Geraldine Ferraro and Samantha Power -- Ugghh!!

Samantha, thanks for stepping back. Gerry, thanks for nothing.

Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama have been having some fights lately. But mostly fair fights. She is questioning his credentials to be commander-in-chief; He is questioning her on tax returns. Not pleasant discussions in either case. But they are clearly real issues and most importantly, they are between the candidates themselves.

That is what we want in this race -- for Clinton and Obama to make their own case.

When folks try, on their behalf, to make a case through personal attacks, they aren't just hurting their own candidates, they are hurting all of us.

Samantha Power made a big mistake. She said something mean and personal and hurtful. And then she had the grace to apologize and step back.

Unfortunately Gerry Ferraro said something mean and personal and hurtful and she has been graceless and offensive in her own persistent defense. Not to mention tarring Hillary Clinton with a comment that the senator doesn't and shouldn't ascribe to reality.

Yet, Ferraro is bewilderingly insistent on staying in this fight. Even resigning from her support for Hillary so she can keep making a mess that Hillary is blamed for. As they say, with friends like these...

Have I said yet how heartbreaking it is for me to write this about Gerry Ferraro? I was 24-years-old at my first Democratic Convention serving with honor as a podium assistant when she stood up to receive the nomination to be vice president. I couldn't have been more proud.

Her formulation that Barack Obama wouldn't have the success he's experiencing if he were a white man is frightening. That somehow, his accomplishments in life and his standing before us as a presidential contender is a form of affirmative action isn't just offensive, it is bizarre. Fatherless at two, and dragged around the world. He made his own life. He is in this race because he is a touchstone politician. And I said that with admiration. In Obama we have a candidate who doesn't just understand that politics is about each of us, he actually has the talent and natural gifts to make us believe it, too. Hillary Clinton offers us a commitment to new policies we've been hungry for these last eight years. Her forward thinking on solutions, her determination on our behalf and her endurance as a leader get my support. Both offerings are worthy. Both of their offerings are also shaped by their experiences as a black man and a white woman only in the best way, NOT the easy way.

Dr. Imani Perry, a professor at Rutgers University wrote yesterday:

"...we can look at this another way: If Barack Obama were a white man, these gifts he possesses might not have developed in the way they did. Each person comes into the world with a unique spirit. The interface of that spirit with the body into which he or she is born and the society and family in which he or she lives and grows, creates the human personality. Perhaps Obama's encounters with bigotry and the diversity of his experiences shaped many of the qualities we admire in him. Perhaps being born on American soil as Barack Hussein Obama, a biracial second generation American in a body that is always perceived as a 'Black man', gifted him with a second sight that voters are looking to in troubled times."

Robin Morgan, the accomplished feminist writer said of Hillary's Clinton's value as a female president:

"...Women have endured hatred, rape and battery, being the majority of the poor, of refugees, of caregivers, and the powerless. We know that at this historical moment women experience the world differently from men -- though not all the same as one another -- and can govern differently..."

If either Hillary Clinton or Barack Obama is in this race because of their race or their gender, then it is only because it is an inexorable part of them pushing internally to succeed. They weren't given any extra breaks.

Follow Hilary Rosen on Twitter: www.twitter.com/hilaryr

Comments

[michael429]

Ferraro and Power are both women.....so what....Samantha Power is thoughful and qualified to advise about the mideast.....she would be an asset to any president....her resignation from the campaign is a loss.

Geraldine Ferraro was a career hack who brings no achievements to mind.....unless being appointed (rather than elected) to a national ticket was an achievement....she is an embarrasme­nt.....can­not see where she added any value to Hillary except calling on her rich cronies for more $$....no great loss....let's give her credit for lowering the level of discourse to prejudice and division....

