Ferraro Defends Remarks About Obama as ‘Statement of Fact’ After She Leaves Clinton Team
Former vice presidential candidate Geraldine Ferraro, who is stepping down from Hillary Clinton’s finance team after telling a California newspaper that Barack Obama has been aided politically by his race, said Wednesday evening that the remarks were nothing more than a “statement of fact.”
Ferraro told FOX News she’s leaving her unpaid post on the Clinton finance committee because she doesn’t want the flap to become a campaign distraction, but blamed the fallout on Obama’s operatives.
“Somebody must have seen this (article) and said, ‘Wow, this is really something — we go after Ferraro, we go after Clinton,” Ferraro said in an interview Wednesday night on FOX News’ “Hannity & Colmes. “They made this a divisive issue, not me.”
Ferraro, who also is a FOX News contributor, she said she was simply exercising her First Amendment rights: “It was a statement of fact — nothing more, nothing less.”
Word of Ferraro’s departure spread Wednesday afternoon following calls from Obama’s team to restore civility by not letting the debate devolve into race-based arguments.
Speaking to reporters in Chicago, Obama said he didn’t think the comments were racist, but he did call them “ridiculous” and “wrong-headed.”
“The notion that it is a great advantage to me to be an African American named Barack Obama and pursue the presidency, I think, is not a view that has been commonly shared by the general public,”Obama said.
Ferraro notified Clinton by letter that she would no longer serve on Clinton’s finance committee as “Honorary New York Leadership Council Chair.” She wrote that the Obama campaign “is attacking me to hurt you.”
Clinton Communications Director Howard Wolfson said Ferraro made the decision on her own to leave the campaign post.
And Clinton reiterated Wednesday evening during a forum in Washington, D.C., with the Black Press of America that Ferraro was not speaking for her.
“I said yesterday that I rejected what she said, and I certainly do repudiate it, and I regret deeply that it was said,” Clinton said. “Obviously she doesn’t speak for the campaign, or any of my positions, and she has resigned from being a member of my very large finance committee.”
A sign that she acknowledges some race-based comments have soured voters, Clinton also apologized at the Washington forum for comments made by Bill Clinton after Obama won the South Carolina primary. The former president said Jesse Jackson also won South Carolina when he ran for president in 1984 and 1988, a comment many viewed as belittling Obama’s success.
“I want to put that in context. You know I am sorry if anyone was offended. It was certainly not meant in any way to be offensive,” Hillary Clinton said. “We can be proud of both Jesse Jackson and Senator Obama.”
Clinton said she wants the campaign to stick to the issues, but added “we don’t control what is said by everyone who supports us.”
She brought up the resignation last week of Obama’s foreign policy adviser Samantha Power, who left the campaign after calling Clinton a “monster” in an interview with a Scottish newspaper.
The latest controversy began when the national media picked up on comments Ferraro made in an interview last week with the Daily Breeze newspaper in Torrance, Calif.: “If Obama was a white man, he would not be in this position. 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.”
She accused the media of being “sexist” toward Clinton.
Ferraro was unrepentant about her comments. She said she has a 40-year history of opposing all kinds of discrimination and that she was speaking from a historical context, noting that she would not have been chosen as Walter Mondale’s running mate in 1984 if she had been a man.
“I’m sorry, I said nothing negative,” she told FOX News earlier Wednesday. “I care about the black vote in this country. I really don’t think this is right that they should attack me as racist.”
Former Maryland Lieutenant Gov. Michael Steele, who is black, said that Ferraro’s comments are true, and the fact she can’t speak them “goes to the heart and ugliness of racism.” He said Obama’s candidacy is not diminished by her words, but an oversensitivity is harming debate in America.
“It just speaks to the fact that race, no matter how you slice and dice it,” is all too present in people’s minds, he said.
FOX News’ Aaron Bruns and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
There is nothing factual in our American history that would lead Ms. Ferraro to believe that Obama’s race is somehow leveraging him in his bid for the presidency. I challenge the media to take a poll to see how many African-Americans believe their race is an advantage for them in this great nation…then send the results to Ms. Ferraro.
Ferraro is 100% right, she is telling it like it is. She shouldn’t have to step down. She shouldn’t have to apologise. Look at the numbers, 92% Blacks are voting for the black. The truth is the truth. This is racial. The blacks are sticking together.
“Part of what I think Geraldine Ferraro is doing, and I respect the fact that she was a trailblazer, is to participate in the kind of slice-and-dice politics that’s about race and about gender…and that’s what Americans are tired of because they recognize that when we divide ourselves in that way we can’t solve problems,” Obama told NBC.
