The Cranky Voter

What’s so great about Geraldine Ferraro?

Okay, I know we are supposed to pay tribute to those who have died. I was always told not to speak ill of the dead. The truth is that I don’t have anything personal against Geraldine Ferraro, except maybe her political opinions were a little extreme, but then again so was Walter Mondale’s although that is not really the point. I am just kind of getting a little cranky about hearing how great she was and how she was such a trailblazer and broke all the molds. You want to call her a good person that is one thing but let’s put history in a little perspective, shall we. She might have been the first woman candidate that was nominated for Vice President of the United States, but she didn’t win the election. I would venture to say she didn’t help the ticket, not that anyone could have significantly helped that ticket.

Walter Mondale and Geraldine Ferraro lost every single state in that election except his home state of Minnesota. Geraldine Ferraro couldn’t even help win the state of New York from where she came, which is historically a very Democratic state. Now you might hear people say that it was because she was a woman and that the great state of New York was somehow sexist. I think that is crap. The reason why they couldn’t win the State of New York and the 48 other states is because both candidates were highly unqualified and their platform included some of the most Liberal positions since Jimmy Carter. You remember Jimmy Carter, probably one of the worst Presidents in the history of the United States. Do you remember stagflation? I remember Stagflation. That was high unemployment and high inflation. Not only couldn’t you get a job, but even if you had a job you couldn’t afford to buy simple things like groceries and gasoline because salaries were not rising with Inflation because of the excess labor supply. Do you remember Stagflation? What about the Iran hostages or gas lines? Mondale, was not only Vice President to a very unpopular President but his primary solution in the election of 1984 was to raise taxes. He basically told America that if he was elected President he would raise taxes to balance the budget, but more importantly raise taxes to spend that money on big government and lunches for kids. With an economy that was booming and an incumbent President that was very popular raising taxes and returning to policies that led to Stagflation was a recipe for failure.

It didn’t matter who Mondale’s Vice Presidential Nominee was as he trailed in the polls. However, one could argue that Geraldine Ferraro was certainly a flawed selection.  She was a three term Congresswoman from New York. With six years in government she hardly had the experience to become President of the United States. Rarely does an elected member of Congress have the gravitas to make the jump from the Legislative branch to the Executive branch especially one with only 6 years experience. Before she was in the Congress she was a Sex Crime Prosecutor, an honorable profession but hardly the experience that would help you run the most powerful nation in the world. However, even if you accepted this experience and claimed that it somehow qualified her to run for Vice President, the real reasons that she was a poor selection had more to do with the intangibles. The fact that as a New Yorker and former prosecutor she had a very edgy and tough personality that works very well in a Court room and in New York City, but perhaps doesn’t help her much in other parts of the country. In addition, there were rumors about her husband’s business dealings. Now perhaps it was discrimination of a whole different kind, and that she was judged more for being Italian than being female, but there was significant questions that could not be adequately answered. Now I am not saying that her husband was corrupt or involved with organized crime, but some of the business dealings that were being discussed did seem a bit shady. I am not saying that because he is Italian, I am saying that because when you listen to the types of business dealings he was accused of being involved with, it sounded a bit … well … shady.  Shady regardless of his being Italian. Shady. The real question is that even if they were being accused unjustly, why do you need to nominate a candidate that might have the perception of scandal? Why nominate a candidate that had such limited experience in Government? Why nominate a candidate that had such an edgy persona? Why choose a candidate from New York State, which in any other year you should win? There certainly were other potential candidates that had more experience, a more acceptable demeanor and didn’t have the questionable background that Ferraro had.

Now let’s be really honest about the choice of Ferraro. If she wasn’t female, she would have never been selected as the Vice Presidential Nominee that year. She really wasn’t qualified. Mondale was going to choose a woman even if he hadn’t picked Ferraro. All of the other potential candidates for the Vice Presidential Nominee were also women. If there were any men being considered for the Vice Presidential Nomination I certainly don’t remember who they were. I remember the other women being discussed, candidates like Barbara Mikulski and Pat Schroeder and Martha Collins, but I don’t remember any men being discussed. So perhaps we can agree that if Ferraro wasn’t chosen, some woman would have been chosen as 1984 was the year of a woman Vice Presidential nominee for the Democratic party. Ferraro was just the lucky lottery winner. She was the chosen one. Analyst Elizabeth Drew said Ferraro was Mr. Mondale’s “best, and perhaps only, hope” for victory. Yeah, I don’t know who this Drew lady was either but she is being quoted all over the place. But you know what, I think that Drew would have made that same comment about Schroeder or Mikulski if they were the selected as the candidate for Vice President.

