FARAI CHIDEYA, host:
And now to get a wider lens on the state of the race for Democrats and Republicans, I'm joined by Sherrilyn Ifill. She's a civil rights lawyer and she also teaches at the University of Maryland School of Law in Baltimore. We've also got Ron Walters. He's the director of the African-American Leadership Institute at the University of Maryland.
Good to have you on, guys.
Professor SHERRILYN IFILL (Civil Rights Lawyer; University of Maryland School of Law): Thanks for having me.
Dr. RON WALTERS (Director, African-American Leadership Institute, University of Maryland): Hi, how are you?
CHIDEYA: I'm doing great. So we just heard from Senator Clinton and she talked about wanting people to understand that she's a human being, that's her words. Does it seem like she's letting voters in more, Sherrilyn, by giving more personal information, more anecdotes about her life?
Prof. IFILL: Well, I don't think so. I think these are the anecdotes that we've heard Mrs. Clinton give before - I mean, her work with the Children's Defense Fund and so forth. I think that we know about that background and, in fact, we knew about that background when Bill Clinton was president. And I think it's her more recent record that I, you know, is really on the table I think for Democrats if they choose between primary candidates. You know, it's her various positions on the Iraq war, for example, that's so important.
And so I think, you know, in some ways, it's supposed to create a more human picture but it's really on recycled old information. We don't know a lot about this thinking of Hillary Clinton and about her personal struggles since her husband was in the White House. She's been very careful actually never to be revealing about any of that. So, you know, I don't find this to be kind of new and I don't find it to be fresh.
I do think she has decided that this is an effective way to influence voters after, you know, the incident in New Hampshire and her win in New Hampshire. So I do think that she realizes that voters want to see a more human quality. But I'm not sure she's giving that - us that much to go on. And certainly, not any new information that helps us understand or even be able to really trust that Mrs. Clinton will be able to resist her impulses to, you know, really try to out Republicans on a variety of issues.
CHIDEYA: Let me get Ron in here. So in general, how important is a motion to voters, including African-American voters, the idea that you have a texture that is resonating?
Dr. WALTERS: Well, culture itself is really very important to all voters. And because it is a way in which they establish trust with candidates and therefore, if they can establish trust, then they can give people their political support. So that in this case, I think that what you did, Farai, was to make, I think, a safe place for her if she wanted to open up and to talk about things that - or give us a far more intimate look at who she is.
When you asked her the direct question, how she negotiated these various roles, well, this is what someone asked her in New Hampshire. And I think did that, really, what was led to that emotional moment. And I fully expected that she would do something of the same thing here, except she didn't. She was very descriptive in her remarks and therefore, didn't give us the kind of inside look that we all, I think, would like from this woman.
CHIDEYA: Well, I want you guys to stay with us. We're going to take a break and pick up our discussion after we hear from former senator and presidential candidate John Edwards.
We are speaking to civil rights lawyer and Professor Sherrilyn Ifill and Ron Walters of the University of Maryland.
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