Ferraro: Obama Camp Attacking Me Because I'm White

Daily Breeze:

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....

"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?"

Read the whole story: Daily Breeze

Comments

[seseryder]

Mrs. Ferraro, you brought up race. Before you statement in this matter most of the people I know thought you were kind of cool. No one felt any racism toward you until you inserted those unnecessary comments. Mrs. Clinton should be lucky to have been married to an ex-President of the United States because I really doubt Hillary would be a candidate for President. GF, you should be ashame as a sage of the Democratic Party to spit these uncanny things out causing so much confusion. Shame on you!!!

[Tsunami]

YES, the MiSogyNist BaraCk media gleefully attacks women and has been attacking Hillary for some 20 years. Obama is manipulating the race card.

Obama IS advantaged by being black because the media is giving him a free pass. "Blacks feel SORRY for him, that's why they are voting for him." OOPS, I forgot, that is what the media says if a Woman votes for Hillary. 90% percent of the black vote goes to Obama--that is racist and sexist. Obama is totally inexperienced for the Presidency, yet the press gives him a pass and constantly jumps on Senator Clinton. The guys in the media (and the women who want to keep their jobs) ARE SEXIST. If this race were between Joe Biden and Shirley Chisolm (spelling?), the press would be sucking up to Joe.

[beright]

Not sure what you're trying to say?

[independentrepublicrat]

~90% of black votes went to Kerry, Gore and Clinton. Did they receive this vote because of their [invisible] blackness?

[CBS]

"I really think they're attacking me because I'm white. How's that?"

How's that? Stupid, paranoid, inexcusable, self serving, race baiting, ridiculous, perhaps the sign of dementia." That's how.

If Power had to resign for using the word "monster" then Gerri needs to have the big hook drag her off the stage. She is an embarrassment.

[ibsteve2u]

I was bummed out when Ferraro cried and got crucified for it way back; I thought those people who freaked were overreacting in their association of her emotion with instability.

But after all this "black", "white", blah blah blah on her part? Now I think they were right, and I was wrong.

[debwarot]

If Ms. Ferraro feels she is being unfairly represented as a racist she should please remember that she was the one to open this proverbial can of worms. She is only hearing the inevitable response to comments she made. And, faced with the undeniable fact that many found her remarks offensive, she has not only refused to apologize for them but reiterated them and stated that she should not be brought to task since, in my words, ‘Obama’s gonna need my help someday’! Is she really that out of touch?

Ms. Ferraro’s only accomplishment on the national political scene was being selected as a vice presidential candidate – something she readily admits happened in large part BECAUSE OF HER GENDER. Is there gender discrimination out there? Hell, yes! As a 57 year old white woman I am all too familiar with the extent to which this has been part of the very fabric of our society and is still very prevalent today. Does racial discrimination exist? Sadly, yes, it is also very much a part of our lives. Does race play a part in why some African Americans are supporting Senator Obama? Undoubtedly! Are some women committed to Senator Clinton in part because of her gender? Again – a resounding yes! What I do not understand is how she can admit to having been the beneficiary of one form of reverse discrimination while crying fowl at the suggestion this might be happening in another instance! IF THERE IS A RACE CARD BEING PLAYED, MS. FERRARO IS THE ONE WHO DEALT IT.

Sometimes, our words are perceived in a way we did not intend. Perhaps our very words do not portray our true intent. When this happens, the intelligent & calm voice of wisdom and experience should say, “I am so very sorry. That is not what I meant, believe, think or feel. I am sorry for giving this impression.” This is what I would have expected from Ms. Ferraro. To simply a complex and heartfelt issue, many of us condemn both racism and sexism and believe you cannot truly be either a racist feminist or a sexist who believes in racial equality. Ms. Ferraro is neither a leader nor a role model to us.

[MrKnuckles]

Perhaps it is true that Barack Obama wouldn't have charged to the front of the Democratic race if he wasn't of mixed heritage, and yes maybe luck and timing plays a part in his rise to prominence as well, but the same can be said of Hillary; that she clearly wouldn't be where she is if it wasn't for her husband Bill Clinton, and her being the first serious female contender for presidency has its own plus factors as well. What is offensive to me is that Feraro is clearly attempting to explain away Obama's political success as being just a matter of luck and skin color which amounts to one more low attempt by the Clinton camp to diminish his candidacy by crass categorization. Feraro even has even employed the Rovian trick of trying to make it appear that Obama is the one engaging in the racism she's actually guilty of. What Id' like to she her try to explain is how Mr. Lucky Obama managed to come out of nowhere to whip the living hell out of Clinton's campaign plans to become the front runner. Because he was raised in Hawaii I guess.

