Just Walk Away From Ferraro

Just walk away. I don't care if her comments have been racist or offensive or ridiculous. There is no more dangerous narrative for Obama than the potent combination of "you are benefiting unfairly from affirmative action" and "you are playing the race card."

This repeats a pattern in modern American life that Obama has been skillful enough and lucky enough to evade so far. The pattern is that someone says something that is just racist enough to be offensive to most Black people, but just defensible enough that White people--who are feeling defensive about race already--don't think it is sufficiently proven to be racist. They identify, whether consciously or not, with the person accused of racism. They vote their identity.

I thought it was going to happen in South Carolina and it didn't, but that may only be because of the Black vote in South Carolina. It may be that in fact it partly explains Clinton's success in California and New Jersey and Massachusetts and Ohio. It doesn't matter that the MSM in this instance has concluded that the Clintons bungled those attacks--they still have an impact. There are still plenty of people out there, like Ferraro, honestly convinced that Obama played the race card.

So all the calls for Obama to fight back and be more aggressive are reasonable if your comparison is John Kerry being swiftboated, but they don't take into account that a Black man cannot risk looking emotional or irrational or militant, especially on race issues. Yes, I know those are code words, that this is an unfair double standard, and it wounds my soul to have to say this. But Black people who have succeeded in mainstream America have mostly had to learn this lesson. This country is not perfect, and sacrificing a historic campaign on the altar of racial righteousness will not make it so. Walk away.

•  Amen. Obama's playing into Hillary's hands.

  by Hesiod on Wed Mar 12, 2008 at 07:44:03 AM PDT

  •  I disagree

    I think he's playing a brilliant rope-a-dope strategy right now.  He should stay on the defensive for a couple more weeks, rationally responding the the increasingly absurd attacks from the Clinton Camp before going on the offensive in the final weeks leading up to Pennsylvania.  If "he's a lucky black man who can't answer a late-night phone call and wins states that don't matter" is the best Clinton can offer then she really is toast.  Better to take the hit now and grab the high ground as the Pennsylvania race enters its final days.

    by Woodwards Friend on Wed Mar 12, 2008 at 07:49:08 AM PDT

    •  He has responded and that should be enough

      Ferraro should not be getting this kind of media attention.  After all, who is she?  Some old ding bat who served in the House for three terms and ran as VP on a losing ticket.  She's getting another 15 minutes of fame and she'll milk it for all its worth.  Shut her up.  She has nothing to say.  

      by Liza52 on Wed Mar 12, 2008 at 07:54:01 AM PDT

  •  hasn't happened, isn't happening,

    and, to quote Dana Carvey as George H.W.Bush, na' gunna happen.

    by elmo on Wed Mar 12, 2008 at 07:50:12 AM PDT

•  Heckuva job, Gerry!

  I disagree.

  I don't think Obama should fight back.  But racism must be called racism - and disavowed as a campaign tactic.

  by sheddhead on Wed Mar 12, 2008 at 07:49:44 AM PDT

•  I agree

  This whole Ferraro thing is just Clinton doing a little "dog whistle" campaigning to insecure, white [racist] voters.  

  The Obama campaign should not give this thing any energy.

  by rf7777 on Wed Mar 12, 2008 at 07:53:49 AM PDT

•  You are right

  There is nothing more he can do.

  Hillary will dredge up another has-been hack who wants to destroy the tatters of a legacy in a couple weeks and start this cycle all over again. Obama can't respond, her campaign clearly wants this narrative.

  He needs to have a sound byte for it which is repeated every time the Clinton campaign does it. I don't like the one he used yesterday, it needs to be snappier, with a touch of disgusted condescendtion.

  by lgcap on Wed Mar 12, 2008 at 07:56:43 AM PDT

  •  Snappy comeback

    You are right to focus on the snappy reply. Something along the lines of "I have worked hard and earned every vote." This evokes the "earning" image to counter the affirmative action charge, and leverages Obama's unquestionable ivy league credentials.

    by Lawprofsr on Wed Mar 12, 2008 at 08:07:58 AM PDT

•  But

  Where are those Democratic Party "leaders" who are still neutral?  I am 100% convinced that this is a deliberate tactic by the Clinton campaign (you don't suppose that Ferraro wandered into Fox News by accident, do you?) - precisely for the reason you describe, namely, that Obama can't counter it without looking like an "affirmative action" candidate.  This tactic is so repulsive that it is incumbent upon all Democrats unaffiliated with the Obama campaign to denounce it and to denounce the Clintons for stooping to its use.

  by Prince Nekhlyudov on Wed Mar 12, 2008 at 08:11:36 AM PDT

•  Lawprofsr has a good point...

  Obama walks a very fine line with this. This is a very deep issue, conscious bigotry for some, largely unconscious for others. I think he is best to judo it now if he can, and when he is president, he can begin the years- or decades-long conversation that will ultimately lead to healing. That's not going to happen in the primaries. On the other hand, he can share more about his family, for example, mentioning that his mother was white, which he rarely does on the stump. He can also talk up what he will do for average Americans including, importantly, making government work for them again. I think part of what is working here is the average Joe's sense of disenfranchisement from government and public life as a whole, which can get wrapped up in racist fears and judgments.

  by TuvanDrone on Wed Mar 12, 2008 at 08:40:37 AM PDT

•  Agree

  If Obama is perceived to be complaining about racism, then he's finished.  It plays right into the affirmative action theme, and affirmative action is not popular among many whites, even democratic voting whites.  As soon as Obama cries "racism," some white voters will hear that as him demanding preferential treatment based on race.

  It's pretty clear that the Clintons put a lot of thought into this strategy.  This Ferraro smear is part of a larger strategy that I'm sure will unfold in the runup to Pennsylvania.

  by Subterranean on Wed Mar 12, 2008 at 12:42:35 PM PDT