- BofA On Proposed Changes In The Housing Bailout Program
- The Future of The Media Landscape
- November Auto Sales Muddle Along
- Busch: What Obama Won't Say Tonight
- Stick with Equities—Avoid Emerging Markets: Laszlo Birinyi
- Pfizer Chomps On A Carrot
- Predictions 2010: Technology
- Predictions 2010: Consumers
- Predictions 2010: The Big Picture
- Who Were the Biggest Winners And Losers This Year?
- GE, Comcast Complete Deal Over NBC Universal: Source
- US May Raise Rates Before Jobs Recover: Fed's Plosser
- Stocks Likely Don't Need Santa to Keep Rally Going
- Larry Kudlow's Open Letter to Tiger Woods
- AIG Slashes US Debt Under Deal With New York Fed
- Commercial Property Fears Are Overblown: Zell, LeFrak
- Trump: Time to Force Banks to Start Lending
- Seamstress Fined $5.7 Million for Insider Trading
MOST SHARED
- GE, Comcast Complete Deal Over NBC Universal: Source
- Retailers 'Friend' Facebook as Marketing Budgets Shrink
- Predictions 2010: Technology
- Pending Home Sales Have Record Rise; Construction Flat
- GE, Comcast Will Both Benefit From NBCU Deal: Analysts
- US May Raise Rates Before Jobs Recover: Fed's Plosser
- CNBC's Winners & Losers of 2009 Results
- Predictions 2010: Media
Text Size 
Some mistakes in a campaign have a very limited half-life. That was true of Obama adviser Samantha Power's statement that Hillary Clinton is a "monster" -- an obvious lapse into hyperbolic trash talk that simply reflects the Obama team's anger over the New York senator's tactics. Power resigned.
Others loom larger -- with longer-lasting effects. We may have just seen one of those in the comments of Clinton supporter Geraldine Ferraro, the 1984 Democratic vice presidential nominee. "If Obama was a white man, he would not be in this position," she told a California newspaper.
It's perhaps understandable why Ms. Ferraro, who broke the gender barrier on major-party presidential tickets, would discount Mr. Obama's success in this way. Political opponents viewed her selection by Walter Mondale a generation ago in the same way, and she's arguing that sexism stands in the way of Mrs. Clinton's attempt to break the ultimate glass ceiling by winning the presidency.
But Ms. Ferraro's put-down comes after a series of jibes from Team Clinton that can all be seen as attempts to cut Obama down to size: suggestions from Bill and Hillary Clinton that they'd might offer him the second spot on her ticket, even as he leads the race; the questions they've raised about whether he's qualified to be commander-in-chief; their disparagement of his victories in caucus states.
By linking Obama's emergence to race -- as Bill Clinton appeared to do weeks ago in likening Obama's South Carolina victory to Jesse Jackson's in an earlier campaign -- Ms. Ferraro walked onto very thin ice within a Democratic party that needs African-American support, and that prides itself on progressive racial attitudes.
A Clinton aide quickly declared that "we disagree with" Ms. Ferraro. Don't be surprised if the disavowals grow more strenuous. Diminishing the Obama phenomenon as an affirmative-action candidacy is a dangerous sentiment for the Clinton campaign to be associated with.
Questions? Comments? Write to .
- Will the Fed raise rates? Will the dollar continue its slide? CNBC experts weigh in on the year ahead.
- Goldman Sachs has forbidden employees from gathering in private holiday parties of 12 or more.
- Do you have what it takes to run your own business? Ask yourself these questions.
- Heavily armed pirates in Somalia have set up a sort of stock exhange to fund their hijackings.
- Since its launch in 1998, Google has become a primary force on the Internet. How much do you know about the company?
- A famed author has written all his work on an old typewriter that is now up for auction. The NYT reports.
Data is a real-time snapshot *Data is delayed at least 15 minutes