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

[KareninSM]

Could someone clarify for me why we should consider Hillary Clinton to have "endurance as a leader"? Who, when, has she ever led? Speaking as an older woman, all I see is a lot of older women getting excited enough about having a woman candidate that they will follow her blindly, anywhere. I don't consider that leadership.

[LAJonathan]

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/3/12/17456/6330/661/475297

Wanted to share this great post from a minority perspective. Explains it beautifully. Share with others who don't understand.

[BTJ]

Thank you for pointing to that link. It brought tears to my eyes.

[foufou]

Hillary

Great post from a HRC supporter.­...reasona­ble people can agree to disagree! Is there any hope for Taylor Marsh?

[DietrichMoody]

Ms. Rosen, if the last few weeks have shown anything, it is in the contrast between women like Samantha Power, who speak their mind against fellow females like Clinton, and those like Geraldine, that still allow gender hangups of the 1980's, to dictate their careless talk. With Obama's campaign, there is a change in how we are viewing ethnicities, in turn Hillary and Ferraro, are not helping to change how we view gender. The mistake you make is in associating Power with Ferraro. Erghh.

What is more Reagan Era than Gerry Ferraro. It's a cynical generational disconnect and she does not get it. But either way, glad you are comparing Ferraro and Power, because the differences are stark.

Hillary has achieved a lot, but no, you cannot compare her success in the same way you can compare what drove Hillary into politics with what drove her husband, Obama, McCain, or women like Fienstein, Boxer, Pelosi, and Gov. Sebelius into politics. Hillary lived vicariously through her husband. Hillary is boastful and careless, and she thinks she deserves to be President, now.

Obama has appeared to confront his IDENTITY, Hillary should try to confront hers. Hillary and Ferraro, are going through their identity crisis, on the campaign trail, for President of the USA. - Erghh.

[ljmck]

Ferraro said something "mean and personal and hurtful," you say?

How about this (to borrow Ms. Ferraro's phraseology)?

Ferraro said something mean and personal and hurtful and RACIST.

And the fact that she can't see it and Hillary won't makes the whole thing even worse.

[pupbayer]

I think the fact that Ferraro was right is being grossly overlooked. It's just the facts.

[Tejano1]

"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."

i couldn't have said it better myself. if more dem leaders and "pundits" were saying this, we'd be a lot better off. the civility has disappeared because both obama and clinton supporters have been subjected to endless apologia for the racist/sexist b.s. floating around out there. we're supposed to be better than that. we're supposed to be open-minded and progressive. instead we're sounding like the rethugs that we've so roundly condemned for years. i'm as susceptible to it as anyone. but in the end, this nasty stuff is going to throw a bucket of cold water on what promised to be a new day in america. depressing.

[agentoris625]

Finally, a Hilary that understands how crude the comments by Ms. Ferraro are. The fact that its coming from a strong Clinton supporter as well should give the senator some pause. She's got to change her campaign's tone b/c she's been on the verge of losing my respect and a number of others who had admired her as well.

[independentrepublicrat]

She needs to concede and stop embarrassing herself and her party.

[DrPaulProteus]

Thank goodness. I wasn't sure who to vote for, but since Geraldine Ferraro --stalwart symbol of the glory days of memorable massive progressive victories of the Democratic Party of the 1980s-- has come out for Hillary Clinton, she's sure to benefit with added votes.

[Dap]

Senator Hillary R.Clinton is self made, as much as is Teresa Heinz-Kerry.

[SamanthaJaneSalem]

Barack Obama is one lucky black man that his campaign had a post-Super Tuesday strategy.


Because that's what this has come down to. And it's over. Senator Clinton was unlucky enough to have a lousy white guy named Mark Penn running her campaign, and no post-Super Tuesday strategy. Eleven straight losses. By huge margins. And now it's over.


CNN doesn't want to hear this. So John King goes to his high-tech screen and, once he finally gets it to work, shows all sorts of wild and fabulous scenarios where Clinton wins states by 2 to 1 margins, and do-overs in Florida and Michigan, and a god from the machine saves the day for her.


They aren't supporters anymore-- they're enablers. Let it go. Otherwise watch this Godzilla in a pant suit stomp all over the Democratic party, leaving a path of carnage behind her as she crushes, if not buildings, hopes and dreams. Children will wake up screaming at three in the morning, and know they too can never be president.


The only way that Clinton can win the nomination-- and a real roll of the dice it is-- is to do it with so much negativity that she loses in the general election. By smearing Obama beyond recognition. Or by stealing it. Talk of caucus delegates, automatic delegates, pledged delegates that can be nabbed, a Michigan race between Clinton and Sen. Uncommitted-- this is all to cover the fact she got blown out of the water (mostly from the Potomac) after Feb. 5.


Really, it's not the candidate. It's the campaign. Clinton still has the support of about half the party. But that's like half the crowd being Patriots fans in the Super Bowl. It's the score that matters.


