Pssst...Barack Obama is a Black Dude

Geraldine Ferraro said that Barack Obama wouldn't be where he is today if he wasn't black.

So what?

Was that supposed to be some kind of secret? I mean, hasn't Obama himself written extensively about how race shaped his life? Made him the man he is today? Would we really be so excited about him if he'd done a Freaky Friday with John Edwards in the 1970s? I doubt it. Yes, he'd still possess a brilliant mind and a gift for oratory, but his life experiences would've been completely different. His ability to bring together opposing viewpoints might've never emerged. He would've never had the transformative experience of visiting Kenya after his father's death. And he wouldn't have been the "skinny kid with a funny name" who captured America's attention in 2004.

In other words, Barack Obama wouldn't be where he is today if he wasn't black.

And so the Obama camp's response to Ferraro's "divisive" comments has been a tad disingenuous. But worse -- much worse, it's been a squandered political opportunity. Obama still needs to convince nervous Democrats that he can handle a street fight with John McCain. A fight that, at present, might be billed as "The Brainiac vs. The Maniac," thanks to some people's image of Obama as a chai-sipping, mani/pedi-loving Harvard man, and some people's image of McCain as, well...a total psychopath. When you're up against a guy who spent five years getting his limbs broken in a pool of his own filth, running away from a point that you've made yourself in paperback isn't the best way to look tough.

So if I were David Axelrod, I'd fire up the nearest edit bay and flood Pennsylvania's airwaves with an ad that went something like this:

(Start with a nasty frame-grab of Ferraro and Clinton). "Hillary Clinton's best friend, Geraldine Ferraro, says Barack Obama wouldn't be where he is today if he wasn't black." (Cut to Ferraro giving the finger to a group of black Girl Scouts). "We couldn't agree more. Barack Obama's life as a man of mixed race taught him to respect people of all colors, faiths, and points of view." (Cut to Obama clearing brush on his ranch). "It also instilled a great love for America as the land of opportunity. A land where people from different backgrounds could come together and achieve the impossible. Barack Obama is proud of being black." (Cut to a beautiful Obama family portrait). He even fathered two black babies -- twice as many as John McCain. Don't the working families of Pennsylvania deserve a president who's proud of his heritage -- and proud of America? (Cut to a smiling Obama). "Barack Obama...you're damn right he's black."

Don't get me wrong -- I'm not defending Ferraro. I think it was a stupid thing to say, especially for someone who would've never been her party's vice presidential nominee if she hadn't been a woman. She's thrown her beloved Hillary off message, and her refusal to apologize promises to keep the story alive for another day or two. She even had the chutzpah to warn Obama not to "antagonize" people like her, lest he become the nominee and need her fundraising muscle. Don't "antagonize" her? Who is she, Sonny Corleone? And when did she become the "must-have" fundraiser, anyway? Politically speaking, she's about as relevant as the top-loading VCR in my garage.

Still, Team Obama should give the public a little more credit. After all, a good 80-90% of us have figured out by now that their candidate is, in fact, black. Deep down in our heart of hearts, we know that none of this would be happening if he wasn't that skinny kid with a funny name. It's part of what makes him different. It's part of why we like him. And no matter what Geraldine Ferraro says, it's nothing to be ashamed of.

Comments

[RobtBrock]

I think that Barack Obama is a cry-baby who will lose big-time in November. The dude is weak.

[ayc]

Yeah, it takes a weak politician to beat the Clinton machine, and last time I checked the numbers that is exactly what he is doing.

[LeftVetPatriot]

GOT me. Yessir.

Thanks.

[joanndarc]

Psst... His mother is white!

[robXdion]

LOL!! That commercial idea is ridiculous!! Good one.

[grendl]

I think Barack should do what he does best, give a speech, and direct it towards the person responsible for dividing this party so deeply.

Something akin to, and forgive the repetitiveness...

" This campaign has gotten ugly in a hurry. And while I expected the onslaught of fear based stunts, and stereotyping from my opponent across the aisle, I didn't really realize it would come from within my own party.

But that's okay. Hillary, you are still my friend. Or let me amend that. I'm still your friend. If you want to come talk to me and explain just why you endorsed John McCain, a man who wants us in Iraq for another 100 years, my door is open. I imagine it has something to do with making your decision to go to war in the first place look not so ill advised, but if you want to talk about it, I'm here.

And Hillary, I have children too. They sleep soundly in their beds. I protect them with my life. I don't exactly know why you're showing Brinks home security ads to America, at 3:00 a.m. , under the auspices of talking about international crisis, while showing a home break in scenario, but I'll give you the benefit of the doubt. You're not a racist. You would never tap into America's fear of a black man to win the White House. And would never sit by and let Geraldine insinuate my success as a politician was predicated merely on the color of my skin. You're better than that.

Now I may not have been in the White House before on a daily basis. But the Constitution and a certain amendment provides me that opportunity now. We gave your husband a chance to shine sixteen years ago, and he proved us right. I think I deserve the same opportunity. Perhaps you disagree. Perhaps you didn't mean it when you said you were proud to share the same stage as me. Or maybe you did. I don't know, you seem to change your mind at times.

But that's okay. You want to win the presidency. You've been battling the GOP assassination bureau in Washington longer than I have, and their cynicism has rubbed off a little on you. It's made you a tougher foe than many in our party, something I think you pride yourself on. Well, Hillary I'm tough too. Because I refuse to give up believing you're a good person, deep down under all this chicanery, and Machiavellian machinations. I refuse to believe you want different things for this country than I do, and I refuse to believe you actually think you're the only one who can save this country.

Because I have news for you, Hillary, this job only lasts eight years at best. There's no tiara, no throne, and someday all that you've been fighting for, should you win it, will be gone. And if we're not careful during this election process not just your place at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, but the very core of what this party was supposed to be about..."

[loper2008]

I think you underestimate what Ferraro said and implied. She was not saying that he got to where he was because he was black and learned important, valuable lessons from having that skin color. She was saying he doesn't deserve to be in the race and is only here as a trinket to placate white guilt. She was using vague language that allows any ignorant person to fill in the blank. That is why it is seriously messed up. Obama realizes the complexity but he has wisely learned that complexity does not play with the American electorate. Most Americans would hate the ad you describe.

[grendl]

I know exactly what she was implying.

"And would never sit by and let Geraldine insinuate my success as a politician was predicated merely on the color of my skin"...

She insinuated he was in this race because he was black, no she said it in no uncertain terms. I didn't say a thing about learning importantant lessons from being black. Perhaps you read another post.

[ESerafina42]

It has been said before better - a white person with the same relatively thin resume (at least when running for one of the toughest jobs in the world) would never even have been taken seriously as a presidential candidate. Nor would a man with Hillary's resume (except for a privileged white guy named Bush), though at least she had the decency to serve a full term in the Senate. I would have been opposed to her if she'd run in 2004, so I am treating them the same.

[justrikke]

I wondered who was writing Obama's speeches. LOL

[theatricalif]

Love the speech, grendl! Barack can't actually make the speech of course, but I think it would be great for him to read it over to himself every so often, as a cool cloth to wipe away the Clinton camp's maddening doubletalk. It sounds a bit like something he MIGHT say, and would be good for the man's sanity. Good for us all, actually, to remember that Hillary is indeed a human being underneath all that . . . carapace of toxic ambition, with worthy ideals of her own. And maybe when she goes back to the Senate, she can find the good person and those worthy ideals again.

[vanessa04]

You should. He's been spamming the threads with it.