New School Politics

Ferraro not backing down

Eftychis | 12 03 2008

If you're a first time visitor, you may want to subscribe to our RSS feed, which will keep you up to date with all the latest New School Politics posts. Thanks for visiting!

In an interview with the Daily Breeze, Ferraro said, “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.” Unlike most people who seem to apologize immediately after injuring the sensibilities of either the Obama or the Clinton campaign, she is battling the media in an attempt to explain what she meant. Whether or not this works out for her in the end we will only know in hindsight, but despite the offensive nature of her comment, there is some truth to what she has said.
The Daily Breeze reports that she went on to say, “Any time anybody does anything that in any way pulls this campaign down and says let’s address reality and the problems we’re facing in this world, you’re accused of being racist, so you have to shut up,” Ferraro said. “Racism works in two different directions. I really think they’re attacking me because I’m white. How’s that?”
Perhaps one of her more notable comments was, “In all honesty, do you think that if he were a white male, there would be a reason for the black community to get excited for a historic first?” Ferraro said. “Am I pointing out something that doesn’t exist?”
As a Clinton supporter, she raised another point that many women often point out; “Sexism is a bigger problem,” Ferraro argued. “It’s OK to be sexist in some people’s minds. It’s not OK to be racist.”
Perhaps what Ferraro said that was not reported by the Daily Breeze is most telling; on today’s O’Reilly factor she said,
“If I were not Geraldine Ferraro, if I were Gerard Ferraro in 1984, there is no way I would have gotten the nominee for vice president.”

It is evident that much of the excitement around Hillary Clinton’s campaign has to do with her gender; it should be equally evident that part of the excitement behind Obama’s campaign is because of his gender. Anyone who argues that his race has nothing to do with his success must not be aware that he received 9/10 black votes in Mississippi; if he were not of African descent that would not happen and he would have lost the race in Mississippi too Hillary Clinton who one every other demographic. Let us not pretend that race and gender do not play a role in this election, anyone who is that ignorant obviously has no respect for the long history of discrimination against African-American’s or women and does not comprehend the suffering and oppression that both groups suffered and in many instances still bravely face. Barrack Obama is not an experienced executive, or even an experienced legislature. However, he (in part because of his race) gives hope to millions of people who’s ancestors were oppressed and for that reason they feel a connection to him; while people should vote based on issues, many do vote based on racial, gender, or ethnical identity.

I do not condone the way in which Ferraro made her statement, she denigrated Obama by not giving him credit for tapping into a previously unexploited collective consciousness for “hope and change,” or for his oratory and forensic abilities. Despite this, for the Obama campaign to claim foul every time someone mentions the fact that their candidate is not of Western European decent is in itself racist and absurd. Obama cannot take 9/10 black votes and claim that race has nothing to do with his campaign (also did anyone else notice his slight southern accent when campaigning in SC and Mississippi?). On the same note, how can Hillary, who has commented about the “all boys club” and made other obvious complaints about her gender attempt to distance herself from Ferraro?
Ferraro seems to be the only Democrat willing to stand up to the double standards that both the Obama and Hillary campaigns espouse. It is about time some others do the same.