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Editorial: Stone Age views survive

Matt Zalaznick
Vail Daily Editorial Board

Two white women last week proved closed-minded and bigoted worldviews most of us hoped were dying out are still held by some Americans.

All the more disappointing is that one woman, Geraldine Ferraro, once ran as a Democrat for vice president and is now raising money for Hillary Clinton. The other is an Oklahoma state representative named Sally Kern. Their hateful words go to show the country continues to suffer from a bit of leadership deficit on both ends of the red-blue spectrum.

Ferraro said that the only reason Barack Obama is so popular is because he’s black. She suggested that if he was white ” or even a woman ” voters would be far more turned off by his lack of experience than they would be inspired by his optimism.



Forget that Ferraro and Walter Mondale were losers in the worst landslide any Democrat has ever suffered, and what that says about how well she knows American voters. The latent racism in her comment, even if she doesn’t realize it, is that she is inferring that Americans expect less from a black candidate.

As if Obama was Oprah, Michael Jordan or Tiger Woods, Ferraro’s words suggest, we the people only expect to be superficially entertained by an African American. It’s a sad statement coming from a member of a party that portrays itself as the open, tolerant and progressive side of the political aisle.

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However, Kern, a Republican, vastly outdid Ferraro on the hate-meter. Even more revolting, Kern ” who appears to be standing proudly behind her bigotry ” said recently that homosexuality was the biggest threat to the United States. She compared homosexuality to a cancer that will destroy America if our young people chose the lifestyle.

“I honestly think it’s the biggest threat even, that our nation has, even more so than terrorism or Islam, which I think is a big threat,” Kern said according to several media outlets. “And this, this stuff is deadly, and it’s spreading and it will destroy, uh, our young people, it will destroy this nation.”

We can say we hope these kinds of ugly, outmoded views are dying out, but unfortunately there will always be those among us – leaders included – who have a tough time recognizing the worth of those different than themselves.


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