[HaroldBeu]

Geraldine Ferraro compares her own experience as being chosen as a Vice-President candidate in 1984 as an example of affirmative action to that of Barack Obama’s run for the presidency. She suggests that there were other more qualified candidates ahead of her in 1984 and by extension that there are more qualified candidates than Obama, namely Hillary Clinton. This affirmative action comment feeds into many people’s animus toward that program, as seen in my own state of Michigan that a couple years ago voted to eliminate it.
Ferraro is speaking to those people who suffer economically, working-class people who worry day-to-day, especially here in Michigan where their next paycheck is coming from. And they are easily swayed to believe that they suffer economically because someone else, namely a person of color, “took” their job away.
This is reminiscent of Jesse Helms’ ad created by Dick Morris [later advisor to the Clinton’s] scapegoating the black candidate, Harvey Gantt by suggesting that blacks were stealing whites’ jobs because of affirmative action.
This kind of pandering will play well in Pennsylvania, unfortunately. I am not sure if Ferraro believed what she said or was merely playing politics. But in either case, she has hurt the Democratic Party and race relations in our nation. A sad commentary on a woman who was a pioneer in the cause of human rights and dignity.

[rudyacuna]

I have been active for about fifty years. When the primaries started I resolved to stay out of them -- the candidates who I liked and spoke to the interests of Mexican Americans did not have a chance -- so why participate in the charade? I found Obama to be too moderate; I remembered that Bill Clinton -- on whose record Hillary is running on -- built the first wall between Mexico and the US, passed a horrendous welfare law, was himself ready to privatize social security, was a hawk, and chummed around with lobbyist and the ruling elite. I did not hate Clintons -- I just did not think that they represented the poor. This perception was reinforced by the fact that the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 1995 (Solomon Amendment) and other laws that facilitated the recruitment of Latino high school students were passed on Clinton's watch. He was no Harry S. Truman who vetoed similar acts. Well, I have now decided to vote for Obama, not because he is black, but because of Bill Clinton's race baiting in South Carolina and because Hillary's surrogates have pushed me over the line. The blatant use of the race card has set back the progressive movement, given opportunism a bad name ,and opened wounds that will not be fixed with "I am sorry!".-- ensuring the election of a militarist. As a kid we would chant, sticks and stones will break my bones but names will never hurt me. Well, we were wrong -- hurtful words never heal. Moreover, I find the demeanor of Geraldine Ferraro especially offensive. She is not an impetuous teenager. She is a rich white woman who speaks with the air of a colonial privilege.

[thatvisionthing]

Thanks for the history lesson. Great post.

[jmundstuk]

This is very well said. I am afraid I agree with you that the door is wide open for a McCain presidency and a further decline of our nation.

[ObserverinVancouver]

Ferraro's argument seems to be that Obama is where he is only because he's black just as she was vice-presidential nominee only because she is a woman. However, suppose Obama had a similar bakground except that his father was from a Baltic republic, say, instead of Kenya. (For anyone having trouble following this idea, i.e., suppose Obama was white. ) He could still be born in Hawaii. His father could still have left when he was two. His childhood and education could still have been essentially the same. He could still have become president of Harvard Law Review , although with far less notice. He could still be an inspring speaker and motivator, etc. In other words his history could still have been very similar. The black parts are really incidental to his essence of intelligence, integrity and dedication to public service. He might not have been noticed as quickly, but he would definitely have been noticed.

Ferraro's remarks fit into a Clinton campaign of belittlement and condescension that is stomach-churning.

[thatvisionthing]

The color rifts in this country are hugely painful and harmful. Obama seems uniquely in tune to the positives of each heritage and to the negatives of slice and dice. Yes, Geraldine, I am enthralled and consider MYSELF lucky to have the chance to vote for, not a candidate LIKE Obama, but for the specific candidate Obama. There's a difference.

[fourex]

Geraldine you have managed to bring out bigotry and ugliness in your rhetoric, that's a Republican tradition.

[FirstShirt]

Republicans and democrats should just back off and ignore the ignorant comments made by ministers, MSM types and supporters. This is getting silly. Every day or so someone is apoligizing for some idiot's comments.

Unless Barack, Hillary of John make the comment let it go and let's address more important issues.

[AngerAndDetermination]

No, FirstShirt. Getting other, "independent" people to play attack dog is an old trick, and mostly a Republican trick. (What do you think Fox News is?) Everything that a Clinton crony says on her behalf, she needs to respond to, to either repudiate or adopt.

