Geraldine Ferraro Is A Racist | What's New With Mick

Last week Clinton supporter and former vice presidential candidate Geraldine Ferraro said this about Barack Obama:

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

Of course, there is outrage in the Obama camp and with many others. I was struck my how remarkably close her remarks were to something Isiah Thomas‘ said in 1987:

”Larry Bird is a very, very good basketball player,” he said. ”But if he was black he’d be just another guy.”

It’s clear that Ferraro was echoing the Clinton campaign’s recent criticism of Obama, namely that he doesn’t have enough experience to be President. If you read her Wikipedia entry, you’ll see that she started serving in the House of Representatives in 1978. By my math, that means that she served less than six years in what is generally considered to be the lesser House in Washington when she accepted the nomination to be Vice President of the United States. In other words, her experience then was comparable to Obama’s experience now, making her a hypocrite. Or a liar.

Today, instead of apologizing or attempting to clarify her statements, she said:

“”Any time anybody does anything that in any way pulls this campaign down and says let’s address reality and the problems we’re facing in this world, you’re accused of being racist, so you have to shut up.”

Again her logic reminded me of another “great” thinker, Ann Coulter. After slandering a group of 9/11 widows for being vocal activists, Coulter said:

“To speak out using the fact that they’re widows. This is the Left’s doctrine of infallibility. If they have a point to make about the 9-11 Commission, about how to fight the war on terrorism, how about sending in somebody we’re allowed to respond to? No, no, no, we always have to respond to someone who just had a family member die.”

Of course, Coulter was essentially saying that she can’t feel free to slander and sling mud because she will appear heartless. Ferraro is making a similar argument, claiming that she will be called a racist for merely criticizing. She’s missing the point. She brought race into the argument and used it negatively against Mr. Obama. Just like Isiah Thomas, it was a racist statement, even if she doesn’t know or acknowledge it. In the process, she has put herself into the company of Thomas and Coulter. She should be ashamed.