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Ferraro Defends Controversial Comments on Barack Obama •
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Obama: Ferraro's Comments "Divisive," Out of Place
By Josh Drobnyk
The Baltimore Sun
Tuesday 11 March 2008
Fairless Hills, Pa. - Sen. Barack Obama said today that any notion that his
race has helped him in his campaign for president is "patently absurd."
The Democratic candidate's comments follow remarks that Geraldine Ferraro,
the Democratic candidate for vice president in 1984, made in a recent interview
published by a California newspaper.
Ferraro, the first woman nominated to a presidential ticket by a major political
party, suggested that the senator from Illinois wouldn't be where he is in his
campaign today if Obama were a white man or a woman of any color. She told the
Daily Breeze of Torrance, Calif.: "He happens to be very lucky to be who
he is. And the country is caught up in the concept."
"I don't think that Geraldine Ferraro's comments have any place in our
politics or the Democratic Party," Obama said in an interview today with
The Morning Call of Allentown, Pa., after a campaign event in Bucks County.
"I think they were divisive.
"I think that anybody who understands the history of this country knows
they are patently absurd," Obama added. "I would expect that the same
way those comments don't have a place in my campaign, they shouldn't have a
place in Sen. Clinton's."
Maggie Williams, Sen. Hillary Clinton's campaign manager, said in a statement
issued late this afternoon that "supporters from both campaigns will get
overzealous."
And Clinton said this of Ferraro's comments: "I do not agree with that
and you know it's regrettable that any of our supporters on both sides say things
that veer off into the personal. We ought to keep this focused on the issues.
That's what this campaign should be about. "
Ferraro is a supporter of Clinton's campaign for the Democratic presidential
nomination who has raised money for the campaign at her law office in New York.
Obama's appearance in Pennsyvlania today marked his first campaign stop in
the state that will hold the next major primary election. Obama and Clinton
face a six-week battle over the state's 158 pledged convention delegates at
stake on April 22.
Obama acknowledged that he faces an uphill climb in the state, whose demographics
and endorsements from key state political leaders are expected to give an edge
to Clinton, a senator from New York.
"In every state where I hadn't actively campaigned, we start off behind
because the Clinton name is a brand name," Obama said.
"We think obviously Sen. Clinton is highly favored here," he said. "But
if we get known and people understand my track record ... then I think we
are going to do well."
His campaign's measure of success in Pennsylvania will evolve over the next
six weeks, he suggested.
"I think we've got to sort of take a look and see as we spend more time
here what opportunities we have to win votes and delegates," the candidate
said in the interview with The Morning Call. "But I am confident we have
a good initial core of support in the state and that we will tick upwards as
people get to know our message here."
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Ferraro Defends Controversial Comments on Barack Obama
By Gene Maddaus
The Daily Breeze
Tuesday 11 March 2008
Former vice presidential candidate Geraldine Ferraro today defended a remark
she made to the Daily Breeze last week, in which she suggested that Sen. Barack
Obama would not be where he is if he were white.
In an interview with the Breeze, Ferraro said, "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."
The comment was picked up by political blogs and cable news shows across the
country. The Obama campaign held a conference call today to denounce the remark,
and Obama surrogates urged Sen. Hillary Clinton to repudiate it.
In a follow-up interview today, Ferraro said her company had been deluged with
vicious e-mail messages accusing her of racism.
But far from backing off from her initial remark, Ferraro defended it and elaborated
on it.
"Any time anybody does anything that in any way pulls this campaign down
and says let's address reality and the problems we're facing in this world,
you're accused of being racist, so you have to shut up," Ferraro said.
"Racism works in two different directions. I really think they're attacking
me because I'm white. How's that?"
Susan Rice, an Obama adviser, called on Clinton to repudiate the remark in
an appearance today on MSNBC.
"That is a really outrageous and offensive comment," Rice said. "I
think if Sen. Clinton is serious about putting an end to statements that have
racial implications, that diminish Barack Obama because he's an African-American
man, then she ought to really repudiate this comment, and make it clear there
is no place in her campaign for people who say this kind of thing."
Ferraro has held one fund-raiser for Clinton.
In an interview with The Associated Press, Clinton distanced herself from Ferraro's
initial remark.
"I do not agree with that," she said. "It is regrettable that
any of our supporters on both sides, because we've both had that experience,
say things that kind of veer off into the personal. We ought to keep this on
the issues."
Ferraro, who was the Democratic nominee for vice president in 1984, spoke to
the Breeze in advance of an appearance at the Armstrong Theatre in Torrance
on Sunday night. The comment initially ran on D6 of the newspaper Friday, but
drew significant attention after the story was picked up by Raw Story and other
online news outlets.
Ferraro said she was simply stating an obvious truth, as seen in exit polls
that show Obama taking as much as 80 percent of the black vote in the Democratic
primaries.
"In all honesty, do you think that if he were a white male, there would
be a reason for the black community to get excited for a historic first?"
Ferraro said. "Am I pointing out something that doesn't exist?"
Obama campaign manager David Axelrod called Ferraro's comments part of an "insidious
pattern" of remarks from Clinton supporters that have drawn attention to
Obama's race.
"When you wink and nod at offensive statements, you're really sending
a signal to your supporters that anything goes," Axelrod said, according
to ABC News.
Ferraro said the Clinton campaign cannot fire her because she is not an adviser.
"It's impossible to fire somebody who's not involved with it," she
said.
She also said she is familiar with Axelrod from his work for minority candidates
in New York.
"He knows damn well that the best thing to do in a situation like this
is to come back and hit with race," Ferraro said, adding that the response
is a sign that the Obama campaign is "worried" about the first-term
senator's lack of experience.
Ferraro said she was not trying to diminish Obama's candidacy, and acknowledged
up front that she would not have been the vice presidential nominee in 1984
if she had been a man.
But she also echoed remarks of feminist leaders like Gloria Steinem, who argued
in the New York Times that Obama would not have succeeded if he were a woman
because gender is "the most restricting force in American life."
"Sexism is a bigger problem," Ferraro argued. "It's OK to be
sexist in some people's minds. It's not OK to be racist."
gene.maddaus@dailybreeze.com
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Staff Writer Jim Farber contributed to this article.
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