[acrosstheaislehumanist]

It was good of you, Ms. Rosen, to call Geraldine Ferraro out.
Her comments just added confusion and insult.
Mrs. Ferraro should consider herself lucky.
I also got to thinking about the fortune that Geraldine Ferraro's husband,
John Zaccoro made in pornography.
For Geraldine Ferraro to be able to live a lavish
lifestyle with wealth made her lucky.
Not very sensitive or empathetic or full of integrity.
But lucky.
And then Geraldine Ferraro, calls herself
a victim!

[thatvisionthing]

A white victim:

"Racism works in two different directions. I really think they're attacking me because I'm white. How's that?" --Geraldine Ferraro

[AngerAndDetermination]

"Yeah, Geraldine; but they're not. They are attacking you because you are an unscrupulous shill who is bringing down your party."

[MPCarr]

It is amazing the way the Democrats are tearing down one of their most prominent women over an observation she made about Barack Obama.

Geraldine Ferrarro was right that him being black is why he is where he is and also backed it up by saying she was picked for VP in 1994 because she was a woman. Big deal. You can debate the fine points of this, how much of Obama's rise is race, and how much is his oratory skills and political savvy. But it certainly isn't the content of his vision for America, because so far there is nothing there.

Meanwhile the revelations of the pastor at Obama's church seem to be ignored by everyone here. The vile, un-American, and looney audio clips from his recent sermon were played yesterday. Obama has attended this church for 20 years. Rev Wright married him and MIchelle, baptized their kids, and is Obama's spiritual leader. I assume he will try distance himself from the pastor, but he should have walked out years ago if he doesn't agree with the things Rev. Wright says.

[AZModerate]

Well, if Obama is lucky that he is black, I have some news for you. Hillary is the luckiest person on the damn planet because the only reason why she is still in the race.. hell, even in the race to begin with is because she is a woman who also happens to be married to a very popular Democratic Ex-president.. she is by no means where she is now on her merits.

[Lap48]

"...You can debate the fine points of this, how much of Obama's rise is race, and how much is his oratory skills and political savvy. But it certainly isn't the content of his vision for America, because so far there is nothing there..."

That "nothing" certainly inspired plenty of voters, both white and black, to vote for Obama as opposed to a cheerless, dreary political pointillist with an overbearing sense of entitlement. The proof is in the pudding and the ingredients are more delegates, more states and more of a popular vote.

"...Meanwhile the revelations of the pastor at Obama's church seem to be ignored by everyone here. The vile, un-American, and looney audio clips from his recent sermon were played yesterday. Obama has attended this church for 20 years. Rev Wright married him and MIchelle, baptized their kids, and is Obama's spiritual leader. I assume he will try distance himself from the pastor, but he should have walked out years ago if he doesn't agree with the things Rev. Wright says. ..."

This is a problem. Obama has partial insulation, should he get to the general election and John McCain [he of the Hagee and Parsley close encounters] but he has to get there, first. You can argue til the cows come home about the validity of the Reverend's observations but if you're trying to run for President of a nation comprised mainly of willing delusionists re certain unpleasantries about that nation, you can't do anything but cut ties with the man and his statements. Completely. And, that will be a sticky wicket given, as you've pointed out, the man's closeness to Obama [marrying him and Michelle and baptising his kids]

[AngerAndDetermination]

The Wright comments:

(1) are nothing compared to people's negative views of Hillary Clinton; and

(2) are not going to get John McCain elected while U.S. troops are dying in a war that McCain planned and has publicly stated he intends to continue.

In short, this will not affect the outcome of this campaign.

[Mesaywar]

Ms. Rosen, although I completely respect the tone and message of your piece, I must say that the comparison upon which is is based is somewhat ridiculous.

Comparing the unprofessional and unkind remarks by Samantha Powers to the ignorant and bigoted comments by Geraldine Ferraro, and the brazen defense of the bigotry when called on it, is quite a stretch of logic.

I fully appreciate and respect attemps at deescalating the negative rhetoric, and raising the level of conversation. However, this should not be done at the cost of common sense, common fairness, and common logic.

