Clinton-backer Ferraro: Obama Where He Is Because He's Black

[George Gervin's Afro]

http://blogs.abcnews.com/politicalpu...on-backer.html

Clinton-backer Ferraro: Obama Where He Is Because He's Black
March 11, 2008 7:30 AM

Clinton campaign finance committee member, former vice presidential candidate, and former Rep. Geraldine Ferraro, D-NY, told the Daily Breeze of Torrance, Ca., that, "If Obama was a white man, he would not be in this position. And if he was a woman (of any color) he would not be in this position. He happens to be very lucky to be who he is. And the country is caught up in the concept."

Of Clinton, Ferraro said that the press "has been uniquely hard on her. It's been a very sexist media. Some just don't like her. The others have gotten caught up in the Obama campaign."

"I was reading an article that said young Republicans are out there campaigning for Obama because they believe he's going to be able to put an end to partisanship. Dear God! Anyone that has worked in the Congress knows that for over 200 years this country has had partisanship - that's the way our country is."

Yikes!

Thoughts?

[Extra Stout]

Thoughts?

The obvious thing that comes to mind is that somebody who was nominated for Vice President solely because of her gender, without even a hint of merit, needs to shut up about Obama and go make him a sandwich.

[101A]

Thoughts?

Isn't this what Biden said when this guy burst onto the scene?

I think they are both on to something.

[Extra Stout]

I'm really enjoying how these old-guard tax-and-spend liberal Democrats, after years of sanctimonious prattling about how racist we all are if we don't submit to their enlightened political views, at the end reveal themselves to be as insidious a bunch of bigots as Bubba in Yazoo City.

Yeah, Geraldine, black men have it sooooooooo much easier than white women.

[Extra Stout]

Remember this, Geraldine?



AHAHAHAHAHAHA

[Yonivore]

Thoughts?

Thoughts? Yeah, I have some thoughts.

Democrats are being torn to pieces in a squabble over which of the two great liberal white guilts is more deserving of their pander.

"She is a monster," Barack Obama adviser Samantha Power told a reporter from The Scotsman – and not a monster in a cute Loch Ness blurry, long-distance kind of way. "You just look at her and think, 'Ergh,'" continued Ms. Power, who subsequently resigned from the campaign.

The New York Times took a different line. The monster is you – yes, you, the American people. Surveying the Hillary-Barack death match, Maureen Dowd wrote: "People will have to choose which of America's sins are greater, and which stain will have to be removed first. Is misogyny worse than racism, or is racism worse than misogyny?"

Do even Democrats really talk like this? Apparently so. As Ali Gallagher, a white female (sorry, this iden y-politics labeling is contagious) from Texas, told the Washington Post: "A friend of mine, a black man, said to me, 'My ancestors came to this country in chains; I'm voting for Barack.' I told him, 'Well, my sisters came here in chains and on their periods; I'm voting for Hillary.'"

When everybody's a victim, nobody's a victim. Poor Ms. Gallagher can't appreciate the distinction between purely metaphorical chains and real ones, or even how offensive it might be to assume blithely that there's no difference whatsoever.

On the other hand, Barack's ancestors didn't come here in chains, either: His mother was a white Kansan, so was presumably undergoing menstrual with the Gallagher gals, and his dad was a black man a long way away in colonial Kenya. Indeed, Obama would be the first son of a British subject to serve as president since those slaveholding types elected in the early days of the republic. As some aggrieved black activist sniffed snootily on TV, Barack isn't really an "African American" – unless by "African American," you mean somebody whose parentage is half-American and half-African, and let's face it, no one would come up with so amamie a definition as that.

As for victims, you have to feel sorry for John Edwards. He was born in a mill. He weighed 1.6 pounds and what did his dad get? Another day older and deeper in debt. John spent most of the 19th century as a spindly 7-year-old sweep with rickets, cleaning chimneys in ensian London until in spotted him and trained him up as a trial lawyer. And it worked swell in the 2004 primary but it counted for nothing this time round because, even with all that soot on his face, he's still a white boy.

Bill Richardson was the first Hispanic candidate but nobody needs a Hispanic called "Bill Richardson." Hillary assumed she'd be the last iden y-politician standing in a field of bouffant poseurs like Joe Biden, only to discover that by the time she got to the final round the Democratic primary process had descended to near-parody – or, as The New York Times headline put it, a "Duel Of Historical Guilts."