Obama 08
Obama is where he is because he has what America wants, not because he is Black. If a white man (or woman of any color) offered the same hope for Americans as Obama, then Obama would have a challenge.
“The notion that it is a great advantage to me to be an African American named Barack Obama and pursue the presidency, I think, is not a view that has been commonly shared by the general public,”Obama said.
That doesn’t mean it isn’t true. I can’t see a relatively unexperienced, first-term white senator giving Hillary Clinton a strong fight in the Democratic Presidential nomination. But the fact that he’s a minority and she’s one of the most hated women in the country certainly plays in his favor — especially in light of the fact that this nomination battle is centered on personality, platitudes, and empty promises. Hope? Change? What does that REALLY mean and how will it be accomplished? Both Clinton’s and Obama’s silence on this question should give any intelligent person cause to be very concerned.
I’d be very disturbed by these two choices if I were a Democrat. Any presidential campaign that can be waged on substance will certainly favor John McCain over either of these two. Of course, it remains to be seen if McCain will be able to fight that uphill battle, since we know that the American media and most American people don’t care about substance.
It is absolutly delicious that a “I’m a Democrate and I can’t be accused of racism” gets accused of racism by the very people that the likes of the Clinton’s have been keeping in political bondage for years. Calling Bill Clinton “the first Black President” was nothing but pandering and using identity politics to get black votes; and unfortunatly blacks fell for it. And what did blacks get for it? NOTHING! (Well, Ron Brown did get a bullet in the head) It would seem that blacks are comming of age and are thinking for themselves and taking matters into their own hands. Good for them!
I am black (really) and 100% support Ferraro for exercising her First Amendment rights! Truth be said, she has the guts to say what we all know to be true but are afraid to utter. Even if for the sake of arguement her statements were inaccurate, does she not have a right to free speech? I am quite frankly tired of these galore of apologies each time any one says anything the Obama camp does not like. Come on…this is getting old.
Who says there is nothing like reversed racism? As impressed as I am of this historic moment in our journey as a country, I find it troubling that the proportion of blacks supporting HRC pales in comparison to the proportion of whites who support Obama. It is remarkable that white America is moving beyond color but how do you explain the “okayness” or assumption that for blacks they must 80% or more support Obama? Racism goes both ways. Given the history of the relationship between the Clintons and the black community, it is unfortunate that in a moments notice, all that history is wiped out when a black candidate challenges HRC. It is truly unfortunate. Just like Black Americans accuse White Americans, Black Americans should see beyond color. I am pleased with Obama’s progress in this election amongst White Americans. It is truly something to celebrate. However, I cannot say the same for Black America. As a black person, I refuse to be subject to the stereotype that because a candidate is black, it is a given that my support should be accorded to him. Do you blame Ferraro for her comments when it is pretty obvious? Would Obama have won the huge percentage of black votes in Georgia, South Carolina, Mississippi, etc if he was 100% white?
Ok, this is a hot topic! Race is still so sensitive in this country, we can only imagine we are making inroads where a person is judged on his character and not color.
I regret that it is still a mess out there but secretly am so hopeful it damages the Clintons. Sorry, but they are disruptive, shameful, not to be trusted and dishonest. We truly need some new blood and to get rid of Clinton power. The thought of them again in the Whitehouse makes my blood run cold.
Let’s start new and be rid of the Clintons and their style of leadership. It is only a power grubbing pair at their best and worst for the US.
I thank what Geraldine Ferraro said is true
I have never really liked this women but kudos big time. All of a sudden I like her. If the US survives another 100 years (doubtful at this point) the history books will note this election and the role the media have played.
Couple of things, Ross Porot wanted to change things, so did Steve Forbes. They were both men of sustance and accomplishment. They presented plans of action and threatened the status quo of DC. They came with thier own money and were essential “unbuyable.” So why did the media at large not support either of these men even a fraction of the support they have shown to Obama? Might it be that they were wealthy, Rep/Lib WHITE men? The very antithises of libralism.
I am ecstatic someone has had the … guts to speak the truth. Obama has done well despite lacking substance due to his race. His campaign continually pulls the race card. The media will not ask difficult questions for fear of being painted with the brush of racism. His campaign is the one leading the charge of divisivness. Race has become the elephant in the room. The big problem for Obama here is not his race or any racial charges. The problem is that once race is addressed his campaign will have to face real questions. These questions of substance are the very thing Obama has no answer for.
Change indeed. It is time for a change.
Go McCain/Rice ‘08