As to your assertion that "they weren't given any extra breaks",...perhaps you could ask your readers to consider all we honestly know of the country and world we live in, which would you rather have/be; the white daughter of a political connected family named Hillary Rhodam Clinton, or the black son of a Kenyan, named Barack Hussein Obama. Honestly.

[TAHARQA]

thank you.. your last paragraph says it all.

[vsign]

Obama just initiated an attack against a well respected activist for all good causes in the Democratic party - Gerry Ferraro. She is well loved and she is not a racist and her remarks were not racist. Obama made this attack on this woman for political gain - for himself. Not for the good of the party or the good of the human race. He made this attack to get more black people to vote for him and further stir up division among the races.

This attack clearly benefitted Obama.

Gerry attacked back and said she will not take his attack quietly. He owes her an apology. He started the fight by picking on her words. Which were very complimentary of him.

Obama started the fight. People need to see it for what it was. Obama needs to apologize for starting the fight.

The press can document all the times Obama has picked on words that Hillary or Bill have said. It is nothing more than Obama picking on and trying to bully Hillary and her supporters. Bill has put up with the most. Bill is a real man. He is the spouse I trust. He is the one doing the right thing. He is not fighting back even when Obama keeps trying to stir up racial divide.

Obama is getting a free pass every time he calls someone a racist. Then people sympathize with him and do not recognize the fact that Obama has started the fight.

Someone really needs to stop Obama. Bullies need to be stopped.

[indianadem]

You're nuts. Obama hasn't picked on any of the offensive words Bill and Hillary and their team have initiated. No one owes Geraldine Ferrarro any apology, she is pissed because Hillary is losing and she feels just like Hillary does that it is owed to her. That is why she stayed in her marriage to Bill....because she knew that without him, she wouldn't ever have been elected to anything. She feels she is owed for what she put up with as his wife.

I can't believe that anyone would suggest Obama should apologize - I'm offended! Obama a bully, geesh! That is so far off, you must not ever watch the news. Obama is a bully and Ferrara needs an apology...wow!

[jstock]

Ferraro was a joke in 1984, and has only become more of an embarrassment as time's gone by. If she believes what she is saying, she is through the looking glass, as is Hillary. These folks are beginning to remind me of Dubya, in their ability to see things so, umm, differently.

They HAVE been playing the race/Muslim card whenever possible. Who do you think created and sent out the notorious anti-Obama email in the first place.

You can say it a thousand times, but the fact is Obama didn't bring up race, Ferraro did. And her painfully ridiculous spin that she meant it in a positive way makes it even worse. Reminds me of Bob Kerrey's madrassa comments of a few months ago. Subtle.

[kingshmoopy]

vsign, once I got to the part of your post where you wrote "Bill is a real man. He is the spouse I trust." I started laughing so hard I couldn't keep reading!

[ObserverinVancouver]

I'm Canadian so I may be off-base here, but I wonder how many people under the age of 50 know or care who Geraldine Ferraro is. Or maybe they do know and think of her as someone who accepted that vice-presidential nomination without considering the impact of her husband's finances on the campaign. That has always seemed to me to be naive and selfish.

[northeast73]

Let me think about this....

Bill Clinton made an offhand remark in SC that cost the campaign dearly.

Now, the Obama folks think that was an intent to "marginalize" him. Hm? Ok.

If that was the case, do you REALLY think they would do that again.

Why do people think this was a "tactic", when the campaing clearly would know that it is not a good one.

And dont say her voters are "racist" or that folks in PA respond to that. Its insulting....to them and yourselves

[changeisontheway]

Bill Clinton made an offhand remark in SC that cost the campaign dearly.

Now, the Obama folks think that was an intent to "marginalize" him. Hm? Ok.

If that was the case, do you REALLY think they would do that again



Yes, I do REALLY think they would do that again. The clinton campaign has been so poorly run that yes, I do believe they would make the same stupid move over and over again.

[Obamamo]

The Clintons are experts at dividing and conquering. Those racist remarks by Bill by Geraldine are indented to paint Obama as THE black Candidate.

[Lap48]

Are you naive? Clinton, thinking that the voting populace, white and black, and having the same practical [let's call it cynical] take on obama's chances in a general election as he, his wife's black surrogates, sought to remind them about the stakes in the general and thought he was preaching to the choir on the matter of risk aversion.