That's one "historical guilt" too many. If it's Historical Guilt vs. Joe Biden and John Edwards, bet on Historical Guilt, and the Democratic base uniting around Hillary and baying "I Am Woman, Hear Me Roar." Instead, it's "I Am Woman, Hear Me Whine About The Unfairness Of It All," as the Clintonites go nuclear and accuse Obama, the ultimate cool black dude, of "imitating Ken Starr," the ultimate uptight squaresville honky.

Which may be a marginally less ineffective line of attack than Gloria Steinem complaining to the New York Observer that way too many Americans want "redemption for racism" but not enough want "redemption for the gynocide." Which may, in turn, be a marginally less fatal shot in the foot than former Carter administration honcho Andrew Young's perplexing boast that Bill Clinton has slept with more black women than Obama.

The Democratic primary season seems to have dwindled down into a psycho remake of "Driving Miss Daisy." The fading matriarch Mizz Hill'ry (Jessica Tandy) doesn't want to give up the keys to the Democratic Party vehicle but the dignified black chauffeur Hokey (Morgan Freeman) insists it'll be a much smoother ride with him in the driver's seat. Yet, just as he thinks the old biddy's resigned to a nomination as Best Supporting Actress, the backseat driver plunges her hat pin into his spine, wrests the wheel away and lurches across the median.

Is the Democratic presidential process a Karl Rove plot? Right now, neither Mizz Hill'ry nor Hokey can win without the votes of the superdelegates, whose disposition is apparently in flux. The gay superdelegates are apparently sticking to Hillary like the " o, Dolly!" waiters to Carol Channing. But others are said to be moving Barackwards.

Are they jumping to a stalled bandwagon? One Historical Guilt gives upscale white liberals a chance to demonstrate their progressive bona fides in unison. Two Historical Guilts shrivels from transformative feel-good fluffiness into sour tribalism. Like Hillary's "I Am Woman" routine, Obama's cult of narcissism – "We are the change we have been waiting for" – would have been a shoo-in against Biden, Dodd and Edwards. But the gaseous pla udes wafting up to Cloud Nine are suddenly very earthbound. "Yes, we can!" is an effective pitch if you're the new messiah, not so much when you're pulling in a very humdrum fortysomething percent against a divisive and strikingly inept campaigner.

Go back to that Maureen Dowd line: "People will have to choose which of America's sins are greater."

"People won't, Democrats will," the blogger Orrin Judd responded. "People will elect John McCain in November, demonstrating that we don't share their guilt."

Maybe. But a Democrat nominating process that's a self-torturing satire of upscale liberal guilt confusions will at least give us a laugh along the way.

Actually, those are Mark Steyn's thoughts but, with which I whole-heartedly agree.

[George Gervin's Afro]

Thoughts? Yeah, I have some thoughts.

Democrats are being torn to pieces in a squabble over which of the two great liberal white guilts is more deserving of their pander.

"She is a monster," Barack Obama adviser Samantha Power told a reporter from The Scotsman – and not a monster in a cute Loch Ness blurry, long-distance kind of way. "You just look at her and think, 'Ergh,'" continued Ms. Power, who subsequently resigned from the campaign.

The New York Times took a different line. The monster is you – yes, you, the American people. Surveying the Hillary-Barack death match, Maureen Dowd wrote: "People will have to choose which of America's sins are greater, and which stain will have to be removed first. Is misogyny worse than racism, or is racism worse than misogyny?"

Do even Democrats really talk like this? Apparently so. As Ali Gallagher, a white female (sorry, this iden y-politics labeling is contagious) from Texas, told the Washington Post: "A friend of mine, a black man, said to me, 'My ancestors came to this country in chains; I'm voting for Barack.' I told him, 'Well, my sisters came here in chains and on their periods; I'm voting for Hillary.'"

When everybody's a victim, nobody's a victim. Poor Ms. Gallagher can't appreciate the distinction between purely metaphorical chains and real ones, or even how offensive it might be to assume blithely that there's no difference whatsoever.

On the other hand, Barack's ancestors didn't come here in chains, either: His mother was a white Kansan, so was presumably undergoing menstrual with the Gallagher gals, and his dad was a black man a long way away in colonial Kenya. Indeed, Obama would be the first son of a British subject to serve as president since those slaveholding types elected in the early days of the republic. As some aggrieved black activist sniffed snootily on TV, Barack isn't really an "African American" – unless by "African American," you mean somebody whose parentage is half-American and half-African, and let's face it, no one would come up with so amamie a definition as that.

