Slate’s Mickey Kaus boldly but carelessly suggests Geraldine Ferraro was right. In setting up his argument, Kaus accuses Obama-booster Andrew Sullivan of uttering the same sentiments as Ferraro in Sullivan’s essay, “Goodbye to All That.” Here are Sullivan’s words, via my excerpt of Kaus’ excerpt:
What does [Obama] offer? First and foremost: his face. Think of it as the most effective potential re-branding of the United States since Reagan …
Consider this hypothetical. It’s November 2008. A young Pakistani Muslim is watching television and sees that this man—Barack Hussein Obama—is the new face of America. In one simple image, America’s soft power has been ratcheted up not a notch, but a logarithm. A brown-skinned man whose father was an African, who grew up in Indonesia and Hawaii, who attended a majority-Muslim school as a boy, is now the alleged enemy. If you wanted the crudest but most effective weapon against the demonization of America that fuels Islamist ideology, Obama’s face gets close. It proves them wrong about what America is in ways no words can.
OK. Now, here’s what 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.
The difference couldn’t be more stark. Sullivan claims that after Obama wins the White House, the global impressions of his ethnicity would punctuate a powerful message. Ferraro claims that Obama has a chance of winning the White House because of his ethnicity. Sullivan speaks of the potential international recognition Americans would earn if they ignore ethnicity in their votes. Ferraro speaks of Americans being fixated on ethnicity in their votes. Sullivan’s argument is prospective, i.e., ethnicity is not central to Obama’s qualifications for the White House, but a potentially valuable asset once he is there. Ferraro’s argument is retrospective, i.e., an equally articulate and capable white man would not have gotten this far.
In other words, yes, ethnicity is inseparably part of who Obama is, but its power is a symbolic power, not a requisite power. Sullivan acknowledges the symbol. Ferraro makes it the root definition of the man.