Obama: the affirmative action candidate?

It. Does. Not. Ever. Stop. Geraldine Ferraro, Clinton campaign fundraiser and advisor, went after Obama in a conversation with a meaningless little, but refreshingly titled California newspaper, The Daily Breeze. What she was voicing, and I assume she was instructed to voice, was the complaint that Obama is winning only because he is black. Huh?

Here's what's going on. There are parts of America, in the suburbs mainly, where people are convinced that their sons, promising young white boys, Eagle scouts and gridiron heroes, are being denied opportunities to study at the best schools because seats are being saved for less qualified black applicants. And, later, after college these same boys are being denied the best jobs in top firms because those jobs are being reserved for black candidates. This hatred of affirmative action--even where affirmative action policies aren't in place, or where they have been rolled back--is pronounced and unshakable. The Pennsylvania primary is six weeks away. And Pennsylvania is doted with communities where voters believe affirmative action is unfair and harmful (at least to their interests). This is an effort to speak to them. It is the Clinton campaign saying: Barack Obama is the affirmative action candidate. He is only where he is because he is taking advantage of an affirmative action impulse in our political process. And if you hate affirmative action. And if you hate those blacks who take jobs away from you. Well you should hate Obama too.

Update (3/13): Alright, after watching Ferraro continue to insist that she is a victim, of reverse racism, of the Obama campaign, of sexism, while continuing to hammer home her misguided point that Obama is the luckiest man in America, I accept that Hillary's campaign isn't orchestrating this. I mean, they can't be that stupid. Right? Or are they? I am certain Ferraro would shut up if the Clinton campaign told her to. Her embarrassing appearance on NBC News last night seemed like the kind of spin the Clinton campaign would want. Ann Curry certainly helped, allowing Ferraro to position the story as a product of Obama campaign staffers grabbing hold of a story from a small paper and employing it for their own purposes. Curry never said: "Well apart from these original comments, which you claim were made innocently to a small audience, you then returned to say you were a victim of racism and you were being targeted because you are white; can you comment on that?" Even with Curry holding her tongue, Ferraro still came off bad. Like so many others who view black success stories as a product of privileged opportunities, she diminshes Obama, portraying his success as a mystery that can only be explained with reference to our enormous, misguided generosity as a society, rushing forward, as we do, to open doors for African Americans and to thrust positions upon them. In Ferraro's words: "Is it because he is a Senator from Illinois? I don't think so." Wink wink. Then, like people who are racists, but don't like to think of themselves as racists, she plays the "some of my best friends are black" card (Susan Rice, I know her well) and the "I have always worked for black rights" card. Since the Clinton campaign won't do it, let me say it: Ferraro needs to stop appearing on television. She says she wants this controversy to end, that she has been a victim of the fallout, and yet she KEEPS SHOWING UP TO TALK ABOUT IT SOME MORE. My son is two years old. Yet he understands this: when you do something wrong and are given some time alone in your crib as a result, you don't talk about what you did wrong when mommy and daddy come to retrieve you from the crib. And once free from the crib, you certainly don't walk right back into the living room and throw a sippy cup at your sister again. Ferraro doesn't seem to have the common sense my two year old does.