Aw, Geez, Gerry ...
I don't know about the rest of you, but I grew up admiring Geraldine Ferraro. I was 14 when she ran for vice president, and I viewed her as a trailblazer.
When I saw her initial comments about Obama last week ("If Obama was a white man ... 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."), I thought, oh, come on, Gerry! You're kidding, right? You actually think—the Atlantic's Marc Ambinder quipped—that it's a stroke of good luck to be able to run for president, in post 9/11 America, "as a black guy named Barack Hussein Obama"?
Even Hillary Clinton seemed anxious to distance herself from this ("I do not agree with that ..."). That was the right move, but I wasn't eager to see Ferraro drawn and quartered. I was inclined to write her statement off as one of those stray, overtired, crackpot comments. I thought: Well, I'm sure she didn't really mean that! Not Gerry Ferraro!
Turns out she did really mean that. She really, really meant it. Today, she went on Fox News to explain just how much she meant it, defending herself against criticism by explaining: "[T]hey're attacking me because I'm white. How's that?"
How's that? That's race-baiting, Gerry, and it's pretty appalling stuff.
Another idol crumbles. Bad week for Democratic icons!
[UPDATE, Tuesday night: The New York Times reports that Ferraro, reached at home, had this to add to her earlier remarks: “Every time [the Obama] campaign is upset about something, they call it racist. I will not be discriminated against because I’m white. If they think they’re going to shut up Geraldine Ferraro with that kind of stuff, they don’t know me.” Urgh.]