Ferraro Quits Clinton Campaign, but Not Sorry for Racial Comments

By Anastacia Mott Austin

Comments made by former vice-presidential candidate Geraldine Ferraro this week about Senator Obama have inflamed the public, as well as the Obama campaign. The comments have been labeled as blatantly racist, a charge she denies.

Judge for yourself.

"If Obama was a white man, he would not be in this position," said Ferraro to the tiny Torrance, California newspaper The Daily Breeze, during an interview last week.

She spoke with the newspaper on the eve of giving a speech on Hillary Clinton’s behalf. Ferraro has been serving on the Clinton campaign’s finance committee.

After complaining about what she said is the media’s sexist bias against Clinton, Ferraro went on to say that Obama is only in his position as the leading Democratic contender for President because he is black.

"It’s been a very sexist media," said Ferraro. "Some just don't like [Hillary]. The others have gotten caught up in the Obama campaign."

Ferraro continued, adding the comment which has received so much attention: "If Obama was a white man, he would not be in this position," said Ferraro. "And if he was a woman 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."

Reaction to the comments has been overwhelmingly critical. Both the Clinton and Obama campaigns have responded that the statements were inappropriate.

Senator Obama, fresh from his victories this week in Wyoming and Mississippi, responded by saying that such comments should have no place in the nomination race. "Part of what 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," said Obama on NBC’s Today Show the following day. Added Obama, "That’s what Americans are tired of because they recognize that when we divide ourselves in that way, we can’t solve problems."

Hillary Clinton also said she did not support the comment. "Well, I don't agree with that and I think it’s important that we try to stay focused on issues that matter to the American people," responded Clinton when told of Ferraro’s statements. Clinton added that both her own campaign and Obama’s have had staffers step "over the line" and say inappropriate things. She was no doubt alluding to the Obama campaign staffer who called Clinton "a monster" during an interview. That staffer was immediately fired.

And while Obama representatives have called on Clinton to remove Ferraro from the finance committee, she has so far ignored the request. However, Ferraro herself decided to step down from her role on Clinton’s campaign, emphasizing that she was not asked to do so. In fact, some have criticized Clinton for not taking a tougher stance against Ferraro.

Susan Rice, a senior adviser to the Obama campaign, told reporters, "I think if Senator Clinton is serious about putting an end to statements that have racial implications that diminish Senator Obama because he’s an African American man, then she ought to really repudiate this comment and make it clear that there is no place in her campaign for people who will say this kind of thing."

Ferraro’s reaction to the storm that has erupted in response to her comments has been that the Obama campaign "twisted" her words and took them out of context. "My comments have been taken so out of context and been spun by the Obama campaign as racist," said Ferraro on the "Good Morning America" show this week. (To read the full original interview and see the comments in their context, go to http://www.dailybreeze.com/ci_8489268 and decide for yourself).

As a point of context for this reporter, those perpetually well-informed Internet bloggers pointed me to another comment made by Ferraro, eerily similar to the one made this week. It was made in 1988, and referred to then-candidate Jesse Jackson: "…if Jesse Jackson were not black, he wouldn't be in the race." This was cited in an April 15, 1988 article in The Washington Post, written by HowardKurtz.

Those same helpful bloggers asked by the hundreds why Ferraro did not make similar comments about her own candidate of choice, or whether she felt that Clinton would not be where she is today if she were not a woman, and had not been married to a former President.

As to the point that Obama had somehow gained an advantage in his frontrunner status because of his race, he managed to retain a sense of humor, saying, "If you were to get a handbook on what’s the path to the presidency, I don't think that the handbook would start by saying, ‘Be an African American named Barack Obama.’ I don't think that would be generally considered an advantage…"