Ferraro, Clinton, and Racism

Below is the link to an article published in the NYTimes about a week ago (sorry folks, I don’t have home internet access or loads of free time anymore!).

Clinton finance committee member Geraldine A. Ferraro said, “if Obama was a white man, he would not be in this position” as a leading presidential contender. Later, she resigned from the campaign, but Clinton never disavowed the remarks.

If you’ve read other posts on this topic on this blog, you know I think Americans are over-sensitive about race and would probably charge a black dog with racism if it bit a white cat.

However, this time I'm siding with the accusers -- Ferraro and Clinton are out of line!

Look, everybody knows part of the reason Obama’s leading the primary because he’s black – he’s getting most of the black votes (duh) in many contests (and Hilary's getting most of the white women votes -- at least she was)! Ferraro’s words are racist 'cause the only motivation she has for uttering them is resentment because Obama is leading in the primary. How can resentment directed towards another person's 'race' be defined, except as racism?

During the remainder of the primary we'll see whether or not Obama can marshal black and white support to his side. I think he can – and already has, in some states –appeal to peoples of all races (he’s multi-racial himself, of course!). If that's the case, Ferraro’s words become so much more divisive.

The Democrates can't afford to distract themselves from the prize – general election victory in November. If one candidate (or by extension, his/her representatives) attacks the other in personal terms, Republican opposition will have more fodder to use against them in the fall.

Finally, while Al Sharpton has a point about Clinton’s strategy to gain more white votes (i.e., siding with Ferraro and receiving a ‘racial resentment’ vote), he misses the mark with Ed Rendell. The PA governor remarked that some white voters in his state were “probably not ready to vote for an African-American candidate.” Where's the resentment or ill-will here? If anything, he's pointing out the racisism of whites in his state!


http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/031308B.shtml