Certainly a rough week for Senator Obama.
It matters not that former Congresswoman Ferraro’s racially insensitive comments—and her subsequent reiterations—were universally repudiated. Nor is it significant that that Obama handled the controversy with true statesmanship, refusing to brand Ms. Ferraro a racist but instead simply illustrating the inaccuracy of her viewpoint.
Irrelevant is Obama’s denunciation of his former pastor’s extreme and startling remarks, and the remarkable character he displayed by simultaneously refusing to repudiate the man who had brought him to God. It is not important that his immediate response to each unfortunate comment by a supporter offers a stark contrast to Senator Clinton’s actions in similar situations.
At the end of this week, what truly counts is that all of us are talking about garbage—about race, and racism, and “reverse racism” (itself a racist term). About gender and religious identity. About frightening middle names and sociological dividing lines. About anything and everything unrelated to the issues at hand and the future of the nation.
We are now in the mud—and everyone knows which of the two Democrats stands to benefit. But Senator Clinton does not realize the true harm she is doing: While dragging the race into the muck may be her only shot at the nomination, it simply makes John McCain’s eventual election more likely, no matter whom he faces.
It matters not that former Congresswoman Ferraro’s racially insensitive comments—and her subsequent reiterations—were universally repudiated. Nor is it significant that that Obama handled the controversy with true statesmanship, refusing to brand Ms. Ferraro a racist but instead simply illustrating the inaccuracy of her viewpoint.
Irrelevant is Obama’s denunciation of his former pastor’s extreme and startling remarks, and the remarkable character he displayed by simultaneously refusing to repudiate the man who had brought him to God. It is not important that his immediate response to each unfortunate comment by a supporter offers a stark contrast to Senator Clinton’s actions in similar situations.
At the end of this week, what truly counts is that all of us are talking about garbage—about race, and racism, and “reverse racism” (itself a racist term). About gender and religious identity. About frightening middle names and sociological dividing lines. About anything and everything unrelated to the issues at hand and the future of the nation.
We are now in the mud—and everyone knows which of the two Democrats stands to benefit. But Senator Clinton does not realize the true harm she is doing: While dragging the race into the muck may be her only shot at the nomination, it simply makes John McCain’s eventual election more likely, no matter whom he faces.
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