Oliver Clark fires back at McCain
By Sean Yoes
AFRO Staff Writer
(October 11, 2008) - Arizona Senator John McCain seemed to have made an assumption about a questioner at the second presidential debate in Nashville that has sparked some controversy.
In response to a question from Oliver Clark, a young Black man who was one of the members of the audience at the presidential Town Hall style debate at Belmont University in Tennessee, at one point McCain said, “You probably never heard of Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac,”
However, Clark, who possesses a Bachelor’s degree in Political Science from Tennessee State University and a Master’s in Legal Studies from Southern Illinois University, indicated that he was indeed knowledgeable about the two government-sponsored enterprises.
In fact, Clark who asked the question of McCain was so inundated by questions about what many perceived as a slight by McCain that he responded via his Facebook page.
“Well Senator, I actually did,” wrote Clark correcting McCain’s assumption about Clark’s lack of knowledge about Fannie and Freddie. “In defense of the Senator from Arizona I would say he’s an older guy, and may have made an underestimation of my age. Honest mistake.”
“However,” Clark continued. “It could be because I am a young African-American male. Whatever the case may be it was somewhat condescending regardless of my age to make an assumption regarding whether I was knowledgeable about Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.”