Geraldine Ferraro may not be a racist, but if not she is definitely a hypocrite and probably an idiot.
There has been a lot of furor over her statement to the effect that Obama would not be in the position he is now if not for the color of his skin. As with any ‘what if,’ there is no way of knowing whether or not it is true. Even if you think it is patently false, however, you should recognize that there is a at least a kernel of truth behind the statement if you are intellectually honest.
Obama’s race has helped him. How much, no one will ever know. It has also almost undoubtedly hurt him (witness the racial breakdown up of the recent Mississippi vote), but overall my guess is that it is net gain.
The reason is not because his opponents are afraid of using his race against him, as Ferraro herself proved (and Bill Clinton also, in South Carolina). The reason is that Americans want their public figures to be likable and worthy of admiration. Who doesn’t love the story of an underdog succeeding in spite of the odds?
That is the way in which Obama’s race helps: as a shorthand for overcoming adversity. Anyone in touch with the real world knows that racism is real and still exists, even if they have never seen or experienced it themselves. The single fact that Obama is black and successful, without knowing anything else about him, tells people that he is that great American hero, the underdog. Of course, it helps immensely that he does not rub anyone’s face in the fact that he is black, but that’s a subject for another post.
To get back to the argument I am trying to make in this post, Ferraro’s comment may have been an exaggeration, but was it racist? Out of context, probably not. A blatant exaggeration, but probably not morally culpable.
The context of the comment, however, was that poor Hillary was getting treated badly by everyone because she is a woman, and Obama has it easy because he is black. Ferraro was not just saying that Obama was being helped by his race, she was saying — and this is the truly offensive bit — that misogyny is so much worse than racism. Her hero, Hillary, had overcome great odds simply by virtue of being a woman, because gender discrimination is so bad, but Obama’s success was because of — not despite — his race and racism.
Here are a couple facts for you Geraldine, just something for you to think about:
- Thirty-five (35) women have served in the U.S. Senate; sixteen (16) of those are serving right now.
- A grand total of five (5) African-Americans have served in the U.S. Senate. Only one (1) is serving right now, Barack Obama, and there have never been two in the senate at the same time.
My guess is, without spending the time to do the research, that this is probably roughly proportional to the ratio of women to blacks in all appointed and elected positions in this country — federal and state — over the last century.
I am not trying to say that gender discrimination does not exist or is not a problem. But to say that it is worse than racism in any way takes a certain kind of willful blindness and hypocrisy.
Or blatant racism.
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