Obama Says Ferraro Race Comments Are ‘Patently Absurd,’ Campaign Calls for Ouster
Barack Obama speaks at Jackson State University in Jackson, Miss., Monday. His campaign called on a prominent Hillary Clinton supporter to step down Tuesday for saying Obama wouldn't be enjoying positive attention if he were white. (AP Photo)
Barack Obama on Tuesday lashed out at Geraldine Ferraro, a prominent Hillary Clinton supporter who says Obama has been helped politically by his race. The former Democratic vice presidential candidate responded that she stands by her remarks.
Ferraro first made the controversial remarks to the Los Angeles-area newspaper The Daily Breeze last week, saying Obama would not be enjoying such positive media attention if he were white.
“If Obama was a white man, he would not be in this position,” Ferraro said during an assessment of Obama’s treatment by the press that she attributes to an infatuation with the racial implications of his candidacy.
“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 added that Clinton has suffered from a “sexist media.”
Obama labeled the comments as “patently absurd” after his campaign demanded Ferraro leave her post on Clinton’s finance committee. The Democratic presidential candidate told the Allentown Morning Call Tuesday: “I don’t think that Geraldine Ferraro’s comments have any place in our politics or the Democratic Party. … I think they were divisive.”
He added: “I think that anybody who understands the history of this country knows they are patently absurd. I would expect that the same way those comments don’t have a place in my campaign, they shouldn’t have a place in Senator Clinton’s.”
Ferraro told FOX News Tuesday that she’s “sorry that people thought it was racist.” But she quickly turned the tables on Obama, claiming his supporters are too eager to cry race when faced with criticism.
“What I find is offensive is every time anybody says something about the campaign, you’re accused of being racist,” she said.
She then told The Daily Breeze on Tuesday: “Racism works in two different directions. I really think they’re attacking me because I’m white. How’s that?”
Clinton said in Pennsylvania Tuesday that she doesn’t agree with Ferraro’s remarks, but did not say anything about removing her from the campaign.
“I think it’s important we stay focused on the issues that matter to the American people. Both of us have had supporters and staff that have gone over the line and we’ve both had to rein them in,” she said.
The Clinton campaign also released a statement accusing Obama of trying to renege on an apparent pledge to leave the race issue alone.
“We reject these false, personal and politically calculated attacks on the eve of a primary,” said campaign manager Maggie Williams.
Voters headed to the polls in the Mississippi on Tuesday. The state offers 33 pledged delegates and the largest black electorate of any state. Polls there consistently favor the Illinois senator.
The race comments set off a back-and-forth similar to the one the campaigns shared last week, when former foreign policy adviser Samantha Power left the Obama campaign after calling Clinton a “monster” in an interview with a Scottish newspaper.
Obama chief strategist David Axelrod suggested the emphasis on race is part of an underlying effort that has continued for months. He noted other allegedly insensitive comments by Clinton supporters BET founder Bob Johnson and New Hampshire co-chairman Bill Shaheen.
“All this is part of an insidious pattern that needs to be addressed,” Axelrod told reporters on a conference call Tuesday. “When you wink and nod at offensive statements, you’re really sending a signal to your supporters that anything goes.”
Axelrod said the Obama camp has been “very firm” in dealing with such wayward comments — a reference to the campaign’s handling of Power’s remarks. He said Ferraro should be removed from her campaign positions.
Illinois Rep. Jan Schakowsky said that Clinton should call on her advisers to “change the tone” of the campaign.
“Any and all remarks that diminish Senator Obama’s candidacy because of his race are completely out of line,” she said. “We need to stop tearing each other down with personal attacks and focus on defeating Senator McCain in November.”
The issue of Obama’s race surfaces periodically, often when a southern state, rich in black voters, is on the line. Bill Clinton raised it in South Carolina, which went heavily for Obama with the help of black voters. Clinton suggested Obama only won because of his race by raising the point that Jesse Jackson also won there when he ran for president.
Click here to read the Ferraro interview in The Daily Breeze.
So the truth finally is spoken!!
