You folks missed the point. OBVIOUSLY a lot of Obama's support comes from the fact that he's black, just as Hillary's support comes from the fact that she's a woman. However, what Ferraro has insinuated over and over is that Obama's other qualities pale in comparison to his race and gender. In other words, she insists that his support is UNEARNED, because in her view he has no other "presidential" qualities other than his race and gender. This is not only buying into racist logic, it's dismissive of all of his supporters, black, white, whatever. (The comparison to Edwards is not quite apt, as their speaking styles differ, and some have accused Edwards of being a phony, etc. And I'm saying this as and Edwards supporter. He was also farther left than these other two, policy-wise.) Imagine if someone in Obama's campaign said that the only reason people are voting for Hillary is because she has a vagina, and/or that a popular former president has access to that vagina. It would be offensive in the extreme. It's true that Hillary owes a lot to women supporting her just because she's a woman, and to the fact that she's the former First Lady. But she's also a smart, tough, qualified candidate with good ideas--just like Obama. Had those other qualities been absent she would definitely not have been able to cruise to this stage based on her vaginal status alone. To suggest that she wouldn't have gotten this far without those qualities is extremely demeaning. Lastly, you don't have to be "a racist" as such to say racist things (which goes for everyone: black people can say racist things about black people--just go over to BET). You can harbor touches of racism, most of them unconscious. You don't have to resent people to be racist. Racism is culturally situated, a discourse. THAT'S HOW IT WORKS. It's a reason why saying "Asian people are good at math" is racist and ultimately demeaning, even though it's "positive" racism. So, Ferraro may "not have a racist bone in her body," but what she said was racist. And ironically, her umbrage and the fact that she cannot see how this was the case actually underscores the point. The author is right: it is the banal, unconscious, normative type of racism that's most pernicious (and widespread).