Geraldine Ferarro said of Sen. Barack Obama's success: "If
Obama was a white man, he would not be in this position. And if
he was a woman (of any color) 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." (AP Photo)
Geraldine Ferraro's
second racist comments about Obama: Hillary says she stays! This is Ferraro's 2nd
racist attack in a month
Probably nothing has more dramatically exposed Hillary Clinton's
hypocrisy, dishonesty and perhaps even racism than her support for one of
her top aides, former vice presidential candidate Gerlaldine Ferraro (who
ran with Walter Mondale in 1984 against Ronald Reagan), than her continued
support for Ferraro after - not one, but two strongly racist attacks on
Barack Obama made in less than a month.
Obama fury over Clinton backer Ferraro's
race remark
Barack Obama's White House campaign lashed
out in fury Tuesday after a prominent Hillary Clinton supporter [and
chairwoman of her finance committee] attributed
his stunning march through US politics to his race.
Obama aide Susan Rice called for Clinton to fire Geraldine Ferraro, the
only woman yet to run on a major party's presidential ticket, after her
comments Friday to a Los Angeles newspaper.
"That's a really outrageous and offensive comment," Rice said
on MSNBC television after Ferraro, who sits on Clinton's finance
committee, had said: "If Obama was a white man, he would not be in
this position."
"It is the sort of comment that we have heard repeatedly, I'm
afraid, from some of the Clinton surrogates," said Rice, Obama's
leading adviser on foreign policy.
She said Ferraro's remarks were "far worse" than those of
another foreign policy aide, Samantha Power, who was forced to resign from
the Obama campaign last week for calling Clinton a "monster."
"I think if Senator Clinton is serious about putting an end to
statements that have racial implications, that diminish Barack Obama
because he's an African-American man, then she ought to really repudiate
this comment and make it clear that there's no place in her campaign for
people who will say this kind of thing," Rice said.
Ferraro was Walter Mondale's running mate for the Democrats in the 1984
presidential election. They lost in a landslide to the Republican ticket
led by Ronald Reagan.
In an interview Friday with the Daily Breeze newspaper, she was quoted
as saying that Obama's success revealed the "very sexist"
attitudes of the media.
"And if he was a woman -- of any color -- 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 said.
The Clinton campaign had no immediate comment. Late last year, the New
York senator fired two junior aides for spreading emails claiming falsely
that Obama is secretly a Muslim.
Copyright AFP 2008, AFP stories and photos shall not be published,
broadcast, rewritten for broadcast or publication or redistributed
directly or indirectly in any medium.
When asked about the decision of Rep. John Lewis, D-Ga., to abandon his
endorsement of Clinton in favor of Obama, Ferraro said: "I'm very
disappointed. When I see John Lewis. He's turning around — this is a
civil rights leader. Why in God's name did he change his vote from Hillary
to Barack Obama? I'll tell you why. He's not going to lose a Democratic
primary in his district in two years, but he sure as hell will face one if
he sticks it to Barack Obama when he has a greater majority of blacks in
his district. He's not going to lose. I'm so disappointed in him, I could
die."
Ferarro: Obama Where He Is Because He's Black, ABC
News, Mar. 11, 2008
Geraldine Ferraro: Obama's Winning
Only Because He's Black! February 22, 2008
On Tuesday evening Ms Ferraro talked with John Gibson about super
delegates, and her concern that they are following popular trends instead of
sticking to their guns and supporting Hillary Clinton. She questioned whether
Obama's candidacy would be where it is today if he were white.
Despite demanding Power
firing for "monster" comment,
Clinton refuses to "condemn or reject" Ferraro - she stays! See
Hillary's response - Internet
Explorer only
In an interview with ABC News affiliate WHTM, Clinton, D-N.Y., ignored
calls from the Obama campaign to remove Ferraro from her campaign, saying,
"Well, I don't agree with that and I think it's important that we try
to stay focused on issues that matter to the American people."
In a relatively mild response, Clinton continued, "And both of us
have had supporters and staff members who've gone over the line and we
have to reign them in and try to keep this on the issues. There are big
differences between us on the issues — let's stay focused on that."
Ferarro: Obama Where He Is Because He's Black, ABC
News, Mar. 11, 2008
A Ferraro flashback:
"If Jesse Jackson were not black, he wouldn't be
in the race."
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."
[PERSONAL NOTE: I do not have a very high personal regard
for Jesse Jackson, I must admit. He tried to ride the coat tails of Martin
Luther King, Jr. and then was found to be extorting money from large
corporations so he could find plush jobs for his family and contributors.
I do place Jesse Jackson in the same category as Barack Obama.
Still, the divisive statements made by Geraldine Ferraro
over a period of many, many years do not speak well for the Clinton
campaign of today.
