I don't understand how posts like this are allowed. I mean it's so completely obvious, all he's missing are the blatant derogatory remarks.
I don't see this. Frankly being governor seems to better prepare people to be Pres. Just look at how many presidents were governors.
Ferraro just seems to bounce back and forth as needed. In December 2006: Ms. Ferraro offered a similar sentiment. “I think it’s more realistic for a woman than it is for an African-American,” said Ms. Ferraro. “There is a certain amount of racism that exists in the United States — whether it’s conscious or not it’s true.” “Women are 51 percent of the population,” she added. (Jesse Jackson also said the same, so that's where the "similar sentiment" comes from) http://talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/183170.php
I heard Geraldine has come out and said that she'd be happy to raise money for Obama if he wins the nomination as long as he changes his ways and stops being a black man.
http://tpmcafe.talkingpointsmemo.com/talk/2008/03/paterson-is-lucky-hes-black-an.php Paterson, a fellow Democrat who becomes New York's first black governor and the nation's first legally blind chief executive, plans to be well prepared for the job. He asked for a handover on Monday, five days after Spitzer's resignation. - AP David Paterson would not be Governor of New York today if he was not a black, blind man. If he was a black man, he would not be in this position today. And if he was a blind man, he would not be in this position. And if he was a woman, of any color, he would not be in this position today. If he was a black woman, who'd lost sight in only one eye, he wouldn't. If he was a half-black, half-white woman, who had sight in both eyes, but had lost an arm, he would not be governor. If he was anorexic, or bulimic, he would not have that job. Muslim? Nope. Blind Jew? Certainly not. Let me be perfectly clear -- David Paterson is lucky to be a black, blind man. The people of New York are looking for a black, blind man, and they are simply caught up in the moment. Now, I now many of the commenters here on the blog are going to accuse me of being racist for saying this. The reality is, anytime you try and talk about how lucky black, blind men are, you're accused of racism. Well, I think it's YOU who are being racist. Reverse racism. I really think you're attacking me because I am white. How's that?
Obama is certainly a cool customer but I wouldn't read too much into this in regard how his campaign has also played with the race card. If you're going to say that Obama is showing good judgement in side stepping the issue, which I agree he is, you should note that Hillary Clinton herself has side stepped the race issue too and hasn't made any specific comments in regard to race and has distanced herself from comments like Ferraro's. Obama's campaign and surrogates though have previously sought to make race more of an issue by playing up comments that didn't have to do with race as being racial. The "fairytale and dream" comment that Bill Clinton made in the lead up to the SC primary had nothing at all to do with race but were in regard to Obama equating his opposition to the war to Clinton's vote for the resolution on it. Hillary Clinton's comment on MLK vs LBJ didn't have to do with a black man vs a white man but with an orator vs a politician. Yet both of those comments were pounced on as being racist when race had absolutely nothing to do with the first and tangentially at best for the second. While its correct that Bill Clinton didn't help things with his Jesse Jackson comment or Ferraro with her idiotic comment the candidate herself hasn't made race an issue. As for both campaigns and surrogates that is a different story.
At the risk of defending T_J, given that the nomination battle is fought state by state and not nationwide the demographics do matter. While African-Americans aren't a majority nationwide they are a plurality in several key states and if they vote as a block can sway a state's election either way. This was clearly the case in SC and in Mississippi. I don't fully buy that Obama's support is dependent on race as he has done very well in smaller states that are overwhelmingly white but in a few key states Afican-Americans voting in a block have made a difference for Obama.
Side-stepping the issue isn't enough at this point. As Keith olberman said she needs to "reject and denounce" Geraldine. Obama did the same to Farakan. She needs to make a definitive strong statement about this. She has merely sidestepped it, and that isn't enough. It was 15 days before Ferraro was gone. When Rice made a verbal slip she was gone in 24 hours. Hillary is not showing she's serious about changing the tone of politics at all. Bill's fairy tale comment was blown out of proportion and not racist in the slightest. Hillary's LBJ, MLK comparison came off as belittling MLK's efforts. He did more than just orate, he took action. So diminishing MLK's efforts(even if that wasn't her intention) is racially insensitive even it isn't racist. Hillary's comment about Obama not being a Muslim as far as she knows when she knows perfectly well that he isn't one, and attends church in Washington every Sunday ads to her discredit. Now Ferraro has done this. So even if there isn't really a pattern, it, at least, has the appearance that there could be. She needs to come strongly and say matter of factly that what Ferraro did is not acceptable, and she won't tolerate it. I think the media made the fairy tale comment an issue not Obama's surrogates.
