| by Dr. Jeffrey Lant In 1984 a streaked-blond, peanut-butter-and-jelly-making mom made history... before she became an object lesson in unwittingly hurting the candidate and political party she was there to help. Her name was Geraldine A. Ferraro, and now she is dead at 75, March 26, 2011 of complications from multiple myeloma, a blood cancer she had doggedly battled for 12 years. Her day of days, July 11, 1984. Arguably the most important day in at least her public life occurred July 11, 1984 when Walter "Fritz" Mondale made history by selecting U.S. Representative Geraldine Ferraro as his vice presidential running mate. At a stroke, she became the first major-ticket VP candidate... and the first national Italian-American candidate, two facts which proved to be critical in her startling ascent and the muddle, distractions, and stumblings which followed. A presidential candidate's first important act is the selection of a vice presidential nominee. Americans look to their presidential candidates to demonstrate executive problem-solving skills and leadership. But such a candidate, unless he is president himself (when he and his record automatically become the focus of the campaign) have a big problem which must be handled early and without error. While they might have the skills to be president and even an impressive list of important accomplishments and decisions should they, say, have been governor of a major state (like Reagan and California), voters are still being asked to gamble that a person who has never made presidential- level decisions can, in fact, make them, not surprise the nation (as has happened often enough) with ineptitude; (like Jimmy Carter, the master of Oval Office missteps and pratfalls.) The only person immune from this aspect of any given campaign is an incumbent. If there is such an incumbent, he automatically becomes the virtual sole focus of the campaign, pro or con. (Obama take note). But that problem, in 1984, was Reagan's. Mondale's problem was the usual one of an out-of-power party... showing America it would be better off with a new president it didn't know much about, instead of retaining the incumbent they already knew, but who now stood before them no longer fresh, battle-scarred, and, of course, (whatever his achievements) with the usual legion of second-guessing detractors. For the challengers the selection of the right VP candidate is crucial, couldn't be more important. Yet candidates often (quick, can you say Senator John McCain?) muff this business... and help derail their own campaigns, by turning what should have been a plus into an unexpected minus. America always notes this with alarm, incredulity, disdain, and usually dismissal. "Fritz" Mondale... the nicest guy in the world... except for Ronald Reagan. Mondale, Jimmy Carter's vice president, was by common repute a deeply honorable, good natured, well balanced man. He was the boy next door about, so the Democrats hoped, to get the prize ordinarily kept from the nice guys famously finishing last. But he had a problem. "(Most) everybody loves Ronald" Ray-Gun. He needed a way to lay a finger on the guy and help America wise up. Because the Democrats thought Reagan unsympathetic to women's issues... they needed a candidate who could help galvanize women. Abigail Adams, wife of the second president, had written him "don't forget the ladies." Democrats didn't intend to. But how? There she is... Mrs. America... Geraldine Ferraro. She was pert, lively, credible, a real-life mom with real-life mom joys and dilemmas. She was also a former Queens, New York prosecutor. There she battled the intractable problems of a great city which had them to spare; her daily diet rape, crimes against the elderly, child and wife abuse, so draining she later rote they caused her to develop an ulcer. And the liberal principles which, at her best, defined her. At the urging of Mario M. Cuomo, then lieutenant governor of New York and another "Italo" wanting friends for his own ambitions, suggested she run for Congress. She did, ultimately winning 3 terms, learning fast the tribal rituals of the House of Representatives and, most of all, learning to work with its chiefs. This included House Speaker Thomas O'Neill. He liked her and helped her advance within the establishment to chairwoman of the Democratic Platform Committee, a plum assignment for understanding the party and its players nationwide. In due course, it was O'Neill who urged Mondale to select her as his running mate. It goes without saying that all Democratic congresswomen (they called themselves the A Team) were in her corner, saying that Geraldine was what they needed to wow the women, and the nation. "Fritz" bit... and made the calculated decision to put a woman on the ticket. Whether she was the best available woman, or not, will always be argued. She was a gal, she was a great, tireless campaigner with a feisty, upbeat style people liked... all to the good. But... and these were big buts... she knew nothing of the world beyond Queens (a problem most of its denizens have); she had no executive experience at all... and absolutely no foreign policy experience or expertise. But Mondale selected her anyway. This turned his dull nominating convention into a thrilling celebration of women in America, their inexorable, soul-stirring progress to the heights of the nation. As Ferraro said "If we can do this, we can do anything." Millions felt uplifted, glasses raised, tears shed. It was a signature American event... ... And it began to fall apart within just hours as questions began to be raised about her husband's financial and tax records. There were nasty innuendos, too, about organized crime, god fathers, the paraphernalia of ethnic hate. Mondale learned the hard way that behind every successful woman candidate is a husband... the man he didn't select, but who could cause an entire campaign to stumble. So it was with Ferraro and the man she loved. Thus, Ferraro and her connections became part of Mondale's problem... instead of the solution she had once appeared to be. In the end, of course, she probably wasn't the ultimate cause for Mondale's demise. Ronald Reagan was. America loved Reagan (despite lapses and errors). And he was becoming, right before their eyes not merely a president but a statesman, a man they liked, trusted and revered. Fritz never had a chance, and of course Ferraro went down with him. Now the mom from Queens is gone, a footnote in history, not a chapter. But I prefer to remember the best moment of her busy life: "If we can do this, we can do anything." She was absolutely right about that. |
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