3.17.2008

"If Obama was a white man, he would not be in this position."

For anyone who hasn't heard about this yet (even though it's been all over the news), Geraldine Ferraro--former candidate for vice president under Walter Mondale--is in some shit for some comments that she made about Barack Obama. This Clinton supporter asserted that Obama has come so far only because he's black. Kind of like reverse racism. She said something similar about Jesse Jackson when he ran for president in 1984.

Now, Ferraro was a big part of Clinton's campaign. Hillary, in order to save her own reputation, publicly disagreed with her statement. Ferraro subsequently resigned from the campaign, but this did everything but shut her up. In response to all the negative attention that the media was giving her, she said this: "I really think they're attacking me because I'm white."

On March 12, Keith Olbermann made a special comment on this issue. I think he says it well.

But there's also the issue of free speech. Ferraro should be able to say what she wants. She shouldn't have felt obligated to resign from the Clinton campaign. However, she does deserve all of these negative feedback for saying something so ignorant. I'm glad Hillary Clinton is feeling the repercussions of this too. I know that she can't control what comes out of her minions' mouths (or can she?), but you know... she really deserves any shit that comes her way.

3 comments:

Dr. Conditions said...

Why does Hillary Clinton deserve any shit that comes her way?

Rebecca S. said...

Oh, many reasons. Too many to count. Here are a few:

1. She's dishonest.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/17388372/
http://www.snopes.com/politics/clintons/hillary.asp
http://fromtheleft.wordpress.com/2007/02/10/sen-hillary-clinton-is-a-liar/
http://news.scotsman.com/hillaryclinton/I-wanted-to-wring-the.2433159.jp

2. She's anti-Semitic.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2000/jul/20/uselections2000.usa

3. Bribery.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/politics/special/whitewater/stories/wwtr940527.htm

Need more? I can give you more if you're still not convinced.

Dr. Conditions said...

Thank you for the information, those are some sound reasons to vote for someone who is not Hillary.

I don't think she deserves shit though. I hope that, if she has those qualities, she will decide to have an intense value change and/or leave politics altogether.