When Geraldine Ferraro recently passed away the news media were full of accolades about Ferraro and her political career, noting how she broke ground when she became the country's first major and credible female vice-presidential candidate as the running mate of Walter Mondale.
A day after her passing, the news media as a whole, its reporters and columnists, especially those sympathetic to Democratic and liberal causes, praised her and wrote lengthy pieces about her career both as a member of congress, a vice-presidential candidate and a woman and the influence she had on legislation and the political process.
Yet none of them, not one, was honest enough to even mention the single most politically controversial as well as truthful, statement Ferraro ever made. And that's because not one of them was honest enough to recall that the same people praising Ferraro and her career, eviscerated her and virtually tarred and feathered her for saying what was painfully obvious to the majority of Democrats during the Democratic primaries in 2008 and is even more obvious now. What Ferraro said at the time, a simple straightforward honest statement, was that, with his utter lack of accomplishment, and his pathetically thin resume, the product of doing absolutely nothing in 13 years of elected office, had Barrack Obama been white he'd be considered a joke as a presidential candidate. Though she didn't say it, she could have added, and with evidence of being the lowest political character and the most devious, deceptive, underhanded and politically dishonest politician since Richard Nixon.
At the time Ferraro made her statement, the news media were piling on Hillary Clinton for every little thing they could concoct, dragging out dishonest accusations of racism by political columnists like Gail Collins of the New York Times and a preposterous piece of racial nonsense by Richard Kim at the Nation. And Jonathan Alter of Newsweek who has made a second career out of shilling for Obama accused Clinton of being devisive simply for having the nerve to even continue to stay in the race in spite of the fact that Clinton had not just beaten, but landslided Obama in 14 of the 15 biggest states in the country ( a statistical landslide according to political scientists,is beating your opponent by 10 points or more) and led him in the popular vote. Just about everyone in the news media had an agenda based on race and they were going to stick to it no matter what, which required them to not only stick to their agenda, but to stick their collective heads in the sand and ignore what was painfully obvious in order to justify an overriding emotional need to see a candidate with African genes elected to the presidency as, in their minds, some form of national catharsis regardless of Obama's lack of character, his dishonest politics, and lack of ability and accomplishment.
Geraldine Ferraro pointed out the truth and that truth pierced the facade of the racial agenda of those who chose to ignore the content of Obama's character and judge him by the color of his skin. And so the news media went after Ferraro and tore her to pieces, Obama supporters and the media called her racist and in the end made demands she leave the Clinton campaign. All by much the same people who heaped accolades on her at her passing and did so without so much as mentioning Ferraro's statement about Obama,a statement they themselves just didn't want to hear. And no wonder. No doubt Ferraro's statement reminded them that not only was Ferraro speaking the truth but two years of the Obama Administration has proved her point. A point the news media and some in the Democratic party still chooses to ignore.
Ferraro told the truth, and now Obama has been transformed from being a joke as a presidential candidate to being a joke as president, a joke most rank and file Democrats do not find so funny since he not only betrayed and destroyed their agenda, sold out real health care reform by caving in to health care lobbyists to drop the public option, but, in having the biggest congressional majority of any president in 60 years Obama also destroyed the best chance the Democrats had since the era of the Civil Rights Act to bring about real reform in many areas of life, healthcare being the most prominent.
But Obama not only ruined the Democrats best chance to effect real change and reform, his serial capitulation to Republicans based on having no real principles or convictions is the single biggest reason congressional Democrats suffered the worst defeat of any party in the last 80 years. Because Pelosi, Reid and the congressional leadership didnt stand up against their biggest obstacle -- Obama.
But there may be one other reason Ferraro's comment about Obama during the 2008 Democratic primaries was so thoroughly ignored by the media at her passing. It was not only truthful but took courage to say. Another characteristic the news media would just as soon forget exists.
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17 comments:
Good one, TIP. Thank you.
One of the reasons I didn't vote for Hillary Clinton was the compromises Bill Clinton made, setting us up for much of the trouble we're in now. I saw her pandering to pro-gun and white conservative groups as the campaign got hot, and I was put off. I voted for Geraldine Ferraro, but was sorry to see her making those statements.
You are right to disagree with the president, and criticize his decisions, but please let go of 'he just won because he's black'. It's pretty tired.
The saddest thing for me is knowing that Hillary had devoted her adult to Democratic causes and Obama had only come into the Democratic Party in the late 90's and was given everything. Well, it's no surprise that women are still sold as slaves around the world, and that they can't drive, vote and or basic human rights in Saudi Arabia and Iran (many other places too).
