Democratic Chickens Come Home to Roost

It's been amusing watching the fallout from Geraldine Ferraro's truth-telling about race and sex within the Democratic party.

Ferraro, as you might recall, said, "If Obama was a white man, he would not be in this position. And if he was a woman (of any colour) 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."

Democrats swooned, clutched their pearls, fanned themselves with their tiny lace fans and used the smelling salts because one of their own--the first female vice presidential candidate!--dared to point out that the wizard was only a little man behind a curtain.

Ferraro is right, and it is precisely because she is right that the Democrats are so angry. If a Republican had said what Ferraro said, he/she would be branded a racist, and now the Democrats have taken out the long knives on Ferraro, including Keith Olbermann blustering against her.



Barak Obama owes his place in this presidential race to the fact that this country is still paying pennace for slavery, and Obama is "black enough" and "not too black" to be able to attract both minority and white voters who are anxious to make history and show they aren't racists by voting for a black candidate. There, I said it.

This isn't to say that there aren't people who favor Obama because they like his policies (such as they know them). There are those. But there's also more than a few Americans caught up in the historical significance of Obama's campaign. He is the first truly viable black candidate for president we've had, and with that status, he's been given a free, or close to free, ride on the issues. That's what Ferraro was saying.

What Ferraro didn't say is that Hillary Clinton isn't just a woman presidential candidate. She's a Clinton, which means she has all the baggage that goes with eight years of "it depends on what the meaning of is is." Feminists are furious that Hillary isn't getting the same free pass Obama has gotten, which is why they have complained vociferously for months that Hillary has been asked tougher question, gotten more of them, and has received greater scrutiny than her opponent.

From a Republican standpoint, watching the Democrats eat each other is terrific. This hullabaloo is the result of their own long-standing policy of being more concerned about immutable characteristics like race and sex than about philosophies, policies, and ability. The perfect storm--who expected Democrats to have a woman and a black person both running for president at the same time?--has shown the worst traits of identity politics and given the best example to date why individual behavior should be the standard. Of course, that's a thoroughly Republican idea.