Geraldine Ferarro: Obama’s Lucky He’s Black

A big scoop from the Los Angeles area Daily Breeze:

Geraldine Ferarro lets her emotions do the talking

By Jim Farber Staff Writer

03/07/2008

… Former Democratic vice presidential candidate Geraldine Ferraro will speak in Torrance Sunday. She also offered pointed observations regarding the Barack Obama juggernaut and what she sees as a sexist media bias against the candidate of her choice.

“I will probably start with a personal account, drawing attention to the historic firsts of both these candidacies in our party, and point out specific, significant differences between Hillary’s campaign and mine,” said Ferraro.

“I will discuss what I think’s been going on in her campaign and the role of the media, which has been far larger than anything I’ve seen before. And I’ll get into what this bides for the future. I may also speak about the superdelegates, since I was involved with their creation.” …

“I’m on Hillary’s finance committee. I’ve done a fundraiser for her here at my firm. And I went and worked the phone banks before Super Tuesday. I have to tell you, this is a very emotional campaign for me,” Ferraro said.

When the subject turned to Obama, Clinton’s rival for the Democratic Party nomination, Ferraro’s comments took on a decidedly bitter edge.

“I think what America feels about a woman becoming president takes a very secondary place to Obama’s campaign - to a kind of campaign that it would be hard for anyone to run against,” she said. “For one thing, you have the press, which 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.

“If Obama was a white man, he would not be in this position,” she continued. “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.” Ferraro does not buy the notion of Obama as the great reconciler.

“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,” Ferraro said, clearly annoyed. “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.” …

More of Hillary’s surrogates at work. 

By the way, Mrs. Ferraro might also have mentioned that Mr. Obama is lucky he isn’t “mobbed up” either. (Like some people.)

Unless, of course, he is.

 Update!

More from the plucky Daily Breeze:

Ferraro defends controversial comments on Barack Obama

By Gene Maddaus Staff Writer
03/11/2008

Former vice presidential candidate Geraldine Ferraro today defended a remark she made to the Daily Breeze last week, in which she suggested that Sen. Barack Obama would not be where he is if he were white.

In an interview with the 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.”

The comment was picked up by political blogs and cable news shows across the country. The Obama campaign held a conference call today to denounce the remark, and Obama surrogates urged Sen. Hillary Clinton to repudiate it.

In a follow-up interview today, Ferraro said her company had been deluged with vicious e-mail messages accusing her of racism.

But far from backing off from her initial remark, Ferraro defended it and elaborated on it.

“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?”

Susan Rice, an Obama adviser, called on Clinton to repudiate the remark in an appearance today on MSNBC.

“That is a really outrageous and offensive comment,” Rice said. “I think if Sen. Clinton is serious about putting an end to statements that have racial implications, that diminish Barack Obama because he’s an African-American man, then she ought to really repudiate this comment, and make it clear there is no place in her campaign for people who say this kind of thing.”

Ferraro has held one fund-raiser for Clinton.

In an interview with The Associated Press, Clinton distanced herself from Ferraro’s initial remark.

“I do not agree with that,” she said. “It is regrettable that any of our supporters on both sides, because we’ve both had that experience, say things that kind of veer off into the personal. We ought to keep this on the issues.”

Ferraro, who was the Democratic nominee for vice president in 1984, spoke to the Breeze in advance of an appearance at the Armstrong Theatre in Torrance on Sunday night. The comment initially ran on D6 of the newspaper Friday, but drew significant attention after the story was picked up by Raw Story and other online news outlets.

Ferraro said she was simply stating an obvious truth, as seen in exit polls that show Obama taking as much as 80 percent of the black vote in the Democratic primaries.

“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?”

Obama campaign manager David Axelrod called Ferraro’s comments part of an “insidious pattern” of remarks from Clinton supporters that have drawn attention to Obama’s race.

“When you wink and nod at offensive statements, you’re really sending a signal to your supporters that anything goes,” Axelrod said, according to ABC News.

Ferraro said the Clinton campaign cannot fire her because she is not an adviser.

“It’s impossible to fire somebody who’s not involved with it,” she said.

She also said she is familiar with Axelrod from his work for minority candidates in New York.

“He knows damn well that the best thing to do in a situation like this is to come back and hit with race,” Ferraro said, adding that the response is a sign that the Obama campaign is “worried” about the first-term senator’s lack of experience.

Ferraro said she was not trying to diminish Obama’s candidacy, and acknowledged up front that she would not have been the vice presidential nominee in 1984 if she had been a man.

But she also echoed remarks of feminist leaders like Gloria Steinem, who argued in the New York Times that Obama would not have succeeded if he were a woman because gender is “the most restricting force in American life.”

“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.”

Keep digging, Geraldine.

You’re doing great!

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