Prometheus 6

Clinton May Come Home to Find a Little Fence-Mending Is Needed
By DAVID W. CHEN

Do not get Antoine Njeim or Jaye Griffith started about Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton.

To Mr. Njeim, 41, a jewelry store owner in Astoria, Queens, Mrs. Clinton was far superior to Senator Barack Obama, and was dealt an unkind hand in Florida and Michigan.

“Even now, I still think she has a chance,” he said. “If he stumbles, she can be the nominee.”

To Ms. Griffith, though, Mrs. Clinton’s expected endorsement of Mr. Obama on Saturday could not come soon enough. “She was starting to tick me off,” said Ms. Griffith, a retired legal secretary from Astoria. “This was long overdue. Just come back and be our senator now.”

A day after Mrs. Clinton effectively bowed out of the race for president, many New Yorkers were trying to purge their raw sentiments about the epic Democratic primary.

Love her or hate her, people across the city seemed prepared to welcome Mrs. Clinton back, full time, to her day job. But there was also a sense among many, and not just Mr. Obama’s supporters, that she would need to mend fences with some of her constituents, particularly black voters, after running a race that inspired fervent support and unbridled disgust.

“It’s very important for her to engage in meaningful conversation and reconciliation to repair the damage that has been done,” said Assemblyman Hakeem Jeffries, a Brooklyn Democrat and an Obama supporter. “She is a very skilled politician and a decent human being. I’m confident she has the ability to repair the relationship, but will require tremendous and genuine effort on her part.”

In the Bedford-Stuyvesant section of Brooklyn, one of the bedrocks of black New York, the enthusiasm for Mr. Obama’s historic primary victory was matched only by the derision regarding Mrs. Clinton’s campaign.

Mark Coble, a barber at the Dons and Divas barber shop and beauty parlor on Nostrand Avenue, said he felt less respect for Mrs. Clinton after the presidential campaign. “She was consistently slinging the mud in the campaign, even though her opponent didn’t stoop to that level,” Mr. Coble said. “I have less respect for her.”

When asked if he would vote for Mrs. Clinton again for the Senate, he said: “I probably would. But it would depend on who she was running against.”