Spitzer's downfall is disgusting, tragic and monumentally pathetic, but at least it's already over. There will be no long, drawn out Democratic defense of yet another fatally flawed politician. New York can move on with a very interesting, even inspiring new governor, David Paterson.
Ferraro's initial comments could be parsed different ways, but it was her follow-up defense of those comments that showed her hand: "Racism works in two different directions. I really think they're attacking me because I'm white. How's that?"
The last time I heard anyone trot out the "reverse racism" defense was, I believe, Michael Rapaport's skinhead character in that awful John Singleton movie, "Higher Learning". I get the feeling it's the kind of talk Ferraro heard a lot of in her white, blue collar Queens district when she was a congresswoman. Channeling Jesse Helms by baiting an opponent with affirmative action innuendo is a novel tactic in a Democratic primary, but it's nothing that should surprise anyone who's followed the Clintons' moves.
Rev. Wright's comments are a different animal altogether. Readers may disagree with me, but I think this is a little bit of the Kinsley Gaffe going on here. Michael Kinsley ( the second-best columnist in America, after his holiness Mr. Rich) famously wrote that "a gaffe is when someone in Washington tells the truth, and gets caught."
Jeremiah Wright, Obama's (retiring) pastor, is right. America was, by and large, founded as a racist country. It still is, in many ways. And 9/11 was, in many ways, the "chickens coming home to roost". Having a totally one-sided Israel/Palestine policy is not only immoral, it is a dangerously myopic position for a country that is trying to improve its image in the Muslim world.
Frankly, if I was a church-going individual (I am not), I would like it if my pastor spoke out on these issues, and in this way. I think it's a credit to Obama that his does. I think it speaks volumes about Obama's character that while he says he repudiates Wright's statements, he "will not repudiate the man himself".
That said, this could be very, very politically damaging to Obama's campaign. His Huffington Post column yesterday was a good start in repairing the p.r. damage. His removal of Rev. Wright from the campaign's token "Spiritual Advisory Committee" went one better.
But both Clinton and McCain are going to beat this like a drum. Obama should have seen this coming, and he waited too long to get out in front of it. How he handles this, and whether he is able to put it away, or let it fester like a Swift Boat cancer on his candidacy, is probably the most important question yet asked of this campaign.
Well, you're sure back with a bang. My question is, how does this hurt Obama? As many commentators have said over the past week, he's gotten where he is by seeming to transcend race, by making white people feel good about themselves for voting for a minority, without scaring off those voters with the kind of rhetoric his pastor used. And apparently tomorrow he is doing a speech on race. Is this just playing into the Clinton campaign's hands - talking about race, race, race. I'm so ready for this primary to be over. Reply to this
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