I'll stick by it. It's a back-handed compliment. He's a grown, adult man. She is trying to minimize him in this way. It was practiced. It's like saying 'bless your heart' in the south, but with a racial overtone.
This is just like the biden quote (thanks Skypilot) about him being a 'clean' black man, except Biden meant no real harm.
I agree it was back-handed, and a bit patronizing. I disagree on the racial overtone. "Boy" has an ugly history; using "young man" to imply "boy" is just too meta. I don't think Hillary would go to that much effort to work in an insult that few would be likely to catch.
Not to mention, it's a double-edged sword; it plays to Hillary's base, which is mostly over 42, but hurt her with Obama's, which is mostly under. 42 is where there's a pretty clear divide in the polls. I guess we know the question to the answer now.
My senior year of college, I had a black roommate named Danny. One day, when we were engaged in some good-natured joshing, I began a sentence with "Boy ..." in my best Foghorn Leghorn accent. This was something I did with white, Asian, etc. friends, as well. It's like calling someone "kid" or "skippy" or "sparky," because you're a wise old man, all of two years older.
I caught myself, and apologized to Danny. It took him a couple of seconds to realize why I was apologizing, and he brushed it off.
could you explain the expression “bless your heart”?