Yet Obama hides it again
I agree with her comments. Here we go with the race card. Let’s tip-toe around Obama…he’s a man “of color.” Don’t speak the facts or report the facts, keep quiet YOU RACIST. Give me a break!
I don’t think Hillary should take any action against her. She is allowed to speak her mind, especially when it is the truth. Look at M iss iss ippi, just the facts please. This is totally different then when one of Obama’s “campaign advisers” called Clinton a monster. There’s a difference between an “adviser” and a “supporter.”
We can expect the race card to come into play more as time goes on too. Before you know, Al Sharpton will rear his “ugly racist” head and SUE SOMEBODY.
Do you really want 4 years of this?
It’s the Democrats’ fault. They’re experts at playing the ‘woe is me’ game against opposition parties…Now, they’re doing it to themselves. Obama is playing that game as well as the Clintons have all these years…CHANGE???…He’s no different. Just because he hasn’t had the experience or been in politics long enough to have a paper-trail, doesn’t mean he doesn’t have strings already attached to him that elitists are ready to pull at the right times…remember, he’s LOADED with contributions. The way the parties are set up with delegates running the show during elections, it would be pretty hard to ELECT(?) someone who doesn’t ALLOW a good amount of these leaches to attach themselves to them. Of course, the excuse is always that we need a candidate who CAN WIN! Really? What a shame! You want change? Doing away with delegates might be a good way to start.
Why does Obama cry foul at the mention of race, yet his church and Pastor that he is so proud of professes the superiority of blacks over whites.
Geraldine, Where would Hillary be if she hadn’t been a first “lady”? Hillary’s campaign are the ones who have played the race card. Ms Powers didn’t say she was a “she monster”, just a unisexual monster of unknown ethnic origin. Your comments are as inappropriate as most I’ve seen. Come up for air! Your nose must be very brown not to mention, long. “sexist media?” You must be confusing this with your own run at the VP spot with Walter Mondale in 68!
Just being black has not helped many black folks any more than just being female. It’s what’s upstairs that matters along with character, moral values and work ethic.
Ms. Ferraro needs to get back in the rocking chair with some wine and try and not cause other people problems. They have to put up with the flack you created. No skin off your @$$, just makes you appear like you are off your medication.
I think there is an element of truth around what Ferraro states. The ability to attack the Obama campaign is nearly impossible to do without racism surfacing. The only apparent racism I have seen so far in the Democratic race is that of the voters. The data so far appears to indicate more whites are open to cross the race line and vote for a black candidate than black voters are to vote for a white candidate.
CLINTONS = OLD DEMOCRATS = CONFEDERACY = KKK!!!
A white male has enjoyed the same status that Obama enjoys, his name was Bill Cliniton.
As I read through Obama’s blueprint for government I question whether or not he understands what it means to be Commander in Chief and to live in a country that is a Republic. I hope, (and his blueprint gives me no confidence to believe he does), but I hope, he understands that not everything should be made public. There are issues that he will have to deal with that should remain confidential and not splattered on the “government website” he is proposing. He is going to create a bureacratic nightmare! Other than going after lobbyists and claiming he will do the will of the people, I’m not entirely sure (even after reading his blueprint) what he plans to do. It SCARES me that people think it’s okay to have a candidate who has CHOSEN to attend a black separatist church for the last 20 years. HE is the one who has chosen to identify himself as black. HE is the one who in acceptance speeches has alluded to the fact that it is about time this country elect a black man to office. We have a potential first lady who is not proud to be an America. What must those poor children have been taught in this home? How do I explain to my small children that they shouldn’t be taking drugs, when the potential leader of the free world is bragging about it in his book. Are we really at a point in our country where we are so angry at lobbyists that we care more about the fact that he is NOT taking money from them, but IS taking money from people with terrorist connections? If you love this country at all, fight to keep this man out of office. And if you are from Illinois, PLEASE don’t re-elect him!!!!
If Barack Obama really wanted to hit Hillary Clinton where it hurts he would bring up her husbands past shameful acts in the White House I’m sure Mcain will use them. Especially with the recent news about Governor Spitzer, he could remind the people that is voting for her that this is the same kind of stuff we could be facing yet again, but he has not done that has HE?