Ferraro's Fatuity

Geraldine Ferraro said yesterday that Barack Obama is only in the position he's in because he's black (or words to that effect). It's only the novelty of his candidacy that attracts, she thinks.

She should know: if it were not for her status as a fellow "firster" (first woman on a major-party ticket), the three-term Congresswoman from Queens would be indistinguishable in history from the likes of other running mates to landslide losers, like Charles McNary (Wendell Wilkie's in 1940), William E. Miller (Goldwater's in 1964), Sargent Shriver (McGovern's second one, in 1972, though he also has starting the Peace Corps for his brother-in-law JFK on his slate), and, to be fair, FDR (running mate to James Cox in the Democrats' landslide defeat in 1920).

She should know, but unfortunately she doesn't. Obama is a rare talent, who possesses a sharp mind, unique oratorical skill, and apparently much greater ability in heading up a national campaign than his current opponent, Ferraro's choice, Hillary Clinton.

Hillary and her husband have been going around suggesting what a good VP candidate (and, presumably, VP office-holder) Obama would make, prompting some to note what a contradiction that makes with their suggestions that he's not quite ready for prime time. Not that I'm trying to help them figure out what they should be saying (and we know they'll say whatever is necessary), but a more intelligent formulation that would not be self-contradictory would be a simile: Obama is like a newly-bottled fine wine--we should buy it, and put it away until it is ready to be consumed. That would at least do justice to the Clintons' deserved reputations as connoisseurs of political talent.

Alternatively, one could say that being an African-American (in a more literal sense than most, notwithstanding his white mother) does, in part, make him what he is. In Obama, we have someone whose candidacy presents a unique opportunity:
-- to American voters to redeem themselves (collectively, not individually) for forty-some years of bad decisions in national elections (I'm including Bill Clinton, who I'd say in fairness was the best we could expect, given our poor methods of Presidential selection, but whose eventual political decline should have been readily foreseen given our full knowledge of his flawed character when we elected him);
--to repair our poor reputation in the world, resulting from our miserable foreign and military policies;
--to bring political participation at the most basic levels (voting, electoral organizing, running for public office) back into respectability, and even to make it "cool"; and
--to mark a definitive end to Bushite Misrule and Bush/Clinton dynastic leadership.

As for Ferraro and her fatuous remark, the most amazing thing is that she is "standing by" it. With her, they make a fine couple of inanities.