Let me first say that it’s classless and unnecessary for a public figure to point to Obama’s race as the reason he is where he is.  Call it political correctness or anything else you like, there are some things that are better left unsaid.  People can end up offended regardless of intention and for that reason it would have been better if Ferraro had not said anything about Obama’s race.

That being said, I’m not sure that she’s wrong.  It’s hard to control for any single variable of candidate.  Obama certainly wouldn’t be where he is if he didn’t have the ability to inspire. He certainly wouldn’t be where he is if he wasn’t so damn smart.  And he probably wouldn’t be where he is if he wasn’t so good at campaigning.  But it’s also possible, even likely that if he weren’t black he wouldn’t be where he is.  There are a lot of reasons for that,  to name a few: the excitement of his presidency as a historic first, his enormous support in the Black community, and even the formative effect his race has had on his personality and policy.

There’s a problem for Clinton that I haven’t seen anyone talk about that goes far beyond being affiliated with someone who said stupid things.  That problem is the answer to the question “why did Hillary make it this far?”

In the same way that Ferraro is right about Obama, Ferraro is also right when says that if her name was Gerard she wouldn’t have been on the ticket in 84.   But the name that matters for the junior Senator from New York is not her first name, it’s her last. Being a woman wouldn’t have gotten Hillary this far.  If her last name was Clonton instead of Clinton she wouldn’t be where she is. Hillary Clonton, the Yale educated corporate lawyer would have been laughed off the campaign trail when compared with the exciting and inspiring Barack Obama.

Therein lies the biggest problem with these remarks.  They might be right. But if they are, we have a battle of two people representing something historic. One is Barack Obama, who, by getting to where he is because of his blackness, will, among other things, provide hope to millions of Americans in a community that has experience very little to be hopeful about in its rocky history. The other is Senator Clinton, who, by getting to where she is because she is an ex-first lady, will among other things provide hope to 41 (James Buchanan never married) wives of ex-presidents, most of whom are sadly no longer alive.