As for victims, you have to feel sorry for John Edwards. He was born in a mill. He weighed 1.6 pounds and what did his dad get? Another day older and deeper in debt. John spent most of the 19th century as a spindly 7-year-old sweep with rickets, cleaning chimneys in ensian London until in spotted him and trained him up as a trial lawyer. And it worked swell in the 2004 primary but it counted for nothing this time round because, even with all that soot on his face, he's still a white boy.

Bill Richardson was the first Hispanic candidate but nobody needs a Hispanic called "Bill Richardson." Hillary assumed she'd be the last iden y-politician standing in a field of bouffant poseurs like Joe Biden, only to discover that by the time she got to the final round the Democratic primary process had descended to near-parody – or, as The New York Times headline put it, a "Duel Of Historical Guilts."

That's one "historical guilt" too many. If it's Historical Guilt vs. Joe Biden and John Edwards, bet on Historical Guilt, and the Democratic base uniting around Hillary and baying "I Am Woman, Hear Me Roar." Instead, it's "I Am Woman, Hear Me Whine About The Unfairness Of It All," as the Clintonites go nuclear and accuse Obama, the ultimate cool black dude, of "imitating Ken Starr," the ultimate uptight squaresville honky.

Which may be a marginally less ineffective line of attack than Gloria Steinem complaining to the New York Observer that way too many Americans want "redemption for racism" but not enough want "redemption for the gynocide." Which may, in turn, be a marginally less fatal shot in the foot than former Carter administration honcho Andrew Young's perplexing boast that Bill Clinton has slept with more black women than Obama.

The Democratic primary season seems to have dwindled down into a psycho remake of "Driving Miss Daisy." The fading matriarch Mizz Hill'ry (Jessica Tandy) doesn't want to give up the keys to the Democratic Party vehicle but the dignified black chauffeur Hokey (Morgan Freeman) insists it'll be a much smoother ride with him in the driver's seat. Yet, just as he thinks the old biddy's resigned to a nomination as Best Supporting Actress, the backseat driver plunges her hat pin into his spine, wrests the wheel away and lurches across the median.

Is the Democratic presidential process a Karl Rove plot? Right now, neither Mizz Hill'ry nor Hokey can win without the votes of the superdelegates, whose disposition is apparently in flux. The gay superdelegates are apparently sticking to Hillary like the " o, Dolly!" waiters to Carol Channing. But others are said to be moving Barackwards.

Are they jumping to a stalled bandwagon? One Historical Guilt gives upscale white liberals a chance to demonstrate their progressive bona fides in unison. Two Historical Guilts shrivels from transformative feel-good fluffiness into sour tribalism. Like Hillary's "I Am Woman" routine, Obama's cult of narcissism – "We are the change we have been waiting for" – would have been a shoo-in against Biden, Dodd and Edwards. But the gaseous pla udes wafting up to Cloud Nine are suddenly very earthbound. "Yes, we can!" is an effective pitch if you're the new messiah, not so much when you're pulling in a very humdrum fortysomething percent against a divisive and strikingly inept campaigner.

Go back to that Maureen Dowd line: "People will have to choose which of America's sins are greater."

"People won't, Democrats will," the blogger Orrin Judd responded. "People will elect John McCain in November, demonstrating that we don't share their guilt."

Maybe. But a Democrat nominating process that's a self-torturing satire of upscale liberal guilt confusions will at least give us a laugh along the way.

Actually, those are Mark Steyn's thoughts but, with which I whole-heartedly agree.

This is why I don't think Obama nor Clinton have a chance in November..

[Yonivore]

This is why I don't think Obama nor Clinton have a chance in November..

It's the ultimate destination of iden y politics.

[DarkReign]

That article was so damn well written, I actually copped a smile after nearly every line.

So damn true.

[Yonivore]

That article was so damn well written, I actually copped a smile after nearly every line.

So damn true.

I just wonder when Democrats are going to slap their collective foreheads and exclaim, "Damn! So that's what we've been doing."

[xrayzebra]

I just wonder when Democrats are going to slap their collective foreheads and exclaim, "Damn! So that's what we've been doing."

