Letters to the Editor
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Alex: Spoken like a white male without a clue nor any close Black Friends..
My clue for when white folks are trying to blow smoke up my ass is when they take long winded essay's to state the obvious..
Alex do some research!!!! Please the old garden variety redneck to some accoutibility she was here in Michigan last week and she made the same overt racist statements in a luncheon and was not called on the carpet until today becuae all those good jewish and christian woman at the meeting are now ashamed of themselves...
I always find it revealing when white folks tell me how I should react to white racism..Always amazes me..
White Racism still here in 2008....
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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.
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You should have just kept quiet
This is about the most obtuse blogging I've witnessed at Salon.
I read the original article in the Daily Breeze first and was offended by Ferraro's statements. More than offended-- floored. I could not believe that someone I considered to be a feminist icon would say something so blatantly racist. And subsequent statements of hers only added fuel to the fire she started.
Her statement and other statements made by Hillary and some of her supporters imply that Obama supporters are too stupid or "color struck" to be able to discern the policy, experience, personality or tactical differences between Hillary and Obama. We certainly cannot see past color or gender and judge Obama the superior candidate. We must be stupid or cult followers or under his spell or racially biased or carrying the guilt of our forefathers in order to support him.
Trying to comparing Samantha Powers and Geraldine Ferraro's missteps is completely illogical. Powers and the Obama campaign had the decency to apologize immediately for her impolitic statements. Ferraro ranted, raged, threatened, and repeated her "mistake" over and over. And Clinton's response? Almost nothing. For days. There should be no wonder that people have increasing disdain for the campaign tactics of Ms. Clinton.
It is okay if you like Hillary. It is okay if you would rather ignore the ignorant, overly ambitious, malicious tactics she has taken. But please, don't insult the my intelligence or the intelligence of people like me by trying to minimize Ferraro's flat out racist statements.
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You are kidding?
Wow Alex -- some rational thinking on the Obama/Clinton/Ferraro debacle -- FROM YOU!?!?!?!?!? Now that is the most shocking outcome of the entire event.
So what do you think of the new footage of Minister Wright talking about Hillary? Just curious -- the whole "Hillary aint never been called a nigger" rant...please check it out and tell me what you think...I am curious. The "Blacks shouldn't sing God Bless America...they should sing God Damn America..."
Take a look -- and the soap opera continues...
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CAB: two different camps here
One school of thought interprets If Obama was a white man, he would not be in this position. to mean that Obama is skating due to blackness, and that his other qualities are insufficient to make him competitive.
Another school of thought thinks it means only that his blackness is a plus in addition to his other qualities.
"I'm only a VP nominee because I'm a woman doesn't seem to bolster the latter position, IM!HO. The first camp knows that Obama is black and that it could be useful, but thinks he also has a lot else going on. Thus the peeved tones.
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@C.A.B.
That Atlantic article was written by Andrew Sullivan in response to Mickey Kaus who made the same arguments you have just made. Andrew's response to that is:
"To argue, as I did, that this mastery of complexity is a new and positive thing in our politics is obviously not the same thing as echoing Ferraro's racial and gender resentments about Obama's beating Clinton in the primaries. To argue that a teenager in Lahore would get this message instantly from Obama's face if he were president of the United States is not to say that Obama's candidacy is only successful because he's black. The most important point that teenage would get is not about Obama but about America: that we are not bound by racial or religious animosity, but open to all. And it would reflect Obama's capacity to transcend his race rather than exploit it.
Of course, Obama's race is a salient issue. We're human. Obama's skill has been in not denying that but in not exploiting it either for the purpose of identity politics. I guess this complicated point is lost on some, like Mickey. But I'm guessing others see what I'm arguing." - Andrew Sullivan