[Erdgeist]

Nah...just a bit paternalistic.

[mcearlgrey]

I'm glad we're finding out now how lucky we were that this moron didn't end up being a heartbeat away from the presidency.

[enoughalready]

I never thought that my party, Democrat party, would be the one in this election to play the race card.

I had envisioned this wonderful historical race between the first African-American and the first woman, knowing either one would break all race and ethnic barriers to make history this November. It never dawned on me that it would be our party and the Clintons that would bring race into this campaign and destroy the party and any chance of taking the White House this Fall.

I never thought the older white feminists would or could be so hateful. I'm one of them but I chose to support Obama because of his stand on the issues and his ability to organize and move this country toward changing our government. I chose not to support Hillary because of her stand and voting record on the war in Iraq. I did not make my choice on race or gender. I thought we had come so far and with Ferraro's comments I realize we have not yet come far enough.

When a candidate does what Hillary did by qualifying herself and the GOP candidate and disqualifying Obama she wrote our party off. Hillary needs to understand this election is not about her - it is about us - all Americans that have lost these past 8 years of the Bush administration. We want change and Obama has managed to move this country to demand that change. We will continue to support Obama and demand the change. Hillary needs to stop her destructive behavior and realize those of us that do not vote for her do so because of her politics and voting record not her gender.

I am so disappointed in the Clintons.

[gmt217]

I don't think that Geraldine Ferraro is actually a racist.

I think this comment was dumb and ill-advised and seems to support the level of delusion that is going on within Team Hillary.

If Barack Obama is lucky - he's lucky to be running against a candidate who seems to have put together a campaign that makes Al Gore sit back and say "Wow -- I ran a great campaign by comparison".

Team Hillary seems to want to toss out absolutely anything to explain why she's behind in this race. Actually, let me caveat that, they want to toss out anything that doesn't give Barack Obama an ounce of credit for running a very good campaign against her.

Geraldine's comments are the equivalent of Bill's in South Carolina. They both attempted to define Barack Obama as "the black candidate" to explain why he was doing well rather than look internally to see what they might be doing wrong. Barack has run a better campaign (and by a wide margin) than Hillary -- he's better organized, has a message/theme rather than a collection of policy positions, and is light-years ahead of her in terms of figuring out how to take advantage of avenues of funding and support that weren't available the last time she was involved in a National campaign in 1996.

[Boulderperson]

Another of Slippery Hillary's Surrogates tearing the Party apart.

[GregSolo]

Classy.

[marinade]

Pathetic. Not a big Obama lover but contributed to his campaign last night.

Looks like Ferraro is being the bad cop now that Bill is sitting in the corner. Clinton can't fight her own fights. She couldn't figure out the Texas caucus system. She isn't ready. She doesn't have the team.

[plages]

Thank goodness that Ferraro didn't make it, so many years ago, into our White House! What a clinton racists shill! Question. How come, or why did Sen. Obama accept the resignation of a staff member, and clinton has this cruel and wicked person still on her monster staff?

[AmericanNation]

Mrs. Ferraro, has been a champion of civil and women's rights throughout her brilliant career as a Democratic civil servant and politician. Frankly, prior to her unacceptable remarks regarding Senator Obama's campaign receiving preferential treatment due to a racial animus or gender bias, she had been a hero to an entire generation of men and women of vast demographics crossing all racial, ethnic, and political lines due to her ground breaking campaign for Vice President. It is dishearteningly contrived to hear such political engineered propoganda from someone of Mrs. Ferraro's character and standing - clearly her comments have the tacit approval of the Clinton campaign - President Clinton made similar comments in South Carolina and then backtracked - now Senator Clinton and her supporters have been blanketing the internet and media with propoganda designed to specifically split Democratic voters along racial and ethnic as well as gender lines. How profoundly sad for the party that held JFK, RFK, MLK, to now be known as the party using the tactics of Carville, Rove, and Clinton. Ofcourse, the Clinton campaign will half-heartedly in broken english dissavow the latest comments by Mrs. Ferraro, but once such comments are in the public domain, it is impossible for the voters to ignore them - and the Clinton's are well aware of that fact. The demographics in the last primary and the upcoming primary show a shift in support for the Clinton campaign along racial lines -and so the Clinton campaign's tactics are working - perhaps Senator Clinton will be awarded the Democratic nomination by virtue of the intellectual and moral bankruptcy of the Superdelegate system - but the voters who will effectively be ignored by that process will not forget the manipulation of the system by the Clinton's or certain members of the Democratic Party elite. And, I look forward to the Republican Party vetting the Clinton campaign - Rove versus Carville - two men with no ethical limits serving to candidates with no ethical standards - America 2008.