Just Deal With It, Gerri March 12, 2008

Geraldine Ferraro messed up. Bad. And refuses to admit it.

After making the now famous faux pas in Torrance, California’s Daily Breeze where she implied that the only reason Obama was in such a prominent position was because he happened to be black:

When the subject turned to Obama, Clinton’s rival for the Democratic Party nomination, Ferraro’s comments took on a decidedly bitter edge.

“I think what America feels about a woman becoming president takes a very secondary place to Obama’s campaign - to a kind of campaign that it would be hard for anyone to run against,” she said. “For one thing, you have the press, which has been uniquely hard on her. It’s been a very sexist media. Some just don’t like her. The others have gotten caught up in the Obama campaign.

“If Obama was a white man, he would not be in this position,” she continued. “And if he 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.”

Obviously anyone with a shred of dignity would feel patronized by such an implication — “the only reason you’re even in here is because you’re black” — and Obama was no exception, telling the Today show:

“Part of what I think Geraldine Ferraro is doing, and I respect the fact that she was a trailblazer, is to participate in the kind of slice and dice politics that’s about race and about gender and about this and that, and that’s what Americans are tired of because they recognize that when we divide ourselves in that way we can’t solve problems.”

Obama’s campaign manager David Axelrod said that Ms. Ferraro should “be removed” from her responsibilities on the Clinton campaign, to which Clinton responded that she did “not agree” with Ms. Ferraro’s ever-so-enlightened assessment of the situation.

Marc Ambinder from The Atlantic rightfully notes, not only did Hillary not fire Ms. Ferraro, she did not denounce her statements or even “feel as if she has to apologize for Ferraro’s comments; after all, they are Ferraro’s, not her own”, according to her aides. Far worse than the “monster” comment from the Obama camp, Obama’s campaign manager David Axelrod said that for Hillary at this point, other than firing Ferraro, “there’s no other way to send a serious signal that you want to police the tone of this campaign.”

At this point, perhaps Ms. Ferraro should perhaps shut up for a while. Go below the media radar and work behind the scenes for a bit. Maybe take a strategically-timed “vacation”.

Or, she could try to make a huge stink, and try to turn the tables on Obama’s camp, claiming racism and discrimination herself and “vigorously” defending her statements:

‘Any time anybody does anything that in any way pulls this campaign down and says let’s address reality and the problems we’re facing in this world, you’re accused of being racist, so you have to shut up,’ Ferraro said. ‘Racism works in two different directions. I really think they’re attacking me because I’m white. How’s that?’…

Ferraro said she was simply stating an obvious truth, as seen in exit polls that show Obama taking as much as 80 percent of the black vote in the Democratic primaries.

” ‘In all honesty, do you think that if he were a white male, there would be a reason for the black community to get excited for a historic first?’ Ferraro said. ‘Am I pointing out something that doesn’t exist?’ …”

She says her comments were not racist, but a fact, and as far as Hillary is concerned, the New York Times says there is “no indication” that Ms. Ferraro will step down from her duties. And her attempts to throw gender into the mix and cry “sexist media” and portray herself as the dual victim of patriarchy and anti-white racism caused Feministing.com to respond simply, “F you, Geraldine Ferraro.”

Here’s Geraldine Ferraro in all of her self-defending glory:

Gerri, you screwed up. Just shut up now and stop the damage while you can. For Hillary’s sake and the sake of the entire Democratic Party, let this be only your own political suicide, not the assassination of the Clinton campaign.