The Obama came move:
Obama Campaign of 2012: Not such a boys’ club
http://electwomen.com/?p=4529&sms_ss=twitter&at_xt=4de63be6fe2d1993,0
RIP Geraldine Ferraro
WV
"...You are right to disagree with the president, and criticize his decisions, but please let go of 'he just won because he's black'. It's pretty tired."
I never said he won the presidency because he was black, at least not directly. In 2008 any Democrat with the possible exception of James Trafficante would have beaten any Republican. It was fairly well accepted that whoever won the Democratic nomination would be president and there is not the slightest doubt that it was a racial agenda that made that happen given the media's head in the sand approach to Obama's campaign, ignoring the outright lie he was caught telling to the unemployed in Ohio over NAFTA and his serial reversals and reneging on promises even before he was nominated.It was race and only race that made Obama a viable candidate for the nomination and nothing more. And if you doubt it John Kerry in a TV interview in Florida during the primaries and an Obama supporter said as much.
Nancy Green,
If Bill Clinton was such a F*ck, why was he needed to campaign for Obama? Bill Clinton eliminated the deficit and left a surplus...please learn that it was George Bush who got us into this mess and it was President Obama that took care of the rich/Wall Street, his base first. The working people are still waiting...
As for health care, the health care industry voted him as their favorite in his home state, so no SHOCK that he blocked the Public Option, HR 676, and the Medicare Buy In. Health premiums have increased by 200% for 0 to 35.
So, no we aren't ready to sing Yes We Can Give Everything to Wall Street!
Please, at least admit what Obama admitted, when he said his experience was running his campaign. At least that day he was honest, and no he doesn't believe in the Democratic Platform, his idol is Reagan.
It's thank to Barack Obama that I no longer consider myself a democrat. That the democratic party sunk so low and gave us such a racist, anti-white, anti-american, anti-semitic candidate and continues to make excuses for this fraud, I realize that this is a "party" I can no longer
support. Their racist attacks on the Clintons added fuel to the fire and the Obamas disdain for all things American keep me turning away from them at all points. While I do not consider myself a republican, as I lean more socially liberal, I would not hesitate to vote for any of a number of GOP candidates (possibly except Newt Gingrich) just to get this fraud out of office. If we think things are bad just two years in, I shudder at what he will instigate if he gets elected again in 2012.
Nancy, you didn't vote for Hillary based on Bill's presidency? You need to go back to Feminism 101 for a refresher course.
BTW, most people live in places where there is little or no gun crime. why do they have to be punished because people in cities keep shooting each other? You know what changed my mind about gun control? An elderly African American man in Chicago said he wanted the right to have a gun and protect himself and his family because without one they were just sitting ducks for punks with illegal guns.
Teresa
I saw so many people who claimed to be "liberal" saying they didn't vote for Hillary because of her husband. Hillary often disagreed with Bill Clinton on policy and to judge a woman candidate because of her husbands actions shows just how backward the U.S. is with regard to powerful women. It's quite appalling. Hillary Clinton happened to have been her own person and not a rib of Bill Clinton. Any married woman can tell you it's not that uncommon to be judged by who your husband is or is not and that has got to stop.
Before 2008, I thought the U.S. was further along with regard to how powerful women are treated especially in elections and after Ferraro. I was sadly very wrong about that. Pitiful.
I don't live in the U.S. anymore and am glad of it. I do live where a woman has been the leader of my country and feel a lot more comfortable here and a ton more accepted as a person. The U.S. is so far behind on woman's issues all the while seeing themselves as so enlightened on such matters. The way Hillary Clinton was treated in the American press as well as the way her voters were treated was a disgrace and will remain one whether or not it is ignored for the "greater good"
I really enjoyed reading your post. I thought pretty much the same thoughts when she died. There is no courage in the press really. At the time all of this was happening there was the constant love fest the press was having with Obama that made matters worse. I'll never get over Chris Matthews and that thrill up his leg. The Democratic Party got what they deserved though as they stole my primary vote in Michigan and gave it to Obama. Of course they assumed that I would have chosen Barack over Hillary. You know what happens when you assume anything don't you? In this case it caused me to become one pissed off voter! I have never gotten over this either.
I'm a Black woman and I left the Democratic party as well because of Barry/Barack. He was a joke then and he is a joke now. A white male with his resume would NEVER get elected. And what's with people saying that they didn't vote for Hillary, the person that won the popular vote, the woman that should have been President, because of her husband? Bill Clinton was the best President that we have had in a long time and media seem obsessed with destroying him. The President that left office with a surplus is alright by me. The media hates him and find it quite odd.
Also, I had to put up with so much for not supporting Obama. My family thought I was crazy, my mother was actually embarrassed...what a difference a few years make. Now they see that I was right.
