Are Geraldine Ferraro's Comments Racist?

When politicians, celebrities, pundits and others make public statements that are deemed by the media to be controversial or outrageous, my first reaction tends to be to not jump to conclusions until I hear the whole story. It's unwise to rush to judgment based on just a snippet of what was said. It's so easy misrepresent someone's intent when you don't have the whole story.  Of course, politicians, their supporters and talking heads often jump on any tidbit from a speech, and intentionally blow it out of proportion when it suits their own ends, with no regard to the context. We've had far too much of that already, in this election cycle.  Here's what Ms. Ferraro said:

"If Obama was a white man, he would not be in this position. 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."

I first heard the statement quoted by a reporter on a cable TV news channel. It made me cringe momentarily. Then confusion set in as I tried to make sense of her comments. What did Ms. Ferraro really mean by those remarks?  After all, this is an intelligent woman, a former Prosecutor, Congresswoman, and a Democratic Vice Presidential candidate in 1984.  On face value, it seemed to me to be totally ridiculous, but I decided to reserve judgment.  I needed to learn more about Ms. Geraldine Ferraro and I would start with Goggle.com. One of the things I came across which though quite interesting, I only partially agree with, is this "Special Comment" by MSNBC's Keith Olbermann:

Keith Olbermann on Geraldine Ferraro's Comments

I could find no public information from Ferraro's history that would suggest an attitude of racial bias. In addition, since this uproar started, no one who claims to know her or to have worked with her, has had anything but positive things to say about her as a person.  The one thing I found which some suggest reflects a pattern of racial bias on the part of Ms. Ferraro, is the fact that she made similar remarks in 1988 when Jesse Jackson ran for President.  Ferraro said at the time;

"...if Jesse Jackson were not black, he wouldn't be in the race."

I have to say that I was offended by Ms. Ferraro's comments.  However, I disagree with those who have said, based only on these two instances, that she is a racist.  Geraldine Ferraro is no more racist than Bill Clinton but she has no qualms about stoking the fires of racial polarity in this country, for political gain.  She was trying to belittle Sen. Obama, negating his accomplishments by suggesting that his success has more to do with his race than anything else.  We mistakenly assume that one would necessarily have to be racist to play the "race card".  Not so, in my opinion.  My take is similar to that of Sen. Barack Obama. When asked by reporters to respond to her comments, he said:

"I think that anybody who understands the history of this country knows they are patently absurd."

My conclusion is that Ms. Ferraro's remarks, as were Bill Clinton's when he compared Sen. Obama's run for the Presidency to that of  Jesse Jackson's, were driven by over zealousness and desperation to the point of idiocy.