so, i know i’m supposed to be blogging the life & times of a producer on the rise, but more than anything, i’m watching the ‘08 election proceeds like a hawk.
traversing my regular web news haunts, i come across this. Geraldine Ferraro, former running mate to Walter Mondale (who got destroyed in the ‘84 presidential race by Ronald Reagan, btw) had choice words and opinion when it came to Senator Obama’s supposed legitimacy as a presidential candidate. in an interview with Cali paper The Daily Breeze, she had this to say:
“I think what America feels about a woman becoming president takes a very secondary place to Obama’s campaign - to a kind of campaign that it would be hard for anyone to run against,” she said. “For one thing, you have the press, which has been uniquely hard on her. It’s been a very sexist media. Some just don’t like her. The others have gotten caught up in the Obama campaign.
“If Obama was a white man, he would not be in this position,” she continued. “And if he was a woman (of any color) 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.” Ferraro does not buy the notion of Obama as the great reconciler.“I was reading an article that said young Republicans are out there campaigning for Obama because they believe he’s going to be able to put an end to partisanship,” Ferraro said, clearly annoyed. “Dear God! Anyone that has worked in the Congress knows that for over 200 years this country has had partisanship - that’s the way our country is.”
…
now, as i’ve mentioned, i’m a political newbie. further, i understand that- having invested time & resource into & feeling truly represented by your candidate- seeing them slowly pushed out of contention by a rock star new-comer is, at the very least, frustrating. i’d venture to say that Ms. Ferraro has more at stake, considering her personal politics.
however, the convenient, unabated revisionism that surfaces when it comes to the last, oh, 200 years of political landscape in the US- manifesting in her comments and the many, MANY people echoing her sentiments- is at once laughable, shameful, and depressing.
there have been other black candidates. if the “affirmative action” white liberal guilt (’cause we all know that’s one of the doors she’s knocking on here) idea truly played in this context, there would have been a black president by now, right? it stands to reason.
and god forbid we posit that hilary clinton gets any special treatment because she’s a woman candidate, and her voter base gives her a pass because she doesn’t have a set of balls. no, she’s simply ready on day one.
Mr. Obama wouldn’t have an ice cube’s shot in hell, if it not for Guilty Whites and Colorstruck Blacks.
it’s ridiculous.
this election is proving to be a curious case study on american politics. politics deeper than Capitol Hill and legislation: the impassioned, inventive, underlying post-civil rights politics rooted deep within, that every natural born american has to confront at one point or another. you get to see everybody’s personal stake exposed ((pause)) in the light, those voting because the candidate looks like them and then trying to legitimize that reason far more than it needs to be legitimized.
fantastic.
</politics>
Recent Comments