David Dante Troutt

Theater of the Patently Absurd or “Bitch Is the New Black”

“The knock on the Clintons—the candidacy as well as the campaign—has always been that they would say anything to get elected and exploit divisions rather than build bridges.  Both of those traits were on fatalistic display when Geraldine Ferraro, a Clinton fundraiser, recently asserted that Barack Obama is lucky to be a black man or he could not hope to come this far.

“The country,” she added, “is caught up in the concept.”What makes these comments so consistent with the campaign has less to do with Ferraro’s position as a fundraiser for Hillary than their tone.  Anyone can do that and anyone can opine.  It’s the familiar vituperative ring tone and an emerging take-no-prisoners attitude toward race from people who seem resentful that black voters have left them.

“So, Ferraro was “furious” and “livid” when Obama called her remarks “patently absurd.”   “Every time that campaign is upset about something, they call it racist,” she responded.  “I will not be discriminated against because I am white.”

“ Ordinarily, these are fighting words.  After all, they follow the Clintons’ numerous campaign comments and innuendo about Obama’s acknowledged drug use, Hillary’s abandonment of black voters in South Carolina, Bill Clinton’s belittling of black votes, Jesse Jackson’s presidential runs and that demeaning “young man” comment.  It’s likely the campaign leaked the photo of Obama in Somali dress, and it is certain that Hillary deliberately wavered in denying that Obama was not a Muslim.  Even the absurdly successful attempt to cast the frontrunner as a plausible vice presidential running mate exudes a sense of entitlement.

“ Call it a campaign because it is a campaign:  To discredit Obama’s standing with voters by appealing to racial myth, fear and unconscious racism.

“ I remember a different Ferraro.  I was a proud college student and the lone male of my household when Walter Mondale picked her as the first woman running mate in 1984 and set my awe in motion.  Almost ten years later, I was working as a lowly, nameless associate at a big law firm and spent a little time with her.  We were conducting a mock human rights trial on genocide in Bosnia-Herzegovina, and Ms. Ferraro was our star witness.  I sheepishly helped to prepare her on the law.  She was just as gracious and strong and forthright as I had always admired her to be.  We were briefly joined by our shared belief in humanity.  I was star struck.

“But she’s wrong now and in ways that may prove irreparable for the Democratic Party.  The central flaw in her remarks is a conflation commonly made in talk about race—that is, the difference between equality and symmetry. The idea of equality is a complicated mess, but most of us agree that when it comes to racial equality the principle requires finding present opportunity in the context of a very unequal past.  Therefore, most of us would not assume equal chances between someone who comes from a family of generational privileges and someone whose family has been denied them for generations.  We want opportunities to be equal for both, but we know that we do not start from the scratch of the present moment.

“ Ferraro’s comments about Obama’s presidential appeal turn the reality of a first-viable black candidacy on its head by claiming that he is somehow being given unequal treatment by an electorate “caught up in the concept.”  If the overwhelming blackness of Hurricane Katrina’s deaths and survivors were not enough evidence, news last week that one in fifteen black men are incarcerated (and disenfranchised) offers only a statistical glimpse of the disfavored status of black men in the polity.  Behind the numbers are anecdotes all around that reveal how in educational access and achievement, employment and economic mobility—everywhere but on a stage or in sports—being a black man is about the most unequal person you’d ever want to be.  Obama was right.  On the facts about equality, Ferraro’s comment was patently absurd.

“ Yet Ferraro’s reply to the response shows an irreconcilable demand for symmetry.  Symmetry is the conservative idea of equality which sees no history, recent or long past.  It demands that both sides have exactly the same thing this very moment.  Symmetry is the battle cry of affirmative action opponents.  “Racism works in two different directions,” she explained.

“ This obsession with symmetry leaves a lot of people of color shaking their heads (and their fists).  The more it’s demanded, the more elusive it becomes.  Twice since January we have seen the Clinton campaign resort directly or indirectly to racial messages—now and surrounding South Carolina.  Each time, the national press, like Ferraro, suggest that “both sides” have gotten nasty.  This simply isn’t true, and the expectation of symmetry obscures a lot.  Comments by Samantha Power, an Obama advisor, calling Hillary a “monster” were the only ad hominem remarks about her, but they were neither about her race or her gender.  One should have an equal opportunity to be feel offended by a perceived racist slight without being lumped in with your attacker.  And the great irony is, the greatest show of asymmetry in the whole election this far—is that Hillary Clinton and Geraldine Ferraro may speak openly, fervently and proudly about their gender without dooming their campaign and Barack Obama cannot do the same with his race.  Comb the record.  You will not find him doing that.  His blackness is so obvious it cannot dare be mentioned by him or anyone near his campaign.

“ Indeed, the substance of Ferraro’s remarks reflected her concern that sexism is evident in some of the campaign coverage (and there’s something to this, I believe).  Hillary has made similar claims more than once.  Yet no one will ever assume they can find their voice on behalf of Obama with the kind of “humor” expressed by comic Tina Fey on Hillary’s new favorite, Saturday Night Live: “Bitch is the new black!”

“ This race-gender/silence-assertion irony reveals many things—some bad, some good.  On the one hand, it is unfortunate that Obama cannot speak with his customary eloquence and thoughtfulness (outside of his books) on an issue most Americans wish they understood a little better.  On the other, it may be part of an unprecedented approach to transformation and unity that has attracted millions of black voters and many millions more whites to his candidacy. Many of those voters used to be Clinton supporters, especially blacks.  Given Obama’s silence about race and Clinton’s baiting of it, her rapidly eroding support among black voters may have more to do with the vision of community she is offering than with his message.  Either way, nothing better demonstrates the differences between their candidacies than these issues.  And nothing more clearly foreshadows electoral doom in November either.  If there is anything this nation should be tired of it’s fighting unjustified wars.

David Dante Troutt’s most recent books are “The Importance of Being Dangerous” and “After the Storm: Black Intellectuals Explore the Meaning of Hurricane Katrina.”  He is a professor of law at Rutgers University.

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