Obama Wins MS, Blogosphere Erupts Over Ferraro
The delegate count -- a soft total -- is 19 for Obama and 11 for Hillary Clinton. We now have six weeks to breathe -- but Pennsylvanians don't. The next contest is there on 22 April.
Meanwhile, back at the ranch, the blogosphere has predictably erupted in response to comments made by former Democratic vice presidential candidate Geraldine Ferarro.
Ferarro told the Daily Breeze:
"I think what America feels about a woman becoming president takes a very secondary place to Obama's campaign - to a kind of campaign that it would be hard for anyone to run against," she said. "For one thing, you have the press, which has been uniquely hard on her. It's been a very sexist media. Some just don't like her. The others have gotten caught up in the Obama campaign.
"If Obama was a white man, he would not be in this position," she continued. "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." Ferraro does not buy the notion of Obama as the great reconciler.
"I was reading an article that said young Republicans are out there campaigning for Obama because they believe he's going to be able to put an end to partisanship," Ferraro said, clearly annoyed. "Dear God! Anyone that has worked in the Congress knows that for over 200 years this country has had partisanship - that's the way our country is."
She also said that she would not have been the 1984 VP candidate had she been male.
Gender is a more significant barrier than race, Ferraro said. "It's OK to be sexist in some people's minds. It's not OK to be racist."
Overlooked in the predictable furor: Ferraro said that the media have played a "far larger [role] than anything I've seen before."
I've not been able to find any post-event report (she spoke at the Armstrong Theatre in Torrance, CA on Sunday). I'd like to know what she said, since she was going to talk about super delegates (she said she had a hand in creating them).
In any case, Ferraro speaks a truth, one that may be uncomfortable. In Mississippi, like South Carolina and Maryland and DC, black voters overwhelmingly voted for Obama. You don't get 90 percent of the men in the country voting in lockstep (except, maybe, Senate and House Republicans). You don't get 90 percent of the women in the country voting in lockstep (not even on abortion, an issue that has gender impact).
In the WaPo Ramesh_Ponnuru concurs:
But Ferraro is clearly right as an analytical matter. Some Obama supporters back him because they want to make history--and his race has a lot to do with their belief that he will. It is also the reason he has such strong support from African Americans, without which Clinton would be beating him.
Although I disagree with Kevin Drum's assertion that Clinton should withdraw (with a 15% difference in state delegates, people who can change votes after the first ballot? would any male candidate withdraw in a race this close? you know the answer), I'm with him in his critique, The Hillary Feeding Frenzy.
From the blogosphere: The Corner, InstaPundit, Michelle Malkin