Clinton Campaign: Strategic Racism?

Geraldine Ferraro yesterday:

"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."

And today:

"Any time anybody does anything that in any way pulls this campaign down and says let's address reality and the problems we're facing in this world, you're accused of being racist, so you have to shut up. Racism works in two different directions. I really think they're attacking me because I'm white. How's that?"

So, from the campaign that repeatedly plays the race card and justifies itself with the gender card, here comes a high-level surrogate with some of the ugliest rhetoric so far. The first quote is bad enough - it sounds very much like the criticism hurled at successful African Americans in the age of affirmative action: "oh, he got where he is because he's black." The galling irony of the second quote is that the Obama campaign is supposedly racist for being upset about a race-based attack? Very rich, coming from the campaign that finds misogyny in every political debate.

Worse yet is that this may not be accidental, despite the admonishments from the Clinton campaign. Polls close in Mississippi in about 5 minutes, and Barack Obama will no doubt win big by dominating with the black vote (even though Clinton will maintain close in delegates because of gerrymandered districts). But maybe the Clinton's know that they're not getting the black vote back, not with Barack in the race, and certainly not after South Carolina. So what's the difference in losing that bloc 80-20 or 90-10? Why not go after the Reagan Democrats with something they understand: racism. Not only does it help her in the South and the Rustbelt, but it will further polarize the electorate and stigmatize Obama as "the black candidate." Just a thought - hopefully I'm not finding racism where there is none.

Oh, and thanks Geraldine, for helping create superdelegates! To paraphrase Igby, the Democratic Party is drowning in assholes.

Edit: Check out the end of the clip of Ferraro on Fox News:



Don't antagonize me, Barack. I'm a Democratic Party fundraiser - you NEED me. If I call her a relic of a broken system and mention that she was on one of the worst Democratic tickets ever, am I misogynistic?