I invite you to read my most recent post on this subject at: http://sojournersplace.blogspot.com/2008/05/not-racism-but-racial-resentment.html

SjP

Also, I can remember a time not too long ago when pundits were suggesting to the public that it wouldn’t be fair to these two great candidates to pigeonhole them by their race and gender. But the candidates themselves, our would-be leaders, are now slipping

I’m not such an Obama supporter that I’m even sure if I’ll vote for him in November, but I’ve come to loathe the Clintons for degrading this whole election cycle. It’s just become cheap and dirty and somewhat stupid– I mean, come on, how many people are really voting for Obama out of white guilt or black pride? Hillary hopes that this number is lower than the Bigot Vote she can incite to the voting booth by playing on white racial resentment. Too bad for citizens who were hoping to hear about issues and solutions to the many dire problems we face.

Hopefully all this racial, generational and gender chauvinism that is oozing out into the public arena will have the ultimate benefit of giving this country some much needed catharsis, but in the meantime, YUCK!

A charismatic speaker runs on a platform of bridging divides and the best response Clinton can muster is to cry like a girl and then figure out how to slip in as many subtle racial slurs as she can without going “too far?” She’s not just “keeping the black man down,” she’s keeping EVERYONE down.

I’m in favor of evolution.

Funny, Hillary still hasn’t released her financial statement has she?
Is it because he is black that Mr. Obama has no trouble raising millions over the internet and can be transparent about his finances?

No, it is because he is a true leader.

Is it because there is indeed a latent racism in the Clinton campaign that Mrs. Clinton cannot only officially disavow and repudiate Mrs. Ferraro’s comments but also distance herself from Mrs. Ferraro completely?

Perhaps.

Of those who voted for Obama, 42 percent said they would be satisfied if Clinton was the nominee, according to the exit polls.

Among Clinton voters, only 16 percent said they would be satisfied if Obama wins the party’s top spot.

Mississippi is not known for being a very racially progressive state, so my guess is his lack of support among Democrats who vote for Hillary isn’t necessarily about a lack of experience.

That said - the nastiness directed at Hillary Clinton across the blogosphere, even this blog, even this comment thread, is far far worse and far outweighs anything that has been said about Obama by Hillary’s core supporters.

mw, respectfully, you need to look harder. From Taylor Marsh to Big Tent Democrat, the salvos launched at Obama have been far more dishonest than those launched at Hillary. The “messiah” meme? The drug thing? The list goes on, and on, and on…

Listen, you know me to be a reasonable guy, so trust that the reason I went against Hillary in the first place is because of those attacks. I’ve followed them and I’ve posted about them. They’re well documented.

Oh, one more thing…

I think there is a substantial chunk of people backing Obama based on his race. It’s something of an elephant (donklephant?) in the living room.

If you follow this statement to its logical conclusion, then why didn’t Jesse Jackson make a much more serious run for the White House? And the African American population made up an even bigger percentage of the minority population back then.

I stand by my previous statement, a “white” Obama with a message of post-partisanship would be doing extremely well in a year like this. In fact, he may have even put Hillary away earlier.

http://osi-speaks.blogspot.com/2008/03/geraldine-ferraro-if-i-had-brain.html#links

Conventional wisdom is that if Clinton wins the nomination, dispirited Obama supporters will not support her, but if Obama wins the nomination, he will get all the Clinton supporters. Conventional wisdom is that Obama’s support comes from passionate idealism and Clintons support is all cynical party machinations. Conventional wisdom is wrong on both counts.

There is an equal core of idealistic passionate support for Clinton, and it is women like these, who - right or wrong - believe that this is their time - their one shot to see a culmination of a lifetime of struggle for women’s rights - and have a sense of entitlement in this race. The depth of the passion comes out in moments like this, and sometimes - not in a good way.

That said - the nastiness directed at Hillary Clinton across the blogosphere, even this blog, even this comment thread, is far far worse and far outweighs anything that has been said about Obama by Hillary’s core supporters.

But I don’t think Ferraro was looking to have a deep, unbiased discussion on the matter. I think she found a very clumsy way to point out the Clinton theme of “Obama is inexperienced.” I don’t know if it’s racist so much as it’s stupid. As far as I know she has no record of overt racism.

We in the US deserve better than these smaill-minded politicians.