Desperate people do desperate things and Ferraro was a desperate choice that didn’t help the ticket, didn’t deliver New York and could not save Mondale from himself. He ran a horrible campaign, he had a terrible platform and a stage presence that only Dick Nixon could envy. When I say he was desperate, I mean that he was trailing in the election so badly that he felt that he needed to make a dramatic choice for his Vice Presidential Nominee but the reality was that he could not be saved even if Wonder Women herself were the nominee.  By coincidence, it was the same circumstances that caused McCain in 2008 to select Sarah Palin as his choice for Vice President, but that is a whole other rant. Sarah Palin certainly had a whole different dynamic and set of issues and although unprepared for the spotlight one could argue that her politics were more acceptable to the nation than the man who selected her. You would think that McCain could have learned the lesson that Mondale learned which is people don’t vote for the Vice Presidential candidate, they vote for the President. Although, It makes a great obituary to give Ferraro the credit for creating Sarah Palin and others. Ferraro was credited as paving the way for other women to contend for higher office. Women like Janet Reno, Nancy Pelosi, Madeleine Albright and Sarah Palin. She was called a pioneer and someone who broke the mold. Upon Ferraro’s death Mr. Mondale was credited as saying that Geraldine Ferraro was “a pioneer in our country for justice and a more open society. She broke a lot of molds, and it’s a better country for what she did.”  Yeah, I just don’t buy it.

Anyone that would have been selected as the nominee for Vice President in the 1984 election would have been the same mold breaker. Any woman who was the first would have been considered the pioneer. Any woman who was the first would have been considered the first, but that didn’t necessarily make her a good candidate or the right choice. She could not save Mondale no more than Palin could save McCain. Her selection didn’t make her a trailblazer or a superhero, all it made her was the first woman who when offered the nomination, accepted it. Geraldine Ferraro once said, “My candidacy was a benchmark moment for women. No matter what anyone thought of me personally, or of the Mondale-Ferraro ticket, my candidacy flung open the last door barring equality — and that door led straight to the Oval Office.” I agree with that. Any woman that would have been nominated as the Vice Presidential candidate would have created a benchmark of sorts. However, it would have meant so much more if they had won the election and she became the first woman Vice President of the United States.

So I understand that she just died and people have to talk about her life and pay tribute. Everyone has to come out of the closet and talk about how they were her best friend and how she was their trusted confidant. Talk about her as if she performed some miracle or made any difference. Like any other woman in her position who had been offered the candidacy and accepted the nomination would have accomplished exactly the same thing with no additional effort. Everyone is paying tribute to all she accomplished as if losing an election is some great triumph. Some great accomplishment that any other woman could achieve. It is no great accomplishment to lose. I give credit to Hillary Clinton for actually serving in office as Secretary of State. I give credit to Janet Reno who actually served as Attorney General although some of her decisions could certainly be questioned. I give credit to Condoleezza Rice who was National Security Adviser and Secretary of State before Hillary but somehow is not mentioned in the majority of these articles. I guess Ferraro is responsible for Hillary but not for Condoleezza.

Anyway, I guess the point is I am really not sure what is so great about Geraldine Ferraro and I don’t really understand what she has achieved. Perhaps we should be honoring Walter Mondale, because he was the first Presidential Nominee to have chosen a woman Vice Presidential candidate. Walter Mondale created Geraldine Ferraro. He made her the first women. So perhaps her great accomplishment is really his accomplishment in a sick and twisted kind of way. We talk about her as if she is some sort of hero, trailblazer or pioneer, but her selection had nothing to do with her accomplishment and, in the end, although nominated, she lost the election. Do we celebrate other losers in such a manner? How often do we praise Aaron Burr or Alfred E. Smith or Strom Thurman who were all losers in Presidential Elections. How often do we celebrate Edmond Muskie or Robert Sargent Shriver who were both losing Vice Presidential candidates. Who even knew they ran for office and then lost? But they are in fact all losers, at least in Presidential Politics.

So I guess I am sad that she has died and I wish to send my best to her family and friends, because that is what you are supposed to do, but for goodness sakes she is not the Pope or a former President or even a former Vice President, she is instead a losing Vice Presidential candidate. Geraldine Ferraro’s great accomplishment is that she is a loser and someone else picked her to be a loser. However, it is true that she was the first woman to be a loser. What a hero she is to lose. The very first woman to lose. What a mold breaking accomplishment to be picked by someone else and then lose. Let’s praise the loser.

Well, perhaps that sounds a little cranky and I suppose that it is .. but that is because I am so tired of hearing about her great “accomplishments” and more importantly, I am the Cranky Voter!