Ferraro: Obama Successful Because He's Black

[Deleted]

www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/03/11/ferraro.comments/index.html

Just to bring everyone up to speed, the former candidate for VP says Obama's campaign is so successful in large part because he is black. Further, she says if her name was Gerard Ferraro instead of Geraldine, she NEVER would have gotten the nod to be VP candidate back in '84.

As you can imagine, she's landed in some hot water for those comments, with Obama calling her divisive and not representative of Democrats. And so on and so forth...

My question is - in line with the point Ferraro made - if he was Barney Obama and a white democrat from Indiana with the exact same personality, political platform, etc.... would he be the object of affection the way he is today?

Would Barney Obama have the opporutnity to reach millions of soccer moms across America whenever he wants on 'Oprah'? Would he have the YouTube videos of girls expressing their love for him? Etc.

EDIT: I guess my point is, does she have a point? Or (and I'm not saying I agree with Ferraro) is this an example of American's being completely incapable of discussing race in an intelligent manner?

[Boz]

Mar 12, 2008 8:24:05 GMT -5 buffalohoya said:

EDIT: I guess my point is, does she have a point? Or (and I'm not saying I agree with Ferraro) is this an example of American's being completely incapable of discussing race in an intelligent manner?

I think the answer to both of these questions is yes.

The problem is, if you say anything about Obama having an advantage due to his race, it automatically gets extrapolated so that your intention is clearly to say that "all" black people have an advantage in this country (which is patently untrue) or that you mean that the only thing that is giving him an advantage -- i.e. the only reason he is winning -- is his race (which is also untrue).

With respect to the second question, clearly that is the case. No one seems to have any problem in dissecting all of the advantages -- and disadvantages for that matter -- that HRC has in running as a woman. Hell, early on in the primaries, her cleavage was the subject of much discussion (much to my dismay). But people are treating Obama's race like it's a third rail.

There are huge disadvantages to his running as a black - or more accurately, multi-racial - candidate. To his credit, he has overcome many of those disadvantages. But there is also a benefit that he gets in the media I think, in that whenever he is attacked on any subject, someone is going to try to construe it as racist. I've even heard arguments that the "3 a.m. phone call" ad is racist, saying either (A) "you can't trust a black man" or even worse (B) that the subliminal context is that there is a black man outside of the house and that is the true threat.

This is just ridiculous, and I think, yes, it's one example of some advantage he gets because of his race.

Having said that, Geraldine Ferraro is an idiot.

[Bando]

She's been even worse lately, saying now that she's only being attacked for her comments because she's white. She seems to not be aware of the phrase "digging the whole deeper".

That said, she's certainly right. At the same time, it's certainly true that almost every other person who's run for president was in such a position because they were white. This doesn't take away from either Obama or anyone else, it's just the truth. That said, it shouldn't be construed as a weakness to be one race or the other, so Ferraro's an Edited.

[FewFAC]

Demographically speaking, the forces to which Ferraro speaks are much more powerful for a female candidate than for a black candidate, so Hillary should have a 20-something point lead on Obama. Which may be why Obama has a lead.

[hilltopper2000]

Here's Ferraro back in 1988: "If Jesse Jackson were not black, he wouldn't be in the race." Sound familiar? She's played this card before.

www.politico.com/blogs/bensmith/0308/A_Ferraro_flashback.html