The Ferraro Factor in Obama’s Speech

In Obama’s speech yesterday, Ferraro was raised in an interesting way..

Ferraro, a former vice presidential nominee, was quoted last week saying Obama wouldn’t be where he is were he white.

Obama today described her assertions as “the implication that my candidacy is somehow an exercise in affirmative action; that it’s based solely on the desire of wild and wide-eyed liberals to purchase racial reconciliation on the cheap.”

“Race is an issue that I believe this nation cannot afford to ignore right now. We would be making the same mistake that Rev. Wright made in his offending sermons about America — to simplify and stereotype and amplify the negative to the point that it distorts reality,” Obama said, to an auditorium packed with invited guests and the media at the National Constitution Center. The small forum for the speech was intentional, the campaign did not want this speech to have the rah-rah feel of a rally.

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