Democrats are finally in an ideal position-- charismatic candidate with national appeal, a fresh and optimistic message, young voters involved, black voters energized, independents joining our side.


As I said after Wisconsin-- and before Senator Clinton destroyed her reputation-- go with Obama in '08, and if he fails, say, "OK,only a Clinton can win these things," then nominate Clinton in '12. She'll have four years to repair her image, damaged by fearmongering, race-baiting, mockery, cynicism, and being in charge of one lousy campaign.

[GiggidyGeshmoygen]

SAMANTHA VS. GERALDINE
==========­==========­==

SAMANTHA power's "hillary is a monster" comment was an off-the-record, spontaneous and heartfelt expression of outrage and frustration at hillary clinton's willingness to engage in down-n-dirty, bushrovian tactics

GERALDINE ferraro's statements, on the other hand, are just the latest salvo of down-n-dirty, bushrovian tactics to be launched from camp clinton

SAMANTHA, regrettably, did the right thing and took the sword immediately in order to protect obama from the inevitable barrage of unfair and misleading clinton rhetoric

GERALDINE ferraro is just another one of hillary's dirty tricks

maybe barack can trade hill a GERALDINE pass for a SAMANTHA pardon...

[mingusman]

Thank you for a well-reasoned posting. I read something like this and think, okay this is out there for all to see. All the spitting factions have something like this to read and surely, SURELY, when they do they'll come to their senses and see the craziness for what it is. But then I wake up and that feeling in the pit of my stomach returns and I am forced back to the reality that he Democrats are amazingly, repeatedly, shooting themselves in their collective foot and we are facing the all-too improbable possibility that in fact a Democrat will NOT be next in the White House and we will have leaned nothing from the past 7 years of hell.

[SCharb]

Samantha Power said something stupid once in private, asked for it not to be printed, and stepped down quickly, apologizing profusely with copious praise for who she had insulted. Obama unequivocally denounced and rejected the "monster" attack.

Geraldine Ferraro said something racist repeatedly, used a defense out of David Duke's playbook, and stepped down begrudgingly with copious attacks on who she had insulted. Clinton halfheartedly "disagreed" with the racist attack.

It reveals a lot about their management styles. The Obama Campaign was excessively self-critical and apologetic. The Clinton Campaign refused to denounce its own members, hoped the charge would stick, and practiced the same loyalty-ab­ove-morali­ty politics of the Bush administration. The whole thing reminded me of Alberto Gonzalez.

[tcpgh]

How pathetic for Ferraro that she will now be remembered mainly for her knee-capping of the 2008 Democratic primary, not her 1984 run for VP. It's like Ralph Nader. Who can look at him now and not think of the 2000 election first, his consumer advocacy second?

[ErinBerin84]

I love you Hilary Rosen, but I think that you let Clinton off a bit too easy (seeing your commentary on MSNBC, it is clear that you are a supporter of hers, so I reserve your right to defend your candidate of choice). However, I thought that Hilary Clinton's initial tepid response was telling, as was her campaign's memo that Obama's campaign was "playing the race card". I will vote for either candidate in November, but I hope that each campaign will remain sensitive to issues of gender and race, giving time for the Democratic party to heal before the general election. I kind of agree with Keith Olbermann (I know, I know. The man is way over the top a lot of the time) that Hilary's should evaluate the people around her campaign (Howard Wolfsan, Mark Penn). Didn't someone on her campaign say to a newspaper recently that she is "better than her campaign"? I tend to agree. In other news, yay to Michigan for uniting and possibly coming close to a re-vote solution. Florida, get your act together. This goes to Howard Dean and the DNC too.

[Tejano1]

yes. the clintons are indeed flirting w/ the southern strategy. there's no denying it.

[ErinBerin84]

Another thing...si­nce many people interpreted the monster comment as trivial, albeit mean spirited, how much credit would you have given Hilary if,as Chris Matthews suggested, she had taken the high road and said something like "Look. Samatha Power is a professional woman, I'm a professional woman. People get carried away when they are campaigning and it is a very close race. I accept her apology.I have been a public figure for decades. I have been called worse." Then, she would have gotten in her little dig that she is a fighter who has been vetted, while pushing the theme that the race is very close, even though the delegate math does not bode well for her. Instead, she uses it as an opportunity to push the "Nafta-gate" issue, which I largely think was debunked, and the fact that Samantha Power said to the BBC that you cannot make the promise that troops can indefinitely withdraw from Iraq, because you do not know if something will drastically alter between then and now. That is a complete fair and honest statement- one of Hilary Clinton's advisors essentially said the same thing on NPR. Instead, she is twisting it to suggest that Obama is fraud.
Additionally, she could have responded to the Ferraro comment in a more sensitive way, but instead says stuff like "Well, obviously I don't agree with that." No, Hilary. It's not obvious at all, if we keep asking you to respond or clarify your position.