He plainly miscalculated. And dearly.

This isn't about racism, per se; although, the issue of race lurks behind Clinton's S.C. motivation and his wife's efforts to pulverise Obama's candidacy. This is about a lack of faith and an overabundance of cynicism. Clinton, his wife, the black and white political figures in and around Hillary's campaign have lost the sense of possibility and idealism [if they ever had it] of their respective youths. Concomitantly, they've also lost the sense of right and wrong, particularly where it applies to race [I'm not talking about the likes of a Mark Penn, he's a slug on the order of NY's Liberal Party guru, Ray Harding but the Clintons, Charley Rangel et al]. In short, this is about a sense of not believing that America could elect a black man President and Commander in Chief.

Once Obama became a very real threat to Hillary's aspirations for Higher Office, the gloves came off and she and her surrogates began hefting the ol kitchen sink....and, they did it knowing that, unlke S.C., they could score in the type of state represented by the likes of Ohio and Pennsylvania and hold down the score in a Mississippi.

So, yes, in S.C. it was about marginalisation; now, of course, it's about full-bore annihilation and, insulting or not, the Clinton campaign has a pretty good shot at doing it in Pennsylvania..

[ObserverinVancouver]

All of these individually defensible things coming out of the Clinton camp add up to a dog-whistle message: Hillary is not black. There have simply been too many of them to be accidental. The question is: How many voters will decide on that basis?

[Lap48]

She, Ferraro, was the perfect messenger for a particular message.

[Lap48]

One more thing [re the Conason article]:

Hillary Clinton knew Ferraro's background. Anyone who was an adult and a political junkie back then [and double down on this observation if that anyone was a woman] knew about Gerry Ferraro, her nomination and the storm of press scrutiny which ensued.

Ferraro wouldn't have been opening her mouth to a California Penny Saver if she hadn't had some signal that she could do so and the Clinton campaign wouldn't have sat on this, as Lewis Black would put it, big, stinking pile sitting in the middle of the national discourse for ten plus days.

Pennsylvania, with its particular demographics, was looming in the foreground and it was full steam ahead.

[Lap48]

This is all you need to know about Gerry Ferraro:

http://www.salon.com/opinion/conason/2008/03/14/ferraro_clinton/

Any native New Yorker, and Joe Conason, a Clinton backer and, while at the Voice, a long time resident of New York City, spells it out--and, it's all accurate.

[TimSearl]

That is a most illuminating article. I had forgotten just how tainted she was.

[DREZLeptin]

Barack and Hillary are each unique in their respective demographics. The difference is how each plays the uniqueness. Barack is a uniter. He tries to rise above demographics. In desperation,Hillary is doing the opposite. Her surrogates must blacken him to alienate him from the masses. The Clintons are doing anything possible to pull race issues into this contest.

Both Ferraro and Power upset us because there is a kernel of truth in what each says. Obama would not have come so far so fast if it were not for his race. And yes, Hillary is a monster. She is a grotesque, divisive creature whose selfish ambition may place a permanent fissure in the Democratic Party and ensure Republican victory this fall.

[UnknownSoldier]

I would disagree with you as a black man. I would say Obama has accomplished things in his life inspite of his race. It is very easy to give up when no expects you to be anything to begin with. Obama kept fighting and pushing, good for him. I only wish I had his mother and grand parents, so he is not lucky to have been black he is lucky to have had a strong loving family to guide him the right direction. He was raised by his mother and maternal grandparents.


Out

[Lap48]

While reasonable people may or may not agree with that particular "kernal" Geraldine Ferraro was definitely NOT the individual to impart it...unless, your [and, I'm using the pronoun in the generic sense] aim was not to contribute to honest discourse but something else.

[moxymama]

Obama is such a uniter that tens of thousands -- perhaps millions -- of Democrats are so turned off by his campaign that they may not vote for him in the GE.

Great, uniting strategy. Without the Clinton backers that the Obama campaign has alienated, he will not win the GE.

(Note: Clinton can't win without the support of Obama backers, either, but she is not calling herself the great uniter. )