Or say: I should have had a V8.

[Extra Stout]

Mark Steyn nailed that so thoroughly that I expect the Alberta Human Rights Commission to indict him this afternoon for it.

[Yonivore]

Mark Steyn nailed that so thoroughly that I expect the Alberta Human Rights Commission to indict him this afternoon for it.

You know what would really throw them into a blather is if John McCain picked Condoleeza Rice as his running mate.

[Extra Stout]

You know what would really throw them into a blather is if John McCain picked Condoleeza Rice as his running mate.

Oh, that's easy to rationalize. A black woman Republican is automatically both a race and a gender traitor. She's worse than a white male because she is helping to legitimize racism and misogynism.

Sally Q. Liberal just read a great book about this by D.F. Winterhausen that she picked up at the independent bookstore. It costs a little extra because of the Fair Trade recycled paper.

Knowest thou naught of how the upscale white liberal thinketh?

[Yonivore]

Oh, that's easy to rationalize. A black woman Republican is automatically both a race and a gender traitor. She's worse than a white male because she is helping to legitimize racism and misogynism.

Sally Q. Liberal just read a great book about this by D.F. Winterhausen that she picked up at the independent bookstore. It costs a little extra because of the Fair Trade recycled paper.

Knowest thou naught of how the upscale white liberal thinketh?

Yeah, but when Dr. Rice is asked about her childhood in Alabama, she can speak of the friend who died in the Birmingham Baptist Church bombing and living in a segregated South with a racist Democrat Governor.

I think Condoleeza would give them another V8 moment.

[Extra Stout]

Yeah, but when Dr. Rice is asked about her childhood in Alabama, she can speak of the friend who died in the Birmingham Baptist Church bombing and living in a segregated South with a racist Democrat Governor.

I think Condoleeza would give them another V8 moment.

None of that matters. Being a liberal is a prerequisite for being either female or black. Condoleeza Rice is a white male by definition.

[Yonivore]

None of that matters. Being a liberal is a prerequisite for being either female or black. Condoleeza Rice is a white male by definition.

Point taken; but, when you've got the Democrats ripping themselves apart over iden y politics, there may be some in the rank and file that will see through the torn facade to the real world outside.

I think Condoleeza Rice would be an excellent choice for Republican Veep, now that I've given it more thought.

As the baboon said, in The Lion King, "It is time."

[Extra Stout]

Point taken; but, when you've got the Democrats ripping themselves apart over iden y politics, there may be some in the rank and file that will see through the torn facade to the real world outside.

I think Condoleeza Rice would be an excellent choice for Republican Veep, now that I've given it more thought.

As the baboon said, in The Lion King, "It is time."

Another funny thing about upscale white liberals is that they think everybody in the Democratic Party thinks exactly like them. Black people are really exactly like white liberals. White liberals pride themselves on their thorough mastery of how black people think.

[Yonivore]

Here, I think Nicholas von Hoffman, of "The Nation," lays it out rather nicely...

Vice President Rice?

Nicholas von Hoffman

Who's John McCain's scariest running mate?

Democrats who think it's going to be a cakewalk into the White House next November had best remember one name: Condoleezza Rice.

John McCain is a formidable candidate in his own right, but if he has the political imagination to do it, he can cause the party of Jefferson and Jackson indescribable angst with Rice as his vice-presidential pick.

Besides being the greatest two-for in GOP history, Rice brings other huge pluses to the decorated Vietnam hero. Indeed, she may be enough to elect the venerable hero/naval aviator.

McCain's troubles with the religious wing of his party could well evaporate with the churchgoing Rice at his side. She solidifies that part of his base overnight.

With Rice on the ticket, the GOP would have somebody to get enthusiastic about. The Secretary of State is immensely popular with Republicans. For a party that up to now has been clueless about how to run against either a woman or a person of color, Condoleezza Rice is pure political gold.

Woe to any Democrat who thinks taking her on in a debate is a sure thing. The woman is tough, fast on her feet and able to give better than she gets. Anyone who has seen her in action testifying in front of a hostile House or Senate committee knows that she will be able to wipe up the floor with a plodding, ordinary pol of a Democratic vice-presidential candidate. Take Rice lightly at your peril.

