Ken's View

PRESIDENTIAL POLITICS

Geraldine Ferraro resigned as a fundraiser for Hillary Clinton because she was attacked as a racist for saying, basically, that if Barack Obama was not an African American he would NOT be a viable candidate for president. This is THE classic problem of this primary season: If you say ANYTHING negative about Obama you are attacked as being a racist.

First, Ferraro is 100% correct: If Barack Obama was a white man he would be laughed out of the race for thinking of running for president with so little experience. And,  yes, Hillary is a viable candidate because she is married to Bill Clinton. And, yes, as Ferraro openly admits, if her name was Jerry Ferraro she would not have been asked to be the vice presidential candidate for Walter Mondale.

When did it become racist to state the truth (and the obvious)? If a person states a classic stereotype about a race, creed, national origin, etc., that is racist (i.e. Jews are cheap, blacks have lower IQs, the Irish are drunks, etc.). That is racist because it assigns a particular characteristic to a particular ethnicity (without any real basis except for personal bigotry and prejudice). But saying that Barack would not be a viable candidate if he wasn't black is not racist; it is true.

One other point: It is silly to say that race and/or gender is/are not issues in this presidential race. They are and will be issues until we are both color and gender blind. It is okay to vote for Obama BECAUSE he is black. I am supporting Hillary, in part, BECAUSE she is a woman (I want to see what a person with less testosterone can do in the White House). What I think is wrong is to DENY that that is a factor in who you are supporting for president. 

That's what I think. Please feel free to go back to the WGAN Morning News page and click on "Email Ken" to tell me what YOU think.

Mike's View 

"Is Hillary Clinton going to be the Democratic Nominee for President?"

Sure she is, maybe in 2012 after McCain goes off to the home or maybe in 2016 after Barack finishes his 2nd term and goes on his motivational speaking tour (you think Bill made a lot of money from speaking engagements...).  Hillary has really big, uh, chutzpah, don’t you think?  She’s offering Obama a chance to take the office that was once described as being the same thing as “a warm bucket of spit”.  Damn nice of her considering he’s in 1st place and the pennant race is in the middle of September, huh?  Remember, these are the Clintons and everything is planned out including what to do when we’re in 2nd place in the division.  Speaking of baseball, can you imagine the Yankees in 2nd place, say 5 games behind the Red Sox with 4 games to play, offering themselves up as the division champs because they feel like they’re better equipped to play the Tigers in the playoffs?  I’m surprised George Steinbrenner didn’t try this last September.  Remember, these are the Clintons and denial is always a part of the plan (“I did not have a sexual relationship with that woman, Miss Lewinsky” or “it’s a vast right wing conspiracy”) and now they are in denial about the Democratic nomination that was supposed to be hers.  Remember one year ago when pundits, including Ken and me, thought “Why bother with the race? She can’t lose.”  (Memo to you, he and I are wrong.., once in a while). 

 

What’s most interesting in my mind is that what got Hillary in the race and made her the frontrunner is what was her undoing, Bill Clinton.  Without being married to Bill she never would have been a viable candidate for President and yet being married to Bill gave her an incredible amount of baggage that she could never get rid of. In the process, the Democrats are going to nominate a greenhorn who has 3 years of Senate experience and all of that has been spent running for President.   The man who was a “Rock Star” amongst Dems and the man who made Dems yearn for the ‘90’s couldn’t get his “partner in crime” elected to the office that he once held, even with his status and their connections to the old guard. 

 

Good luck to my Democratic friends.  Oprah’s pal is the most liberal member of the U.S. Senate and he will certainly be a tough candidate; but while John McCain will still be like your old uncle who stays too long at the family reunion, the GOP will have America thinking Mac is Reagan before its over.  Ah yes, its morning in America..again.

Please feel free to go back to the WGAN Morning News page and click on "Email Mike" to tell me what YOU think.