DHinMI did a solid job discussing the racist underpinnings of Geraldine Ferraro's comments.
Ferraro's comments again:
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.
That's right Geraldine.
If Obama was a white man, he would not be in this position. He would not have gotten Secret Service protection as early as last May.
If Obama was a white man, CBS.com wouldn't have temporarily turned off comments on Obama stories because of the volume and persistence of racist comments.
If Obama was a white man, his Secret Service wouldn't rival that of President Bush's.
If Obama was a white man, I doubt that the Somali photo would've resulted in the Secret Service investigating a right-wing radio show host threatening the Senator's life.
This is just the publicly available stuff. I know people who have come off the presidential campaigns (particularly those who were on the staffs of all those who have dropped out), and staff members of rival Democratic presidential campaigns did notice when Obama's Secret Service protection was increased... And if you asked an Obama staffer about it, you might get the answer that there was a, um, rough patch.
There should be no doubt that Hillary Clinton has faced sexism in her life, and there have been terrible, disgusting things said about her.
But as a woman, I'd rather deal with sexist comments from Don Imus than the consistent racist chatter and the racist death threats that Obama, his family and his campaign have to deal with all the time.
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If a new job hadn't cut my DKos time down quite a bit, the silliness of silly season would've. But nothing about this is silly at all. I debated posting this diary in the first place, because it's not a subject that anyone enjoys discussing. In the end, it's important, and I just needed to get this off my chest.
Update [2008-3-10 21:44:53 by Newsie8200]: MissLaura on her experience when the campaigns were in NH:
I noticed at least one time his security increased. Attending his events in NH as press became more formal - you didn't just walk in anymore, there was a big check-in process and they started checking ID and stuff. Way more than either Hillary or Bill Clinton had.
Way more than either Hillary or Bill Clinton had. Says it all, doesn't it?