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.
Yes, Clinton surrogate Geraldine Ferraro said that. Geraldine Ferraro--nominated as Vice President almost entirely because she was a woman--ridiculing Barack Obama's rise as supposedly due to his race is a case of the pot calling the kettle black.
One can laugh at the ridiculousness of the statement, or ridicule the idea that African-Americans somehow have it easier in America than white men or women. But to do so misses how Ferraro's statement will be heard by too many Americans.
The fact is, there are a lot of White people in American who believe they're at a disadvantage, that Blacks get things handed to them. The idea may be foreign to some people, but I've heard it my entire life. I've heard it at family gatherings, in my neighborhood when I was a kid, from family friends and all kinds of other folks. It's not a fringe belief. It's at the heart of the belief system of the so-called Reagan Democrats—swing voters and even some Democrats who were cradle Democrats but defected to Reagan and have been up for grabs in most elections since 1992.
Some of these Reagan Democrats will hear Ferraro's comment, and they'll think about the job they didn't get because, they believe, it went to an affirmative action hire. They'll think about the guy promoted over them because, they believe, he's black. And they'll think "here we go again."
Believing African-Americans are affording unfair advantages certainly isn't a belief that prevents people from voting Democratic. In 2006, for instance, Michigan Democrats picked up offices and a weak Democratic governor won reelection, but at the same time 40% of Democrats voted to ban race from being a factor in state government hiring or university admissions.
One can give Ferraro the benefit of the doubt, and assume that her comment was just a "slip of the tongue." One can assume that the wife of Bill Clinton—the man from Hope known for his passionate desire to bring about racial reconciliation in America—would never hope to benefit from racist envy and distrust. And one can assume that the Clinton campaign wouldn't deliberately appeal to racial prejudice to win the nomination, because to conclude otherwise might make you want to vomit.