"...Also, I had to put up with so much for not supporting Obama. My family thought I was crazy, my mother was actually embarrassed...what a difference a few years make. Now they see that I was right."
you might be interested in knowing that African American members of congress who supported Clinton were also harrassed. I was told that Jesse Jackson Jr. had been making phone calls to African American members of congress who supported Clinton pressuring them to switch to Obama. Both Maxine Waters and John Lewis were pressured with insinuations that if they didnt switch, when they ran for re-election they would be accused of standing in the way of the first black president. Obama and his tacticians were some of the most underhanded deceitful politicans since Nixon and his crowd.
Any Democrat who did not support Barack Obama was harrassed, ridiculed or labeled a 'racist' by members of the Obamacrat party.
Nancy may be tired of what she considers wearisome spin but those of us who absolutely agreed with Ferraro, saw what was being forced down our throats and detested the insulting labels and raw sexism. We turned our backs on the faux 2008 primary in the same way we turned our backs on George Bush's election theft.
So, Obama supporters got their way, split the party down the center and elected their man.
How's that working out for you?
Well, if you're one of the unfortunate Americans standing in the endless unemployment lines or underwater with your mortgage or worried that the country's safety net will be cut from under you feet or even further mystified why POTUS is unwilling to address the problems crushing the middle-class, increasing poverty levels everywhere, but more than willing to reach out to Wall St., then not so good.
But if you're blind to these realities, then everything is hunky dory and the President is 'doing the best he can.'
The endless excuses for moving to the right, caving at every opportunity? The excuses are getting pretty tiring, too.
And Bill Clinton set us up for most of the problems we're in now??? You must have been asleep during the Bush/Cheney years.
Oh hell, what's the point. This is a sickness that has infected the body politic. Ferraro tried to give us a shot of penicillin. Some of us got it, others never will.
During the days of remembering and exalting Ferraro's legacy after her death, I was shocked that not one MSM news leader talked about the comment she became most famous for due to their penchant to have their noses up Obama's butt. A comment that became the new marker for what constituted a "real" democrat: If you were against Obama that mean you were (and are) a racist. Those same "reporters" blithely ignored the very negative impression they helped to create and proliferate in the minds of the younger members of the Dem party. So their accolades for Ferraro meant nothing to me. Most importantly the tribute that Obama-shill-periodical aka Newsweek was hypocritical to the extreme.
Holy smokes, so many issues to address here, where to begin?
I am a white, middle aged woman who the democrats announced that they didn't need me.
For the FIRST time in my life I was called a racist, including by some who are very close to me.
I voted for Ferraro, not for Mondale. She also had to answer to questions of her husband. She was a strong women who was marginalized by the sychophants in the media for speaking the truth. She was ridiculed by her peers for stating the obvious. She noted that the emperor had no clothes.
Too bad half the dopes in the democratic party did not heed this proliferic woman. Perhaps we would not have blown the stimulus money and maybe unemployment wouldn't be over 9%?
MR
Thanks for reminding us of what she said. It was absolutely the truth but too bad it didn't allow us to elect the right democratic nominee. I too do not consider myself a democrat after the party stole my primary- why the hell do we have super delegates? not even the repugs have them.
Oh and Nancy the only thing that is pretty tired is the excuses you and your ilk have to keep making for the sorry excuse for a president you straddled us with. As Marc so patiently explained ANY democrat was going to win the 2008 election but a real democrat would not have put us in the sorry position we find ourselves now.
When your "compromising" Bill Clinton was in the the position to use his power he and the house leadership fought tooth and nail to raise taxes on the rich in order to balance the budget. That passed with no repug votes and cost the democrats congress but at least it was worth losing for. The sorry excuse for a health care bill and the sorry excuse for a communicator we have now isn't worth anything.
He will lose the white house if there is even a whisper of decent repug willing to run against him (not any of the sorry suckers in the race right now). This would be the best time ever to run a third party candidate. Is anyone listening?
With the exception of Nancy, I totally agree with all of the post and with Marc's original post,which is exactly what I was thinking when I listened to all the pundits following heroic Geraldine's passing.
I don't have a good feeling about 2012 and our chances of getting rid of Obama, however. The DNC gave him the primary, despite the fact that as Hillary was gaining, while Obaba was losing (strength, grace, momentum, and contests).
He cheated epically before, and I believe he will do so again.
Erica
I totally agreed with what Ferraro had written about Obama. If Obama were totally white, he would have been another George W. Bush. Stop! Wait! He is! I left the Democratic Party because of its inability to pick an experienced woman over an inexperienced man. And now the party has a Reagan Democrat in the White House. What dumbocrats!
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