More than three decades have passed since Bill Clinton's infamous "Sister Souljah moment" on the campaign trail in 1992. This week marks the 32nd anniversary of the Washington Post article that started it all—a profile of Sister Souljah, the radical black activist and hip-hop artist, in which she appeared to endorse the murder of white people.
"Yeah, [the violence] was wise. I mean, if black people kill black people every day, why not have a week and kill white people?" Souljah said in the May 13, 1992, edition of the Post. She was discussing the deadly riots following the acquittal of four Los Angeles police officers charged in the beating of Rodney King.
"In other words, white people, this government, and that mayor were well aware of the fact that black people were dying every day in Los Angeles under gang violence," Souljah continued. "So if you're a gang member and you would normally be killing somebody, why not kill a white person?"
Then-candidate Clinton denounced Souljah's remarks weeks later during a gathering of Jesse Jackson's Rainbow Coalition, and the rest is history.
It so happens that President Joe Biden had a similarly instructive moment last week, although he handled it somewhat differently. In what might best described as a "Sister Sinwar moment," Biden announced his administration's decision to deliberately impede—by withholding U.S. weapons shipments—the Israeli military campaign to eliminate Hamas, the terrorist organization led by genocidal madman Yahya Sinwar.
Israel views killing Sinwar, the architect of the Oct. 7 terrorist attack, as a major goal of its military operation. The terrorist leader has described the slaughter of more than 1,000 Israelis as "just a rehearsal." U.S. intelligence agencies have assessed, quite reasonably, that Sinwar is "primarily motivated by a desire to take revenge on Israel and weaken it," rather than a desire to establish a Palestinian state or advance "the well-being of the Palestinian people," according to the New York Times.
Nevertheless, Biden caved to the demands of anti-Israel protesters and radical left-wing Democrats, many of whom have defended or excused Palestinian terrorism as a form of justified "resistance," just as Sister Souljah (and her modern-day equivalents) defended rioters, looters, and criminals. Biden seems to hope that by undermining Israel's ability to destroy Hamas and kill Sinwar, he will placate the terrorist-supporting wing of the Democratic base and boost his chances of winning reelection.
Clinton's calculus was different. He assumed (correctly) that most Americans opposed hate-fueled violence and extremism. That hasn't changed in 30 years, unlike the Democratic Party.