Letters to the Editor
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I'm glad YOU think the response was overblown, Alex
I have spent the last few days enraged about Ferraro's comments. Not the paraphrased one of which you speak, but the actual entire coment itself. I have been so enraged I have been unable to post in today's War Room post on this very topic. I find that my hands are shaking even now as I write this (seriously).
As a black woman, to hear a man like Barack Obama be reduced to nothing but an affirmative action case and to have the racist words (mind I'm NOT calling Ferraro racist) be affirmed so casually and readily by some posters here and elsewhere absolutely appalls and horrifies me. My experience tells me that, not only does Obama have the right to be in the position that he's in, but that he's had to work twice as hard as any white guy with similar talents to be in this position.
Although Hillary Clinton would have you believe that words don't matter, in fact, they do. I understand the point that some are trying to make about Obama: His blackness has helped people view him positively; that America might be ready to elect as President a black man may go a long way in restoring the world's faith in us as a people who move forward and tread new ground that others can't because of fear.
But, ultimately, it is important to uncover the basic meaning behind Ferraro's words--that Obama is ahead in our presidential contest simply because he is black, not because of his accomplishments, appeals to the lowest form of racial discrimination. Appeals to racist people who need/want leaders people in Ferraro's position to validate their disgusting beliefs that darkies are taking over the world at THEIR expense.
That is why it was important to cover this. That is why the reaction was not overblown. I am still shaking.