Someone once said that it is better to keep your mouth shut and be thought of as a fool by everyone, than to open it and prove everyone right. Geraldine Ferraro probably never heard this old adage. It’s not just that the remark(s) she made- relative to Barack Obama’s good luck- were in itself absurd, but it’s the fact that Gerry has been out there defending her stupidity and being feisty with it too. She has been on television and radio, all belligerent like she just passed a course in stupidity with flying colors, and angry that no one seems to be paying her the respect she deserves. Who would have thunk that a woman who faced a stereotyping similar to Obama, would in turn demonstrate a type of racial insensitivity akin to the gender discrimination that she and her ilk regularly complain about?
Ferraro’s problem-which is similar to that of most Clintonistas- is that she refuses to accept the obvious: Hilary Clinton blew this nomination because of her flawed character. Case closed. Bill and Hilary Clinton are to the USA, what Ferdinand and Imelda Marcos were to the Philippines: people who despite their abilities, intelligence and accomplishments, were terribly flawed in terms of character. And although they command allegiance from the many sycophants they attract, the vast majorities of common-sensical citizens are deeply aware of these character defects/flaws, and are not willing to play along anymore. All bad things come to an end; right-wing conspiracy theories included. When a politician loses his/her credibility, bad end-results are on the horizon; Billary lost their credibility way back in the days of Monica Lewinsky, and now: time, fatigue and tide, have all caught up with them.
From the beginning of this year the Clintonistas have been crying like Johnny Ray. It’s like the shock of this inevitable defeat transformed them into a bunch of sore losers. In so doing they denigrate the fact that Barack Obama will win more votes in a presidential primary contest than any other American so far in US history. He has also raised more money- and has won more caucuses and primaries- than anyone ever did before, in any one presidential primary cycle; these accomplishments alone are meritorious of accolades and kudos; but not from the Clintons. They instead have been doing everything in their power to drive up Barack’s negatives. It’s like the kid who comes to the playground with the lone basketball; when the teams are selected he isn’t picked because his abilities are limited. What does he do? Simple: he takes his ball and goes home. It is very possible that Hilary Clinton intends to weaken Barack Obama, in order to insure a John McCain victory in November. That way she could re-emerge in 2012 to challenge a decrepit McCain, who will still have our troops in Iraq then (remember he said they will be there for a hundred years).
Obama has contested every primary and caucus; he has built the largest fundraising network ever built on the internet or anywhere-with over a million donors-something unheard of until this year; he has commanded more loyal support than anyone has ever seen; and he has organized a campaign infrastructure far superior to Billary’s. He has won all over the country-regardless of state, county, city, town or region. He has won votes from young and old, rich and poor, male and female, educated and un(der)-educated, and also from people of all races, ethnicities, religions and nationalities. He has won big states and small states; he has won red states and blue states; and while Hillary’s campaign is in a state of semi-bankruptcy, Obama’s is in great state: has millions in reserve. The Clintonistas have refused to acknowledge the historic dimensions of this ass-whipping that Billary has been getting; and let me say this again: they see the truth but they close their eyes.
For Geraldine Ferraro to reduce all this to the fact that Barack Obama is lucky to be a black man, must go down as the stupidest statement ever made by a former vice-presidential candidate. With this statement- that she refuses to back away from- she has made Dan Quayle look like a nuclear physicist; and that is real hard to do. She made George W. Bush look like Albert Einstein; and that too is real hard to do. What will Mrs. Ferraro say about all forty-three white men who have won the US presidency up till now: that they had ill-luck? And the women, the blacks, and the one Hispanic, who all ran for the same office; well, I guess they were quite lucky to not have won. Ferraro’s comments reveal a glaring fact of US society that far too many whites like to deny: white-skin has always had-and continues to have-its privileges in the good ole US of A. White-skin brings into play vast advantages for men, like never before seen in any society that professes equality and freedom. White-skin with all its melanin-deficiencies, gives one such a distinct advantage over all others in US society that governmental action must step in to level the playing field.
