We've all heard or read the comments by now. The comments which have quite literally taken the Hillary Campaign far over the edge of common sense.
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
We all realize this is just more of the Clinton Kitchen Sink Scorched Earth Policy of doing everything she can to destroy the Democratic Party if she can't be the Nominee.
But....
It should be noted that Geraldine Ferraro also said that she herself wouldn't have been the 1984 Democratic Vice Presidential Nominee if she had not been a woman, despite her being fully qualified for the job, and we all know what this is code for.
She is saying that Barack Hussein Obama is the "Affirmative Action" Candidate.
The funny thing about it is - (as I say this in all seriousness as a black man myself) - she may actually have a point, but not in the way she apparently believes.
First off, I want to remind anyone who is just reading my comments in this regard that not that long ago I pointed out how I felt that Barack Obama was not the "Black" Candidate.
What I pointed out then, and still maintain, is that being a Black American has to do with far more than just your skintone. It's about having experience with and a connection to Black Culture, a culture of suffering and struggle of striving against insurmountable odds (Jesse Owens, The Tuskeegee Airmen, Jackie Robinson, Mohammad Ali, Benjamin Carver, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jimi Hendrix, Prince, Sidney Poitier, Tiger Woods) with incredible talent and perserverance to not only Win - but to set a completely new standard.
Being Black (as opposed to African) is a matter of who you are in response to Americas 400 year long mistreatment of us, not what you look like.
It can be very difficult to live up to these achievements. Sometimes Black Folk spend a lot of their energy actually trying to live them down because the burden can be sometimes too much to bare. Also there are many white people, from the Beatles, The Rolling Stones, Eric Burden and the Animals, Eric Clapton, Stevie Ray Vaughn and many thousands of others who have felt and shown a clear link to black culture through black music - so you don't even have to have black skin to deeply feel what I'm describing here.
However for Barack, as a bi-racial son of an immigrant who grew up in Hawii - I really didn't really see how much his background connected him to any of that (for one thing - he really really can't dance), but I never precluded the possibility that like Clapton and Vaughn - he could still hear the music.
However with Ferraro's recent attacks - I think Barack has clearly had more than his fair share of the "Black Experience".
My main problem with her comments isn't with the first portion, because her implication that some for of Affirmative Action has benefitted Barack in my opinion isn't a bad thing.
Just a reminder: There's NOTHING WRONG WITH AFFIRMATIVE ACTION
The point of AA is - doing something positive to help improve a problematic situation. Those who have opposed it, particularly during the 90's have all argued from a perspective of jealousy, that you can't possibly do something positive for one person or group without also doing something negative to someone else.
Most of those argueing against AA ignored the 1978 Bakke Decision which banned all forms of "Quota Systems" which might produce the type of negative reaction that so many decried as an unacceptable price to pay for 400 years of abuse, disenfranchisement, broken promises and oppression.
In the admissions system devised by U.C Davis, minority studies received a "Plus" rating in order to help the school achieve diversity goals. This isn't to say they were less qualified, only that they received bonus points for being members of a minority group. The SCOTUS deemed this a Quota System and struck it down.
We (the Court) have never approved a classification that aids persons perceived as members of relatively victimized groups at the expense of other innocent individuals in the absence of judicial, legislative, or administrative findings of constitutional or statutory violations.
So that accusation that six years later in 1984 that Ferraro herself was receiving "Plus Points" for being a woman is itself rather problematic that very thing had been ruled Unconstitutional.
Since Bakke federal attempts at Affirmative Action have been increasing limited in making adjustments to admissions standards, but have instead had to look at widening the recruitment pool through outreach. Instead of simply looking in your own backyard for qualified candidates - AA programs administered by the EEOC and OFCCP (both of which appear to now be defunct under Bush) have had attempted to help make more minority applicants better qualified to compete.
The Bottom Line is: Real Affirmative Action means - making everyone more competitive, not giving special breaks to those who don't need it.
Has Barack Obama been "Lucky?"
Hell, Yes he has, but he's also eminently qualified just as Ferraro herself claims she was back in 1984.
So where does that leave us? With this little gem.
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," Ferraro said. "Racism works in two different directions. I really think they're attacking me because I'm white. How's that?"
No, people are not attacking you because you're white - Geraldine. They're attacking you because the assertion is patently false. Was Jesse Jackson "Lucky" when he ran against you in 1984 - yet unlike Barack, never achieved front runner status? Was Al Sharpton Lucky? How about Alan Keyes whom Barack defeated in order to enter the Senate, something you failed at three times?
Barack was only the third Black person to enter the U.S. Senate - EVER. I have two women Senators representing my state (California) right this second. Not to mention Olympia Snowe, Claire McCaskil, Kay Bailey Hutchinsen, etc...
And on this "women have suffered more than black men thing..." Although it's fair to say that the 15th Amendment gave Blacks the right to vote long before Women achieved it - the fact is that the right wasn't protected until 1968 when the Voting Rights Act was passed tends to mitigate the "advantage" that Blacks supposedly enjoyed.
One game we shouldn't be playing is "Whose victimhood is greater" - because there are no winners on that playing field. None.
The idea of helping those who clearly need it to help themselves is a core Democratic Principle. It's a sad day when the unbridled ambition and unchecked ego of one candidate has grown so far out of proportion that they would actually throw such a core principle not only under the bus, but to stop and back-up over it several times is somewhat shocking, but also in some ways sobering and healthy.
Repubs have long accused Dems and Liberals of being a hateful, spiteful, vindictive angry mob. We can now see that for Hillary and her supporters - that appears to be true.
But not all of us are with Hillary.
Not all of us think the world is "Zero Sum", we don't all agree with Terry McCauliff that we all need is to "Toughen Up", that the only way to win is to go lower than your opponent would ever expect.
Sometimes you can actually win with the better ideas, and simply focus on those ideas while pointing out that your opponent is throwing mud only because that's the only idea they have.
If the way that Hillary has run this compaign is any reflection on how she would run the WhiteHouse, she absolutely HAS. TO. LOSE. I wouldn't even accept her as Veep. Not a chance.
This can not be the way we conduct foreign policy. This can not be the way we deal with Congress. This can not be the way that America addresses it's own people.
We have to stand firm, and fight The Good Fight. Fairly. Honestly. Against insurmoutable odds with talent and fortitude.
We have to do what Black and many other oppressed People have been doing for Centuries.
WIN!
Lastly does Barack Obama's experience as "Black" man give him a unique perspective into how he would relate to America, and how he would relate to much of the rest of the world - particularly Africa?
I damn sure hope it does, considering what piss-poor job every other President has done with "Black Issues" over the last 40 years. Yeah, his being Black is a "Plus" in my column. I ain't to proud to say it.
Yeah, He's Black and I'm Proud.
It's past time we all openly embraced our inner (and outer) blackness.
Vyan
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