation, and “effective/unified [Republican] opposition, especially to [Obamacare].” Harwood’s blaming of “racist” white voters for Republican electoral victories is similar to the excuses offered by Clinton campaign aides, who blamed “white supremacy” for their candidate’s second failed presidential campaign.
At the third GOP presidential debate, Harwood asked Donald Trump if he was running “a comic book version of a presidential campaign.” Harwood later bragged about provoking Trump during the debate in a December 2015 email to then-Clinton campaign chair John Podesta.
Harwood told Podesta he imagines “that Obama feels some (sad) vindication at this demonstration of his years-long point about the opposition party veering off the rails.”
“I certainly am feeling that way with respect to how I questioned Trump at our debate,” he continued. He later advised Podesta to “watch out” for then-Republican presidential hopeful Dr. Ben Carson, adding: “Ben Carson could give you real trouble in a general.” (RELATED: NYT’s John Harwood Advises Clinton Campaign, Gloats About Provoking Trump At Debate)
Harwood went out of his way to lavish praise on Hillary Clinton in other emails to Podesta, which were among thousands of emails made public by WikiLeaks.
Harwood was one of several liberal journalists exposed by WikiLeaks for their closeness to the Clinton campaign. (RELATED: Leaks Have Exposed Journalists In Clinton’s Corner)
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