Sacked for stating the obvious
Geraldine Ferraro has had to step down from her position in the Clinton campaign because she said: “If Obama was a white man, he would not be in this position [as Democratic front-runner].” Ferraro added: “If [Obama] 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.”
I think we can agree that it was politically unwise for Ferraro to have made these comments. On the other hand, they are true at several levels. For one thing, if Obama were white, he would not be capturing 80 to 90 percent of the African-American vote in Democratic primaries against a candidate towards whom African-Americans previously were quite well disposed. And without that general level of black support, Obama would be winning many fewer delegates.
In addition, it’s highly unlikely that Obama’s trademark statements about coming together as a nation -- the ones that drive the crowds wild -- would have much resonance coming from him were it were not for his race. Obama is a left-wing Democrat with no special claim as a healer of “what divides us as a nation” other than his racial status. (For more about how that status, and Obama’s very clever use of it, has turned Obama into an icon, please consult Shelby Steele and his book on Obama, A Bound Man). The country is, indeed, “caught up in the concept.”
Obama has understood from the beginning the opportunities that his race confers on him. Freshly minted lawyers don’t usually write their autobiography, even if they have been president of the Harvard Law Review. But as the first African-American to hold that post, Obama was in a position to publish an autobiography -- one in which he talks incessantly about his race. Of course, Obama had to obtain the top law review position and then crank out a quality autobiography. But there’s a new Harvard Law Review president every year and most of them can write. Without the racial piece, no one would have been interested in Obama’s autobiography, no matter how well-executed, at that early point in his life.
Similarly, Obama could not have risen to the top of the Democratic heap this year without his strong intellect and considerable political and oratorical skills. But without the racial piece, Obama is just another smart, talented, flashy politician who over-promises. How many white politicians have ever come so far on this thin a resume? I can’t think of any.
Obama obviously is not to blame for gaining advantage due to his race. Clinton, after all, almost certainly got as far as she did because she was married to a popular former president. Few politicians make it all the way to the top without some sort of advantage they didn’t earn. It just seems unfortunate that, in Obama’s case, there’s a stiff penalty for pointing to his unearned advantage.
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