Former Rep. Geraldine Ferraro claimed that she was attacked for being white after making controversial comments about Senator Barack Obama.
"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," she told the Daily Breeze of Torrance, California. "Racism works in two different directions. I really think they're attacking me because I'm white. How's that?"
On an interview with FOX News, Ferraro claimed that Obama's success as the Democratic front-runner was not due to his capability, but rather due to the fact that he is black."I said in large measure, because he is black. I said, Let me also say in 1984 -- and if I have said it once, I have said it 20, 60, 100 times -- in 1984, if my name was Gerard Ferraro instead of Geraldine Ferraro, I would never have been the nominee for vice president," she said.
In her first interview with Daily Breeze, published late last week, Ferraro stated that, "If Obama was a white man, he would not be in this position. And if he was a woman, 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 also claimed that Hillary Clinton has been attacked unfairly by a "sexist media".
Obama replied that the comments were "patently absurd."
"I don't think Geraldine Ferraro's comments have any place in our politics or in the Democratic Party. They are divisive," Obama told the Allentown Morning News.
"I think anybody who understands the history of this country knows they are patently absurd. And I would expect that the same way those comments don't have a place in my campaign, they shouldn't have a place in Sen. Clinton's, either," said Obama.
10 comments:
So, Geraldine, what exactly is your point? You were put on the ticket because they wanted to run a woman candidate. Obama is winning all over the country, among all Demographics of voters because he is black. And? What is the point? Is it that you were not competent and you were picked soley because of your gender? Or were you picked because you were smart and highly qualified and the fact that you were a woman was an extra asset? The latter is obviously true for Obama. He is here
Geraldine is irrelevant today as much as she was when she ran for vice-president. She always had a rough edge, but Maud was in then and folks didn't think much about it; she appeared to be the architypal feminist. No one messed with her. I had no ideas that she was this nasty. I was much younger then. Like her low-lifed friend Hilliary, Geraldine is just race-bating. The blacker they paint Obama the more they appeal to the fear and inherent racism of their limited demographic.
If they are allowed to win with the divisive and distracting tactics that they have been using, it will be a very sad day for America. I truly hope that the American citizens stand up to Hilliary and Bill's tyranny,and vote for a better, more unified America. We have too much at stake to let these hooligans throw away our future and that of our children.
Sorry about the typos above.
Obama has another comparison to Jesse Jackson, Sr. This is not the first time she has made those comments in an election. Check this out!
A Ferraro flashback
"If Jesse Jackson were not black, he wouldn't be in the race," she said.
Really. The cite is an April 15, 1988 Washington Post story (byline: Howard Kurtz), available only on Nexis.
Here's the full context:
Placid of demeanor but pointed in his rhetoric, Jackson struck out repeatedly today against those who suggest his race has been an asset in the campaign. President Reagan suggested Tuesday that people don't ask Jackson tough questions because of his race. And former representative Geraldine A. Ferraro (D-N.Y.) said Wednesday that because of his "radical" views, "if Jesse Jackson were not black, he wouldn't be in the race."
Asked about this at a campaign stop in Buffalo, Jackson at first seemed ready to pounce fiercely on his critics. But then he stopped, took a breath, and said quietly, "Millions of Americans have a point of view different from" Ferraro's.
Discussing the same point in Washington, Jackson said, "We campaigned across the South . . . without a single catcall or boo. It was not until we got North to New York that we began to hear this from Koch, President Reagan and then Mrs. Ferraro . . . . Some people are making hysteria while I'm making history."
http://www.politico.com/blogs/bensmith/0308/A_Ferraro_flashback.html
So, I doubt this is a Clinton strategy, just her true feelings coming to the surface. Freudian slips do occur.
Keith Olbermann has the best commentary yet on Ms. Ferraro and Ms. Clinton. Check it out on YouTube at
http://youtube.com/watch?v=qXBXD2zizIY
As a middle aged white woman, I was very offended by Ferraro's remarks. There are indeed many of us who, after recognizing the immense attributes Obama offers, we find his blackness an attractive quality if for no other reason than its potential "healing" power - to show the global community that the US has grown some. But, for her to even suggest that his blackness gave him an advantage was utterly appalling and ludicrous. The only candidate in the race who HAD and HAS significant advantage is Hillary!! Few could deny that she is smart but no one can deny that her marriage to a previously beloved president helped her to the Senate seat as well as the current run for office. Additionally, if she was the one ahead in the delegate count, be assured that she'd be screaming for Obama to bow out...and, frankly, he has such incredible integrity, I think he would have done the right thing.
Unfortunately, Geraldine was chosen. She was chosen as a gimmick that did not work. Now she feels that "being once crowned" gives her the right to speak for all the women in America.(her comment "...Obama does not what to anger women like her...") Since Clinton is "like her" I am beginning to wonder DID Hillary suggest Ferraro's comments after all. Humm
The black church needs to change their views of the world, The United States and their pastors. It has been 250 years now. Get over it! Move on. Your in limbo! When you have loons like J.Wright and others preaching BS behind the pulpit,,,,,wrong! Quit looking for handouts as in socialist societies and move on. Obama was wrong by staying with this nutcase for 20 years if he even had an idea he wanted to run for President...to get the white vote. He's down the drain on this one. Wait 10 or 15 years and try again!
People seem to misunderstand the implications of ferraro's point. People, please listen---ferraro, in her statements relative to obama in this current campaign and Jesse Jackson, during the 1984 campaign, is saying that--the campaign rhetoric "seems" to sound radical and revolutionary, from obama that "appears" to be Black and Jackson that is Black, but appears to be a "revolutionary Black," in reality is empty and illusive. Such idealism and radicalism have never been implemented by any politician; because, once they got in office, idealistic and radical rhetoric became compromise and concession.
She was/is giving them and the public a reality check--to wake up and smell the coffee.
Its interesting that people say "Hey Get over it...It was so long ago!" Tell that to the parents of Natalie Holloway. Tell that to the victims of 9/11. Tell that to the Jews who suffered against Nazism. Tell that to the civilians in Iraq.
technically obamma IS white.....
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