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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