Except that the nationwide demographics DO matter because they are a sum of the individual states. If black voters make up 15% of the electorate, and some southern states have substantially more, then other states, by definition, have to have less. You'd be right if the delegates were divided in a "winner-take-all" method, in which case distribution matters. However, since delegates are awarded proportionally, in the grand scheme of things, each candidate benefits based on the aggregate totals of the voters in their demographic.
So what the state by state totals have told us is that Obama can win states that have a majority of white voters, but that Hillary hasn't won any competitions where there was a heavy black population. Again in states that are a heavy white majority, Obama has shown that he can win. He doesn't always, but he can. Hillary has not shown that she can draw a significant vote from the black demographic.
Ah, but you clearly don't know that being Governor of Texas is one of the least powerful governorships in the US. The real power lies in the Lt. Governor, who has a great deal of power in the state senate. Bob Bullock basically ran things when George was Governor, and George had the good sense to cultivate his relationship with Bullock, and not interfere with how Bullock steered the Texas ship of state. Before that? George W. Bush was a failed businessman. His only success was being handed a chunk of the Texas Rangers by friends of his father's for being what amounted to a "front man," or business face of the team ownership. His tiny investment made him a multimillionaire, which was the entire idea of Dad getting him this gig. In college? He was a legacy at Yale, or he wouldn't have been able to get in. He made very mediocre grades and had a completely mediocre record, except for having an A in Fun. Oh, and he got into the infamous Skull and Crossbones private club, also thanks to Dad and his friends. George W. Bush was a child of privilege. He went to Andover, one of the country's premier high schools, prior to Yale, and was mediocre there, as well. http://www.nytimes.com/library/politics/camp/061000wh-bush.html Barack? Outstanding grades in school. Had a middle class upbringing. Got into Columbia (majored in political science with a specialization in international relations) and graduated with grades good enough to get him into Harvard Law School. Between Columbia and Harvard, Barack worked at Business International Corporation and New York Public Interest Research Group before moving to Chicago to take a job as a community organizer. As Director of the Developing Communities Project, he worked with low-income residents in Chicago's Roseland community and the Altgeld Gardens public housing development. At Harvard, Obama was a highly successful student. In 1990, The New York Times reported his election as the Harvard Law Review's "first black president in its 104-year history". He got his law degree, graduating magna c*m laude in 1991. Directed a voter registration drive upon graduation, in Chicago, and then worked for a law firm there. He was a lecturer of constitutional law at the University of Chicago Law School from 1993 until his election to the U.S. Senate in 2004 (in his spare time). Obama was elected to the Illinois Senate and served 3 terms, elected chair of the Health and Human Services Committee during his last term, when the Democratic Party had regained the majority in the State Senate. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barack_Obama So yes, Barack Obama is much more qualified to run for President of the United States than George W. Bush was in 2000. Based on the facts. Impeach Bush.
Ignorance. The lowered expectations for a black man is not the black man's fault but of those who have lowered those expectations. So IF he was winning based on what you speak of that is due to people like yourself who allow lowered expectations dictate how one person can rise in the ranks and not be dually qualified for that post. Example George Bush. To be honest its not about a black man growing up in a white neighborhood. Its about a black man growing up in a more improved economic class than someone who grew up in poor economic conditions. Those conditions allow for lower standard of living, education, knowledge, and cultural progress. Its not all about race but the economic gap between the two. Hillary is a WHITE, WOMAN, who is a POPULAR PRESIDENTS WIFE. Especially who was popular amongst Blacks. Blacks havent fared well historically in presidential races so that's not much of an advantage he has. Barack's name betrays him as a Muslim in which many Americans have a rooted dislike and fear of. Barack's race betrays him because he is from a race not well respected among other races within America. There are many well spoken black men with better names that didnt have a chance of winning and I think its a wonderful testament to him that he is even putting up a fight against a person everyone KNEW would be president for the last 4 years. She had a headstart.
You are claiming R. Perry had more power than GWB? He had no veto power!! Governor is executive branch, pres is executive branch. Just look at the record for senate members running for president, its terrible. Obviously this year it will be a senator.
