About a month ago, Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell (D), a key Clinton backer and former DNC chairman, raised a few eyebrows when he waded into the dangerous waters of racial politics and the presidential campaign. Rendell told the editorial board of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, “You’ve got conservative whites here, and I think there are some whites who are probably not ready to vote for an African-American candidate.” He went on to argue that black candidates, in general, underperform against similarly qualified white candidates.
It was a clumsy remark, but hardly over the line. It’s likely that Rendell was just trying to make some kind of sociological observation — there are some white racists out there, and their bigotry may very well lead them to oppose Barack Obama. Rendell didn’t say that this was a good thing, only that the problem exists. With Obama having made similar remarks, Rendell’s analysis was only mildly controversial.
Geraldine Ferraro’s latest remarks, however, seem more disconcerting. The former congresswoman, Democratic Vice Presidential candidate in 1984, and major Clinton backer made the odd argument to a reporter this week that Obama has only reached this point on the national political scene because of his race.
When the subject turned to Obama, Clinton’s rival for the Democratic Party nomination, Ferraro’s comments took on a decidedly bitter edge. […]
“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.”
I found it hard not to cringe at the text. In 1984, there were a lot of people who said Ferraro hadn’t earned her political position, and that, “If Ferraro were a man, she would not be in this position.” Likewise, MSNBC’s Chris Matthews recently argued that Hillary Clinton hadn’t really earned her position on the national stage, and only reached this point because of her husband.
All of these comments are foolish, and more than a little offensive.
I appreciate the strides we’ve made as a country on race and civil rights, but it’s odd to hear a high-profile figure argue publicly that a politician is lucky to be black. As Spencer Ackerman, knee deep in sarcasm, put it:
Often times, I think to myself: God, I’m so disadvantaged by not being black in America! It’s like you can’t even find work in the media as a Jew these days. Everywhere you go, the country just yields more and more African-Americans in positions of power, prestige and responsibility and builds prisons and blighted schools and substandard levees for white people. […]
Some people — or, rather, peoples — have all the luck!
Worse, as DHinMI noted, “The fact is, there are a lot of White people in American who believe they’re at a disadvantage, that Blacks get things handed to them. The idea may be foreign to some people, but I’ve heard it my entire life. I’ve heard it at family gatherings, in my neighborhood when I was a kid, from family friends and all kinds of other folks.”
I’ve heard it far too many times myself, just usually not from leaders of the Democratic Party.
The Clinton campaign’s Howard Wolfson told Ben Smith, “We disagree with her,” when asked about Ferraro’s remarks. It’s a start.