In her latest obvious attempt to intentionally insert race into the minds of the American electorate Senator Hillary Clinton called on former Queens Congresswoman Geraldine Ferraro to do the dirty-work .
In a fiery interview with Torrance, California newspaper the Daily Breeze, Ferraro attributed Senator Barack Obama's campaign success and position as a possible Democratic presidential candidate to the color of his skin.
"If Obama was a white man he would not be in this position." the former vice presidential candidate was quoted as saying. "And if he was a woman of color he would not be in this position. He's very lucky to be who he is. And the country is caught up in the concept."
Taken out of context? Read the original article for yourself.
The Obama camp vented steam publicly over the incident with the usual indignation now common to candidates from both parties - the New York Post's page 19 headline labeled it a "Slap at Obama."
When asked about top Obama adviser David Axlerod's accusation that her comments were proof positive that Clinton was condoning the use of race Ferraro asserted in a follow-up interview with the the Daily Breeze, "I really think they're attacking me because I'm white. Hows that?"
Was it anger over never quite having gotten over the ass-kicking she Walter Mondale got at the hands of the Reagan-Bush ticket in 1984? A hot-flash perhaps?
Whatever it was Hillary was quick to distance herself from Ferraro's somewhat pedestrian reduction of Obama's broad-based support to his skin color.
She danced cunningly onto the stage of the National Newspaper Publisher's Association (an association of over 200 African-American community papers) and was all apologies.
Then she ceremoniously slapped Ferraro's wrist by booting her off the campaign's finance committee.
On the one hand I'm kind of glad to see Gerry's still out there mixing it up but the reality is her confusing old neighborhood Queens-inspired take on Obama's political appeal does nothing to raise the level and quality of dialog and exchange of ideas in this race.
If that's all the Clinton camp can offer up to distract the voters and media from Obama's victory in the Mississippi primary then there's a sense of either ruthless desire to win this race, or desperation.
I suspect it's a mix of both with some plain old-fashioned political savvy mixed in. Shrewd strategic play for Hillary and to me it demonstrates she's clearly a tactical thinker who can delegate - even if it was passing on the responsibility of playing the race card to others.
Stay gold Pony-girl.
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