Political Punch

“With all due respect, your article, missed the boat all together.

Ferraro just doesn't know the facts.

She must not know he's half-white, he's just dark.”
Posted by: Tom

Dear Tom with all due respect, most all of us African Americans have white blood in us, that does not make us white. Even Holly Berry (Oscar winner) whose mother is white, is considered a black women in our community. We are proud of her but she is half white. Most of us AA are the descendants of slaves something Obama knows nothing about, since his black roots are from the African Continents and not the America’s. So believe me Ferraro knows her facts and she is right in what she says. I might add if Obama was an American born black (meaning descent of slaves) he would not be where he is now.

Ferraro's comments could likewise be applied to Clinton: If HRC were a man, did not have a history-making aspect to her candidacy by virtue of her gender and her role as a former first lady, would she be where she is? Is her public service record really THAT impressive? Or, in the alternative, would anybody really be looking at her twice if her last name were SMITH or JONES? Really, now.

In my judgment, Clinton is intelligent & ambitious, but otherwise unremarkable. She is not unlike countless other strong, bright, motivated women in other professions. Obama is also intelligent & ambitious, but is quite remarkable. He has, in an incredibly abbreviated time period, been able to create positive perceptions in voters about who he is, who we are, what we can do, and where we should go as a country. This is truly remarkable because he is so young, and was vitually unknown just a couple years ago, not because he is black. Black is just a matter of fact (hey, that rhymes!)

Ferraro's proposition that Obama's advantage(race)is greater than Clinton's advantage (gender)is not supported by fact. And how could you even measure that, anyway? This is just Ferraro's interpretation...her way to explain a phenomenon. To dismiss Obama's entire political existence in the national arena or attribute it to him being "lucky" to be black is beyond absurd.

Frankly, I think Ferraro's frustrations and those of HRC & her supporters stem from the belief that Obama does not deserve the nomination for one reason: he has not "paid his dues" yet; age-ism pure and simple.

It was obviously a calculated strategy because she said the same thing about Jesse Jackson in 1988.

"If Jesse Jackson were not black, he wouldn't be in the race," she said.
Really. The cite is an April 15, 1988 Washington Post story (byline: Howard Kurtz),

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."

“Would Ferraro dare to say that Clinton got where she got because she was the wife of the president?
Would Ferraro dare to say that Clinton (Clinton, not 1980 Geraldine) got where she was because she is a woman?”
Posted by: Yves
In fact she did! It was during the same speech she gave when she mentioned about Obama. You don’t hear the Media or the Obama camp saying anything about that. Obama’s people clearly spin everything to be about race when it is their favor.
Gerry said, clearly in that same speech when ask about Hilary that she undoubtedly had advantaged from being a former first Lady. Unlike herself who was put on the ticket with Mondale in 84 to help win the women vote.
Obama’s people have desperate since Hillary is clearly looking more and more presidential and they trying to use the race card to muddy her face. Well most of us including some of us African-Americans can see through him.

In fact she did! It was during the same speech she gave when she mentioned about Obama. You don’t hear the Media or the Obama camp saying anything about that. Obama’s people clearly spin everything to be about race when it is their favor.
Gerry said, clearly in that same speech when ask about Hilary that she undoubtedly had advantaged from being a former first Lady. Unlike herself who was put on the ticket with Mondale in 84 to help win the women vote.
Obama’s people have desperate since Hillary is clearly looking more and more presidential and they trying to use the race card to muddy her face. Well most of us including some of us African-Americans can see through him.

Would Ferraro dare to say that Clinton got where she got because she was the wife of the president?

Would Ferraro dare to say that Clinton (Clinton, not 1980 Geraldine) got where she was because she is a woman?

After all, it was easy for her to say, and repeat that Obama got there because he was black.

But of course not, she will not say anything like that about Hillary. But she dared to say that Obama is there because he was black.

Which prove the point that she discreminated between Obama and Hillary.

She is a racist, case in point.

And Hillary with her typical double standards doesn't do anything serious about it while decrying the monster comment (and he accepted the resignation of his advisor), while confronting Obama to denounce Farrakhan(which he did) ... which makes her accomplice to a racist.

With all due respect, your article, missed the boat all together.

Ferraro just doesn't know the facts.

She must not know he's half-white, he's just dark.

Obama is also a white guy !

Nobody gets it.

Is it some big secret !

Anyway I liked your article.

Thanks,

LOM and D, you do raise an excellent point. Here's the answer.

exit pols make clear that far more obama supporters will support clinton in the general than vice-versa. In fact, Clnton has tried to make that very sad fact a SELLING POINT. And this is consistent with campaign tactics. Clinton is making damn clear she'll take down the party to win the election. Obama -- not so much.

Does that speak to you at all? The answer to your question is that Hillary supporters do not support the party to the extent Obama supporters do. Will you take that information -- which you admit is significant -- into account when forming your opinions about this race? If not, why not?

Gerry was on the talk shows this morning. She is not part of the Clinton camp, and only serves the DNC as financial officer. The money she raises goes to the party. Not Hillary or Obama. I also understand she is Super delegate for the DNC. She said what she said was taken out of contents, during a speech she was giving concerning the DNC nomination race. She has not committed to either side.
So as she said: "resign! Resign from what I am not part of the Clinton camp"
She claims she was asked by the crowd: “why do you think a relatively unknown senator with little experience was doing so well" so she answered.
It is the Obama camp who has played the race card every time anyone says anything to criticize his campaign, or mentions his color.
He is using his race to make white people feel guilty if they don't vote for him, because he is black. I can say these things because; I am an African-American and am ashamed of the way he is playing the race card. We did the same BS when OJ was acquitted and we all knew deep down he was guilty. The madness must stop and Obama is using his color to cry foul, for being criticized.
I was proud of him until they called foul in S.C. when Bill made a comment about Jesse Jackson, which was not racist, I did not take it that way. It was a fact! So you white people who think Obama is the great Black hope! Look closer he is playing the race card every time. No one can speak their mind or their racist in the Obama camp’s eyes.

