Race, sex, age - the politics of 'isms'

John Diaz

Sunday, March 16, 2008

Finally, we can stop talking about which is the larger hindrance of the 2008 campaign, racism or sexism.

Geraldine Ferraro, the Democrats' 1984 vice presidential nominee, recast the issue in a way that might make sense to someone who had lived on another planet instead of the United States for the past two centuries: Barack Obama, she suggested, did not have to overcome societal attitudes about race and power. He was the beneficiary of them.

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

Who knew? After 43 white male presidents - without a single African American coming even remotely close to a major-party nomination - the American people were suddenly, inexplicably hell-bent on electing a black president. Life just isn't fair to John Edwards, Joseph Biden, Chris Dodd, Dennis Kucinich and the other off-the-shelf white guys in tailored suits who would have had an easy ride to the nomination if only they were black. It's even crueler to Hillary Rodham Clinton - Ferraro's candidate - who would have the nomination and her own claim to history wrapped up by now if Americans were not so easily seduced by skin pigment.

If Ferraro is right, then many whites who have been voting against affirmative action across the land, including in California, are now determined to remedy the historical lack of diversity at the White House, starting with No. 44. Well, not everyone is on the equality bandwagon. Among the scores of reader letters on the subject last week was one bemoaning that, until Obama, the presidency was "the only area where we were not forced to accept less qualified minorities."

Ferraro's insinuation was unusual only in that it was said out loud. The suggestion that the success of a fast-rising African American is due to race, no matter how apparent his or her skills, infects workplaces everywhere. People who otherwise profess a commitment to equality, and raise their children to regard racism as evil, express resentment at what they see as "special treatment" for minorities - even as white males remain overrepresented at the top of political and corporate echelons.

Obama is not riding the wave of a magical beyond-racism era, he is belying the odds with his remarkable ability to connect with people in settings large and small. Yes, he dominated the black vote in Mississippi, but he also prevailed in the caucuses in Wyoming, where less than 1 percent of the population is black. Obama does not have the luxury of invoking a race-based appeal for votes; if the campaign is polarized in black and white, he loses.

The Clinton campaign has been more overt in appealing to women, who represent more than half of the electorate. Hillary Clinton and her supporters have complained about strains of sexism in her treatment as a candidate, from commentary on her annoying cackle-laugh to her being asked the first questions in debates. Gloria Steinem, the pioneering feminist, has suggested this campaign has shown that sexism is more entrenched, and harder to recognize, than racism in this society.

Perhaps. To be sure, Clinton is in a difficult position, facing criticism for both her projection of steeliness and moments of teary reflection. But some of Steinem's evidence is flimsy, such as her observation that commentators are more likely to use Hillary's first name. If that is sexist, Hillary herself must be held partly accountable. It isn't the Obama campaign, or the white male talking-head team from MSNBC, that are printing all those "Hillary" signs that are perched in apartment windows and surround her at campaign events.

Meanwhile, 71-year-old John McCain must confront his own "ism" - ageism - in questions about whether he is too old to assume the mental and physical rigors of the presidency. (See Insight cover story).

The bottom line is that Barack Obama did not get this close to the Democratic nomination because of his ethnicity. Hillary Clinton did not get a free pass from women voters because of her gender. John McCain did not get a senior discount in the rough-and-tumble Republican primary.

Each of these candidates is fighting stereotypes and doubts because of the way each breaks the mold of presidential politics. To suggest otherwise, as Ferraro did about Obama last week, is absurd. She, of all politicians, should know better

From SF Gate