Ferraro Adds Tokenism to the List
If I were prone to flippant sarcasm, I’d write Geraldine Ferraro’s most recent comments off to a severe case of Mad Cow Disease. If it weren’t such a serious subject, I’d be tempted to do exactly that. But it is serious, and Ferraro’s most recent effort to minimize Barack Obama’s success as an accident of race should now be viewed as another attempt by Hillary Clinton at voter suppression and triangulation, despite the Clinton campaign’s lukewarm disavowals.
This is, after all, a pattern with Ferraro. In 1988, she said this of Jesse Jackson:
And former representative Geraldine A. Ferraro (D-N.Y.) said Wednesday that because of his “radical” views, “if Jesse Jackson were not black, he wouldn’t be in the race.”
Last weekend, as I commented earlier, she said that Barack Obama was “lucky” to be where he is because he’s black.
Today, she tried in an unsuccessful way to justify her remarks by “candidly admitting” that she would not have been on the Mondale ticket if her name had been “Gerard Ferraro”, thereby admitting that she was a token candidate on a losing ticket. This does not speak well for Ferraro, nor does it speak reassurances to the many women who supported Ferraro’s candidacy and placement on the ticket.
She accuses the Obama campaign of sending hate mail her way, because of course she couldn’t possibly be responsible for spreading racist speech all over the airwaves.
In really repugnant whiny fashion, Ferraro turns shrill and resorts to making threats. Here’s her final warning:
If Barack Obama is the candidate, he shouldn’t really antagonize people like me because he’s going to come to me and ask me to raise money for Barack Obama. And I would do it for him too — if he stops doing this kind of horrendous attacks on me.
This video illustrates David Axelrod’s point perfectly. This is a pattern, a pattern of minimizing a viable candidate because of his race. Lanny Davis denied the pattern, but gave the best denunciation of Ferraro’s words I’ve heard yet tonight on CNN when he said that if Obama were white and running the campaign he’s running with his oratorical and organizational skills, he’d be running away with the nomination. Indeed.
Hillary Clinton can’t stop Geraldine Ferraro from flapping her gums any more than I can. What worries me is that I’m convinced there’s more than a small possibility that she believes it, or if she doesn’t believe it, she’s willing to use it as a wedge to turn those last-minute voters toward her.
Update: Twitterbud Michael Stearne has a valid point and question in response to Ferraro:
mstearne @Karoli if Geraldine was token in 1984 why is HRC not a token now? Is there a timeline for tokenism? Do Blacks males become legit in 2016?
Great question. Got answers?
Technorati Tags: Clinton, Ferraro, tokenism, racism, subliminal message