Bad American

I agree with Jennifer Lehr:

“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.”
–Geraldine Ferraro

I woke up this morning, read the above quote and wanted to kill myself.

Hey, welcome to the club Jen.

(I have a friend whose mother and brother did commit suicide and even he says things like “The weather is so bad today I want to kill myself.” So what I mean is, I didn’t want to die die, but I did want to die.)

WTF?

No dear, spell it out - what - the -fuck?

I had to think for a minute what Ferraro was trying to say and why she was saying it. I mean aren’t there a million other “good” things she could say about Hillary or other negative things she could come up with against Barack to support her candidate. I couldn’t even understand her point really. What was she trying to say exactly?

Did she mean that Barack is lucky to be black at this point in our nation’s history because on the whole we Americans feel so guilty about our despicable treatment of African Americans that we will vote for Barack to make ourselves feel better? That the guilt we feel over denying women equality is nowhere near as strong as the guilt we feel over slavery and segregation?

She couldn’t have been saying that, could she?

Oh yeah, she could. And did.

And that is exactly the kind of crap that turns a lot of progressives off to Hillary because you know damn well Ferraro and Clinton are sisters-in-whine when it comes to this sense of chip-on-the-shoulder entitlement.

Lehr:

Doesn’t she realize that that is one of major reasons Barack is ahead? That we’re sick of that bullshit?

She could spell bullshit and not fuck? WTF?

Enough already ladies. I don’t want to want to kill myself anymore because I’d love to see a woman I can respect lead this nation.

OK Jen, enough of the suicide humor, we get it.

But the real insulting part of Ferraro’s comments is that somehow, some black people are lucky, no make that damn lucky for being black.

Not when looking for homes to rent or going on job interviews but politicians in America apparently lucky to be black.

I wonder if someone like Ferraro would acquiesce to their own ‘Watermelon Man’ scenario where tomorrow she would wake up black and have to spend the rest of her life in that situation? Would she go for it?

My, oh my, Obama is soooo lucky to be a black man running for President in 2008. Luckier than Jesse Jackson was back in the 80s apparently. You remember Jesse don’tcha Geraldine?

Perhaps Ferraro is closer to Rush Limbaugh’s view of Obama as some kind of ‘Magical Negro‘ who, like Jesus, will atone for the sins of white America by shouldering our burden as his own?

In any case, if Ferraro doesn’t see her own racism in her statement, it’s a statement about what some conservatives, with some justification, call ‘limousine liberals’ who love the proletariat as long as they don’t have to live next to them. Another such creature that comes to mind is Nancy Pelosi. And to be fair, so is Ted Kennedy, but then again, aren’t all Kennedys?

Real feminists aren’t racists. That should be rule one.

I like what Pam had to say here:

That one is pretty breathtaking on several levels, considering her selection as VP was most certainly due in part to the fact she is a woman.

In any case, using this particular line of thinking…

* If Clinton were a black man, Hillary would have been told to drop out of the race after losing 11 contests in a row, after all, John Edwards had to get out after losing only 3.

* If Obama were white, as it has already been noted elsewhere, he’d already be the nominee, because it’s pretty clear that while there are blacks voting for him because of his race, there are certain demographic groups who didn’t vote for him because he’s black, and those are the Reagan Democrats that Hillary is chasing.

In any case, since he’s biracial, does that factor into Ferraro’s deluded thinking? What would happen, for instance, if Obama were not visibly identifiable as black (as in, he could pass), but identified as such — does that make any difference in perceived advantage? It’s crazy-making.Yes, indeed.