Letters to the Editor
mercury409
Published Letters: 4
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Sight Unseen
[Read the article: Reexamining the Ferraro fracas]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]I just want to debunk Ferraro's myth. It might not be the universal experience, but it's one I have in common with several people I know:
What drew me to Obama first and foremost was his DNC speech 4 years ago. Before that, I had never heard of him and I had lived in Chicago, on the South Side (Pilson, near China Town & on the opposite side of the tracks from the Robert Taylor Homes. Very industrial and very Hispanic and, in all honesty, not that far South) from 95-99 while he had been in the heyday of his community activist and state legislative career.
Now, I didn't see Obama's speech (didn't have a TV then), and consequently, didn't see Obama. I heard it on NPR. Caught it while it was in progress and didn't even know who it was I was listening to. But I was riveted--from the first sentence--and thought to myself THEN, from the content, that this person was a better candidate than the one who had been chosen (still, I did my duty and voted for Kerry in the general). I thought that this person was articulating exactly what I had been thinking about back in 2002. And at the risk of bringing on the sarcasm of those who had been duped, I was in no way fooled by the so called "diplomatic efforts", both as a matter of instinct and because I listened to more than just the MSM or U.S. media for that matter. I knew that Bush was pushing Congress for a resolution to use force because his intention, and this was something that just pushed through despite or maybe because of all his nationalistic speechifying, his intention was to use force no matter what Hans Blix and the U.N. inspectors found or, in this case, didn't find. Not to mention the ramifications that would (did) follow the invasion. Point being, Obama saw it too. Laid it out for any American who would take the time to listen and with an insight, precision and understanding that was artful and infused with authenticity. I knew then that I would vote for this person, based on this and many other progressive statements he made that night, barring some more compelling candidate. But that other candidate never arrived.
I thought a few years ago it might be Hillary Clinton. Her vote in favor of the use of force first surprised me and disappointed me. But, and I have never admitted this to anyone before, it also made me doubt my own understanding and perception of what the Bush administration had been doing and saying for the previous several months: the steady, incremental ratcheting up of fear and propaganda and ultimately the outright lying they did to weasel our country into this Shakespearean Tragedy of a war. That doubt would not, could not have been possible if I had not respected Mrs. Clinton, who is clearly a very intelligent and connected person. Probably far more intelligent than I am and certainly far more connected. I entertained that I could have misread events. That I was allowing my contept for Bush & Co to color my reasoning and instincts. But, you know, that doubt did not last; the evidence against Bush was overwhelming. But my disappointment in Mrs. Clinton did last. I wanted very much to believe in her and anticipated that she might indeed run for President and I wanted to support her, because she clearly had much to offer a liberal and progressive agenda. So I waited. Months I waited, years even, for some sort of reasonable explanation as to why she voted the way she did. And it never came! What we got instead was denial. What we got instead was triagulation. And even after Obama entered the campaign, I wasn't sure it was his time. But once Mrs. Clinton began to lose, her true colors began to bloom. Calculating, petty, condescending, ambitious and willing to sell her soul and her principles--were they really ever her principles? re: the Iraq war--to get what she wants. And Obama stayed steady. He made gaffes, or his surrogates did, sure. And he has flaws, e.g. I feel he could do better articulating his positions without a prepared text. But he's my candidate. And if he loses the nomination, I will vote for Mrs. Clinton in the general. Which is more than I can say for that 10-15 percent of Clinton supporters who say they wouldn't support Obama.
So, just because Geraldine Ferraro was picked to run for VP as a PR stunt to help boost a flagging campaign, it does not mean that those of us who support Barak Obama do so out of some Affirmative Action/White Guilt/Rock Star Voodoo. We are more principled than that.