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.
Obama is Allah’s will and be the president of the United States for a justice! Bush had killed innocend Muslims in Iraq and Aghanistan! Bush and Americans gave the ok to Israel for genocide and invade Mulsim soil!
All this violance to Muslims will end with Obama! As we have destroyed the Clinton machine, we will burry the old fart John McCain in November with Obama victory!
YES, PEOPLE OF PALESTINE, IRAN AND IRAQ WILL DANCE ON THE STREETS NOT BECAUSE THEY ARE TERRORISTS BUT THEY ARE INNOCENT VICTIMS OF BUSH AND HIS BLOODY EVIL HANDS!!! THEY WILL BE CELBRATING OBAMA VICTORY ON THE STREETS DANCING!!! BUSH AND ISRAEL ARE THE REAL TERRORISTS!!!
ferraro better hit the door and clinton better kick her on the way out or the democratic party implosion fuse has been lit. bill came oh so close to doing it in south carolina and many bloggers have tried, but geraldine, you’ve done it! how amazing it is that this is a nomination marking old school vs. new school. now the clinton campaign has gone negatively too far led by one of the old school staples in ferraro. this race remark goes unchecked by the clinton campaign and its good nite to hillary, otherwise obama should bring back powers because her remarks will be proven as right on the mark and he once again will look more presidential by standing for clean politics, while hillary will look very unpresidential by not controlling her representatives.
Randy and Lee,
Do you not see that you yourself are being racist? Or any of you other people injecting the false argument of racism? Does it make you feel better, as an excuse for your candidate not winning? why would you even consider if someone is half white, half black, have this or half that when it comes to choosing someone that can lead? How about about making a choice based on who you think can make things better? I’m a republican, have been all my life, and though I disagree with a lot of Obama’s views; I think he is the best person for the job and I will support him enthusiastically.
G. Ferraro is now saying that they are attacking her because she is white. Pleasssssssssssssssssseeeeeeeeeee she does not know what attack is. If I was near her at this moment I would show her the difference between a disagreement in her opinion versus an attack. It is comments like these that cause folks to end up wearing dentures from being bust in the mouth. It amazes me that America is supposedly such a great country but so idiotic with the amount of bigotry that still exists.
No small wonder the Dumbocrat Party has a JACKASS as its mascot! I guess even the stupid people need a Party!
Yes Obama is benefiting from being black. And for all those of you who are screaming “he’s half white” - what do you think he puts as his race on applications (college, jobs, etc)? Of course he claims his black heritage because it has A LOT more benefits than being white!!
And of course Hillary benefits from being a woman - and she is using it to the hilt.
Wake up people - we have done this to ourselves. We don’t treat people equally as was “the dream”; only special treatment for those the liberal media have shoved down out throats as being worthy of special treatment and protection.
If we were truly voting for people on their merit none of these candidates would be winning, largely because worthy people refuse to run and be put through this obscene process.
Obama is completely inexperienced, Hillary is completely untrustworthy and McCain is completely
unpredictable. God help us if this is the best we have to offer.
Finally someone acknowledges that Obama is “half-white”, although it was Jules in this forum and not Obama himself! I find it interesting that Obama is always referred to as a “black” man or “African-American and never is his white family acknowledged by him, his supporters, or the press. I mean we have seen reports on his grandmother and uncle in Kenya but nothing on his white family in the U.S who raised him. As Jules points out the children typically go to the mother, and when it is a black family, statistics prove there seldom is a father alternative. Nevertheless, whether it be Mariah Carey, Halle Berry, or Barack Obama whose black fathers ran out on them they seem to go out of their way to emphasize their black 50% at the detriment of their white 50% even though, in the cited examples, it was their white mothers and maternal family members who provided them the family life, environment, and character traits that made them who they are today. How disrespected his white family must feel at the lack of credit for their efforts and contributions to making Obama the fine person he is today. Perhaps they should follow the lead of Tiger Woods and refuse to label themselves or confine themselves to the typical stereotypes. After all, aren’t we all looking to rise above the racial labels and stereotypes prevent us from being better people?
Obama and his Zombies who follow him are absurd. I hate this reverse racism that blacks always use. We don’t want to ofend Farud Muslim Obama. MSNBC/CNN really sicken me with their Pro-Obama views. Wake Up USA before he leads us all to slaughter. He can always talk to his terriost friends in Iran, N. Korea, Cuba. What a SOB.
The 1984 token female vice presedential candidate’s remarks about Obama remind me of the phrase about “the pot calling the kettle black.” Based on Clinton’s failure to remove Ferraro from the campaign, it seems to me that Clinton wants race to be an issue and I do not understand why. This is yet another in a long line of examples of Clinton’s poor leadership.
Poo Poo on Obama!