Polls have shown that anywhere from 8% to 23% of those surveyed say that they won’t vote for a (any) black man; is this good luck for such a candidate? On the average about 15% of those polled, still say they believe that Barack Obama is a Muslim; is this good luck; especially in a post-9/11 world? In every contest so far there are significant numbers of voters telling pollsters that race is a factor in their decision; at least four out of five of them vote against Barack Obama: is this luck? When I wrote last year that “the ten zillion pound gorilla” at the back of this contest is racism, many of my detractors on the blogs castigated me. Yet time has shown that my analysis has been on the money here. Can anyone now deny that race is now driving this so-called contest, more than anything else lately?
If you study the history of all the major institutions (political cultural, educational and otherwise) in the USA, you will find white male dominance far beyond the imagination or propaganda. It is not about ability and talent: it is about connections, power and race. When 29 out of every 30 Supreme Court Justices have been white men; when every single president or vice president in this country’s history has been a white man; when most states have never elected a black, Hispanic, non-white male or woman (white women included here), to their governorship or to represent them in the Senate, then we have a problem. In some states women need not run for high office, given the poor rates for success they suffer in defeat. In other states Blacks and Hispanics need not apply. The real problem is that too many people like Ferraro, refuses to understand the problem, far less even try to frame solutions. Their overall analysis is deliberately faulty, thus they are unable to use their power and/or influence in finding ways to share power amongst all races, ethnicities, genders and nationalities. So much for equality. So much for justice.
It is easy for Sean Hannity of the Fox news network to constantly bombard Barack Obama with attacks, on things that are insignificant to the quality of people’s lives here, since he is unable to grasp the complexities of the racial issues involved. Hannity was a college drop out a few times over. He never graduated from College. He never took the kind of courses that would enlighten one to appreciate the complexities of this unfinished democracy, and the challenges to the ideals of those who are serious about justice and equality for all. But what is Ferraro’s excuse?
For Geraldine Ferraro to ignore the fact that over 97% of all CEOs and CFOs in the USA are white males; that just under 90% of all elected officials in this country (at all three levels of government) are white males; that in all three branches of government almost identical numbers can be extrapolated; tells me that she needs to re-define the word “lucky”. The luckiest thing to be in this society is a white male. And yet Bill Clinton in his famous speech on “Affirmative Action” said: “We must be sensitive to the cries of the white males in our society”; he further went on to suggest that we “MEND” Affirmative Action. So you see the company that Geraldine Ferraro keeps; now are we really surprised by her remarks?
This governmental policy (AA) that has benefited white women as much as -or even more so- than blacks, Hispanics and other minorities, could have been easily sacrificed at the altar of Bill Clinton’s politics of opportunism; his politics of no principles; his politics of no ideological underpinnings. This was just one of many reasons why I couldn’t vote for him in 1996 and why I voted instead for Ralph Nader. But Clinton was re-elected with a second minority mandate (less than 50% of the turnout). Look, as I have said many times: in US politics, most voters refuse to do the heavy thinking. That is why we are in the mess we are in, politically speaking.
For Mrs. Ferraro’s edification-and for purely academic purposes-let me reiterate something I have stated many times before on these here blogs: Barack Obama is not black. Barack Obama is neither black nor white; he is mixed. He is both black and white. Sorry Gerry; but if Barack were white this race would be over; Hilary would have conceded since February. It is all about plugging in to the myth of Aryan superiority. It is all about plugging in to the historical patterns of a belief that blacks are inherently inferior. The undertones to the contest have always been racial.
But then it makes no difference; if she believes that the super-delegates will overturn the will of the people who have voted in record numbers, then she has another thought coming. If she, Bill, Geraldine Ferraro, and other Clintonistas, honestly and truly think, that the letter and spirit of the law (and party rules) would not be violated, once the supers award the loser of this election process, the nomination of the Democratic party come this August in Denver, Colorado: then they are all a bunch of lunatics and fools. That dog isn’t hunting folks; it isn’t. This media-fabricated race between Obama and Billary has been over since Barack racked up a dozen straight, starting last February; as I told you then when all my detractors wanted my head: the fat lady was singing. It is only lately that some mainstream-media types have started coming around to the harsh reality; albeit months after the fact. They need to stop deluding innocent but non-deep-thinking voters.
Stay tuned-in folks.