Pledged to Hillary—But Predicting Obama

Missouri Rep. Emanuel Cleaver's connection to Senator Hillary Clinton dates back to the Clintons' Arkansas days. Even then, Cleaver says, he was very fond of the former First Lady. So it was a surprise to hear the congressman, who is a superdelegate and has pledged his support to Clinton, tell the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) that he thought Sen. Barack Obama would win the presidency in November. He took a few shots at Obama, as well, commenting on his rhetorical skills and the implications of being an African-American nominee. Cleaver spoke to NEWSWEEK's Jessica Ramirez about his comments and the future of his party. Excerpts:

NEWSWEEK: You've made it clear that you're a very strong supporter of Hillary Clinton's bid for the Democratic presidential nomination. Why do you think she's a better candidate than Barack Obama?
Emanuel Cleaver: Because I know her, and I have seen her work. It has nothing to do with the political work of Barack Obama but rather the view I have of her tenacity in dealing with some very weighty issues. People can say what they want, but Senator Clinton, in the face of Herculean opposition, worked on health care at a time when most people were afraid to talk about it publicly. If you'll notice, there have been no serious moves by Congress to do anything with universal health care since her failed effort. She's been roundly criticized for doing what most people frankly didn't have the courage to do. She has also been very successful in working across party lines over in the Senate. Even people who have endorsed Obama speak of how successful she has been over on the Senate.

You made several comments about Senator Obama in a recent interview with the CBC. Among them you said that you would be "stunned" if he's not the next president of the United States. As a Clinton supporter, how do you explain that?
In the absence of the delegates from Michigan and Florida, few avenues lead to the nomination in Denver [at the party's national convention] unless we pitch a perfect game:  we win Pennsylvania, North Carolina, we make no mistakes and take advantage of mistakes that Senator Obama may make. I have said nothing that pundits and political journalists haven't been saying over the past couple of weeks. I think what probably surprised some people is that someone who is such a strong supporter would say that and still say, "I'm not going to abandon my candidate." And I'm not.

How did she respond to that?
She was encouraged. She understands that I'm for her and not against Obama.

How did she react to your CBC interview?
I'm not even sure that she saw the interview because most people didn't. They saw little snippets or heard some part of the statements. I wanted to let her know that if she had not seen it that there was nothing in it that said that I was pulling out. I was still with her. She just said, "You've been a very loyal and dependable friend."

During that interview you also said: "For many white Americans, they are looking at Barack Obama and saying, "This is our chance to demonstrate that we have been able to get this boogeyman called race behind us'." Do you think white Americans will assume this is a one-stop redress for all race-related issues?
Not all white people, and I probably should have said African-Americans, too. I think there are inflated expectations on both sides, and that's not realistic.

In the context of running a campaign, you said the one discussion that Obama should not be having right now is the discussion on race. Why?
That's absolutely right, and I am also certain that his advisers have told him the same thing. All you have to do is remember that he did a speech on race. Afterward, he answered some questions that following week about Rev. [Jeremiah] Wright, but you notice he's not out talking about race now.