Are you Libs blinded, Obama would not be where he is if he was not Black! That is true. Why is it Racist to say that truth but yet not racist for Blacks to vote for him only because he is Black!

Libs love the Race Card!

By the way Barrack Hussein Obama must be a racist like the talk show host because he was recorded using his middle name!!

Still, are her statements the uncensored ravings of a bigot - or yet Another example of the Clinton campaign playing the race card and then saying "who, me"? Comments like Ms. Ferraro's play into the fears and resentments of some Lower-Income less educated white voters - the same voters who just so happen to be Sen. Clinton's strongest voting bloc.
Mrs. Clinton should be LUCKY she was married to an ex-president or she would not be where she is. This statement should be laughed at, and women everywhere should be embarrased.

You want to know why Obama is pulling in most of the Afican-American vote and the black folks are not voting for the wife of "the first Black President":

From the Washington Post:

The Clinton camp ended up spending nearly $7 million in South Carolina, but Obama won in a landslide. On Jan. 26, the day of the election, Penn sent an e-mail to the senior campaign staff comparing Obama's victory there to Jesse L. Jackson's two wins in the 1980s. Bill Clinton made the same comparison to reporters that day, generating even more anger among African Americans who perceived it as a way of marginalizing Obama by portraying him as a black candidate who appeals only to black voters.

As Clinton strategists woke up the next morning, they realized that the African American constituency was permanently lost to her. Only then were some of his closest former aides, such as Sosnik, former White House lawyer Cheryl D. Mills and fundraiser Terence R. McAuliffe, tapped to talk with him about reining in his rhetoric, and a daily conference call was established to try to enforce it.

BBB1961, I don't think Obama has drawn black voters in as much as the Clintons have driven them away. That is part of her strategy. Divide and conquer by marginalizing Obama as a black phenomenom...

Listen, Geraldine needs to go to sensitivity training to learn about racism. She should go, no matter how much flase indignation she portrays. She also needs to be reminded that Hillary wouldn't be where she is if Bill hadn't enjoyed her "feminine favors" at least at some point in time...

Ferraro is a prime example of the uneducated voters that Hillary brags about. I see some can even collect a thought and type them down on this feedback!

Amazing!!!!

For starters, Hillary Clinton only rejected the comments (mildly) because she knew they were wrong and would hurt her campaign. But she also knew that plenty of white people who have been desensitized to racism would not see why such a comment would anger blacks. So she took the middle road, effectively playing to the sensitivities of both sides. Too bad this won't be enough for black people who, like it or not, she will need to win in November.

Barack Obama is clearly extremely intelligent. He did not become the first black president of the Harvard Law Review because of affirmative action. He underwent a very rigorous process like everyone else and he earned the respect and trust of his peers.

He showed the same tenacity in Illinois when he was able to get legislation passed UNANIMOUSLY that had previously faced tough opposition from conservatives. (I am talking about a bill in Illinois that now requires that police officers videotape confessions and interrogations.) When he talks about reaching across the aisle and unifying people, there is a precedent. He has done it before and is the most likely to be able to do it again for the sake of this country. I would like to note that in doing this he had to reach out to people of all races and creeds--not just to blacks or whites.

Ferraro's comments deserve much more scrutiny but do not expect the Saturday Night Live affected media to actually engage in investigative journalism delve into the underlying issues of why this was and is a fundamentally racist statement.

Finally, it cannot be said enough, Obama has ELEVEN years of experience as an elected official. Hillary Clinton has SEVEN.

Wikisource has Obama's speech at an anti-war rally in Chicago in 2002, when he was in the Illinois senate. He was 100% against the war, and was very public about it.

"My point is its easy to second guess choices made by people who got more information at senate level meetings."

You do not mean People who do not read NIE and relay on what they were told ?

The differance between legslators and lay persons is, LEGISLATORS SHOULD depend on what is on the record.

I'm out for the night! We will talk more tomorrow.
Closing thought: many of us Dem's supported the Iraq war in the beginning, we were told the intelligence said that Saddam had WMD and was forming an alliance with Al Qaeda.
WE WERE LIED TOO AND AS SO WAS HILLARY!
As for Obama claims he was against it from the start, we really don't know since he was not a member of the US senate when the vote took place. So he says "I would have voted no" it is like a solider saying if I become a POW saying I would never talk! We really don't know because he was not there! TALK IS CHEAP! ACTION NOT WORDS!
GOOD NIGHT!

The Commander Guy, there is more to that to the red phone moment. As first lady, I'm sure she was there when husband took those calls at 3:00am she has seen it handled first hand.
She knows the world leaders not just from Photo op's with celeb’s but from state dinners and white house meetings. I'm not saying she had top security clearance to know everything but she was for practical purposes present at 1600 Penn Ave, when many of the world crisis’s happened.
Obama has not a clue about world affairs. He wants to meet unconditionally with our enemies and bomb our allies (Pakistan) on war on terror. If he wins the nod and a terrorist crisis happens (like a 911) before the election McCain wins! He is too much of dove to stand up to hawk like McCain if there is crisis. Hilary on the other hand is tough as nails. Americans have no doubts she can handle our security. These are just my observations. The WH is ours to lose if we nominate the wrong person.