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.
I can’t believe that she caved to the Obama Terrorist camp. If Obama Bin Ladin can’t take what she said, wait until the Republicans get him. They are going to have a field day with this cry baby!!!!
I am not a fan of Ferraro but I am shocked that she stepped down.
The Clinton campaign needs to stop its slice and dice politics. Their campaign is fiercely engaged in divising the party and, thus, at any cost. Clinton is willing to say and do at any cost of winning, and without any regard to her opponent. I can guarantee you that not too long before the Pennsylvania primary, you will see Clinton resurface again with the same kind of attacks, whether it be racial or gender. This is an attempt on her part to try to drive away white folks from Obama. This is a tactic and a strategy by Clinton and her campaign. That’s why you will see it resurface again. But, the american people are smarter than that, and sooner or later, they will see her malicious scheme and will NOT go for it.
I think it’s a shame she stepped down. We can’t seem to say anything these days without it being missinterpreted. She clearly said it was not a “racist” statement. How can what she said be a personal attack on Mr. Obama? This race is about “race” and “gender.” DUHHHH!!! Look at the polls….look at racial split between votes. It’s crystal clear. I am a woman of color….I know what this is about and instead of skirting the issue….Mr. Obama should embrace what this campaign race is about and run with it. On the other hand…it seems he wants to use the “race” card in everything people say…and than say…”it’s not about race”.
HMMMM??
Now Obama is playing the bully just like Hillary. So much for his message of change. All politicians are the same; you can’t trust any of them. If their lips are moving their lying!
I am so sick of this sensitivity political correctness crap. She did not say anything racist — only what others have not had the conviction to say. I suppose this means that if we question anything about Obama we are racially motivated. Haven’t we had enough of the Jesse Jackson’s and “Big” Al Sharpton’s of the world? I am no Hillary fan, but enough! VOTE REPUBLICAN! Leaving the Democratic party 4 years ago was the best thing morally, culturally, and philosophically I could do. Yes there are crooks on both sides (Paxton, Foley, Spitzer, etc.), but the boundaries of decency and morality are leaving this country.
Good riddance re: Geraldine Ferraro. Memo to the Clinton campaign…stop the race-baiting…all of it.
This is just wrong! She merely stated the TRUTH!! IF HE WERE A WHITE MAN, WITH THE LITTLE EXPERIENCE THAT HE HAS, HE WOULD NOT BE IN THIS POSITION, PERIOD!!! If the truth hurts then to bad. He has done nothing except bash the war and every thing that our country is doing to promote democracy. Unfurtunately there are a lot of people who would love for us to surrender and admit defeat. I have lost several friends here and have myself had a truck blown up from under me. I am now here on my second deployment. THIS IS WAR!!! WE MUST FINISH THE JOB! Get it through your heads. Obama merely has a good speech and a great way with words. I am from IL and I can say he has not done any thing for the majority of the state, south of Cook County. Unless it gets headlines neither of our Senators are doing any thing. i am not a Clinton supporter but I believe that people must face facts, especially when they are TRUE!!!
It’s gotten to the point where race must never be discussed…that’s just sad. The problem by labeling someone a racist when they are clearly NOT a racist (Ferraro) is dangerous, because then it lessens the true meaning of the term, and allows the real racists less scrutiny. It’s sad.
Geraldine is 100% correct in her assessment. Obama is a less than steller, neophyte politician who were it not for his gift of speech and the fact that he is black, would not only be a cintender for the Presidency but would not even be a US Senator. All of this talk about racisim is ridiculous…this is reverse racism…he shouldn’t even be in the picture
I hope that this decision was her own and she was not forced to resign. I agree completely with what she said in its entirety.