My very first member of Congress was Geraldine Ferraro. As an infant, my parents voted for her (well my mom anyway). We live here in one of the bluest areas of one of the bluest states. I still live in the heart of what was her district. Since then it has been represented by Tom Manton, Chuck Schumer, and Anthony Weiner. Bush did better than any Republican should have here in 2004, and our state senator is a right-wing nutjob...hell, one of our Assemblymen, despite being a Democrat, is a right-wing nutjob.
Our district is a middle class Italian, Irish and Jewish-American community. Some places are wealthier than others. Howard Beach and Forest Hills Gardens are the envy of the community, but the more modest blue-collar liberals live in attached, semi-attached, or multifamily homes in Middle Village, Glendale, Maspeth, Woodhaven, and Ozone Park (where I'm from). We are good people; defending Clinton when he was being impeached, welcomed his wife with open arms when she came to ask to be our representive in Washington. We bore the brunt of the September 11th attacks, lost family, friends, neighbors by the handfuls. We are anti-war, pro-choice, homosexuality doesn't bother us, Bush is an evil villian (even if he wasn't four years ago), guns are the tools of the devil, and those crazy Christian nutzos down South are a threat to our nation.
But when (now ex) Governor Spitzer decided to give undocumented immigrants driver's licenses, all hell broke loose. When one talks about Democrats, you hear "they're supposed to for us, but they want to give our money away!"
Inside Geraldine Ferraro's district, there is excitement for Hillary Clinton, or no one at all. Obama didn't even crack 30% here. In the wake of Ferraro's comments, I hit the block.
Perhaps it's worth noting that not all my neighbors are white, Italians, but at least 40% of them are. I have Filipinos on my block, Hispanics, West Indians, Polish, Irish, and Arab...and one pro-Clinton African-American family. There's one shocking thing about my block, where Kerry strongly outperformed Bush as compared to the rest of my community...nobody but me is voting for Obama in the GE...yet everyone supports Hillary in November. In a way, Ferraro's comments were a sense of relief on this middle-class street...the whole community seemed to rise up and scream "Thank you Congresswoman, at least somebody had the gall to say it!"
As one neighbor said; "If he was white, would he be running now, or would he be told to wait another 10 years?"
or another who said; "Take his race out of consideration, and he's basically John Edwards from the city"
I'm not saying I agree with Ferraro, I don't, but to understand how anyone could still stand by her, you have to go deep inside the mindset of this community.
It's much less outright racism and much more the feeling that minorities get special treatment because of other people's racism. It's not just New York. It's why it's so hard for fiscal liberals to promote their agenda. It's affirmative action, it's ESL, it's welfare, it's those things. It's whites, who really aren't blatant racist, have black friends and even black family members (like in my family) who feel minorities get special treatment because of racism "in the south." It's whites, who don't have ill will toward African-Americans or any minorities, who feel they've been abandoned by the Democratic Party because of pressures to not look racist. It's what hurt him in Ohio, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, New Hampshire, parts of New Jersey, Western Virginia. it's what's probably going to cause him to lose big in West Virginia, have a hard time pullig it off in Pennsylvania. Older Democrats, of Ferraro's age and ethnicity, who feel the way I explain.
It's more apparent in poorer white communities who feel government social services go first to minorities before them, and that Democrats want to take whatever money they have left and give it to minorities as to not be seen as racist, but in making a point of it, they are called racist.
I've heard it often, from middle-class Democratic New Yorkers in New York City..."If I was a black woman with five kids..."
it's sad, but true, and I think it's what's hurting Obama in some of these states. It's why I've long been worried. This is, in my opinion, his Achilles heel. If he finds himself struggling or losing the General Election, this will be why.