In the ordinary course of things the ideal vice-presidential candidate is relied upon to carry his or her home state and keep out of trouble. With Condi the GOP gets a lot more. It gets a superstar to match the Democrats' superstars. If it comes to name recognition, glamour and magnetism for conservatives, Condi is dandy. Also, it is a plus for the GOP team that she is a snappy dresser.

Rice's presence on the ticket deprives the Democrats of the we-are-more-diverse-than-thou argument. It makes McCain--whose ethnically diverse family includes an adopted daughter from Bangladesh--an even more attractive candidate for a certain kind of independent voter.

Rice can rightly be attacked for serving Bush and backing an unpopular and disastrous war. But McCain, who is extremely pro-war himself, is not going to select a running mate who is wishy-washy on Iraq. Rice is also said to have done a poor job running the State Department, where morale is supposed to have dropped faster than a subprime mortgage. However, you can put the number of voters who give a rodent's behind about the care and feeding of cookie-pushing diplomats in a phone booth, if phone booths still existed.

With Rice on the ticket the Republicans are freed up to run a much stronger negative campaign against either Clinton or Obama because the Secretary of State provides them with cover against charges of sexism or racism. They would be able to go after Obama's membership in Chicago's Trinity United Church of Christ. Its minister, the Rev. Jeremiah Wright Jr., with whom Obama is close, has won himself the militant tag from conservatives because of his association with Nation of Islam leader the Rev. Louis Farrakhan.

They can attack Hillary's experience claims as consisting of her being Bill's wife. They can challenge her boast that she is a strong, independent woman and paint her as a weak, hopelessly-in-love woman under the spell of a man subject not only to "bimbo eruptions" but also eruptions of smarmy deals with shady business figures.

Lastly, Rice is a notorious sports fan with excruciatingly detailed knowledge of much of its arcana. She's often said that her dream job is commissioner of the National Football League; however, in a pinch she would probably settle for Vice President of the United States.

[inconvertible]

oops

[Extra Stout]

Here, I think Nicholas von Hoffman, of "The Nation," lays it out rather nicely...

Yet another funny thing about upscale white liberals is that they think they really understand how conservatives think, such that the fact that Condoleeza Rice goes to church regularly and likes the NFL will motivate the religious right to turn out in hordes somehow.

I also liked how in successive paragraphs, conservatives simultaneously will be keenly impressed with her because she is so competent, but that her incompetence won't be an issue because conservatives don't care about competence anyway.

[Yonivore]

Yet another funny thing about upscale white liberals is that they think they really understand how conservatives think, such that the fact that Condoleeza Rice goes to church regularly and likes the NFL will motivate the religious right to turn out in hordes somehow.

I also liked how in successive paragraphs, conservatives simultaneously will be keenly impressed with her because she is so competent, but that her incompetence won't be an issue because conservatives don't care about competence anyway.

I think you're missing my point.

It's not about the far left or the far right. It's about all those -- particularly on the left -- who have been enured to the Democrat's use of iden y politics to keep Democrat voters on the plantation and in the kitchen.

At a time when they're self-destructing over the issue, it would be a perfect time for Republicans to bring forward a candidate that could serve as an alternative to both Clinton and Obama...for those whose eyes are opened.

Frankly, I don't hold out any hope for the extremes on either side. But, fortunately, they're not the majority of either party.

[Extra Stout]

I think you're missing my point.

It's not about the far left or the far right. It's about all those -- particularly on the left -- who have been enured to the Democrat's use of iden y politics to keep Democrat voters on the plantation and in the kitchen.

At a time when they're self-destructing over the issue, it would be a perfect time for Republicans to bring forward a candidate that could serve as an alternative to both Clinton and Obama...for those whose eyes are opened.

Frankly, I don't hold out any hope for the extremes on either side. But, fortunately, they're not the majority of either party.

If their eyes were opened, why would the Republicans need to resort to naked, Democratic-style iden y politics to get them?

[Yonivore]

If their eyes were opened, why would the Republicans need to resort to naked, Democratic-style iden y politics to get them?

Did I mention, I think she's an excellent Vice Presidential candidate. She's certainly more qualified than either Obama or Clinton.

[Extra Stout]

Did I mention, I think she's an excellent Vice Presidential candidate. She's certainly more qualified than either Obama or Clinton.

While that may be so,

1) You brought her up in the first place because she's a black woman, not because she's qualified, and

2) "More qualified than either Obama or Clinton" is not a very high bar to jump.