In a recent telephone interview with the Daily Breeze, a Southern California newspaper, 1984 Democratic vice presidential candidate, Geraldine Ferraro, was questioned about the battle for the 2008 Democratic presidential nomination.

She said, “I think what America feels about a woman becoming president takes a very secondary place to Obama’s campaign – to a kind of campaign that it would be hard for anyone to run against. For one thing, you have the press, which has been uniquely hard on her. It’s been a very sexist media…”

Then, in a rare moment of candor for a liberal Democrat, she said, “If Obama was a white man he would not be in this position. And if he was a woman… of any color… he would not be in this position. He happens to be very lucky to be who he is. And the country is caught up in the concept.”

Ferraro, a member of the Clinton Finance Committee, was immediately attacked by the Obama campaign for her “racist” remark. Defending her comments, she said, “Any time anybody does anything that in any way pulls (the Obama) campaign down and says let’s address reality and the problems we’re facing in this world, you’re accused of being racist, so you have to shut up…”

Ferraro protested that she was merely stating an obvious truth, pointing to exit polls which show Obama taking as much as 80 percent of the black vote in the Democratic primaries.

In an interview with an ABC News affiliate, Hillary Clinton was apparently caught off guard by Ferraro’s blunt assessment. She said, “Well, I don’t agree with that and I think it’s important that we try to stay focused on issues that matter to the American people.”

She continued, “… both of us have had supporters and staff members who’ve gone over the line and we have to reign (sic) them in and try to keep this on the issues…”

The problem is… Ferraro was right. If Obama were a white junior senator with less than one term in the U.S. Senate (does the name John Edwards ring a bell?), his chances of making a successful run for his party’s nomination would be slim and none.

Edwards was, if anything, a more effective stump speaker than Obama, he was absolutely shameless in his pandering to the radical left, he brazenly used his wife’s breast cancer to jump-start his second campaign for the White House, he had all the wealth of America’s trial lawyers behind him… and he still couldn’t get the job done.

Has the time come when a black man or woman can be elected President? Yes, of course. If former Secretary of State Colin Powell, or current Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, were to seek the Republican presidential nomination they would stand an excellent chance of winning the nomination, and, if nominated, they would likely be elected. The difference is, they would be elected on the basis of their qualifications and on their right-of-center political philosophy, not on the color of their skin.

It leaves Democrats with two major dilemmas. First, after spending the better part of 50 years convincing African Americans that they are victims of modern day racism and that, without the aid and sponsorship of Democrats they have no chance to participate in the American Dream, they are now confronted with a black candidate who tends to prove all of that to be a lie.

And finally, their unique system of “super delegates,” made up of party bigwigs and elected officials, now turns out to be the party’s own private minefield.

The “super delegate” system was designed to mirror the U.S. Electoral College. Its purpose was to prevent the party’s unruly mobs from making what might otherwise be a fatal mistake. But now, as the party drifts irretrievably toward an Obama candidacy, an almost certain loser in November, the super Delegates are prevented from playing the role they were intended to play. Why? Because Barack Obama is black and the “super delegates” dare not fulfill their purpose by short-circuiting the fortunes of a black candidate.

Any reasonable analysis of the past three General Elections will show the importance of the black vote to Democratic success at the polls. With blacks representing roughly 17% of our population, if they voted in roughly the same percentages as the rest of America … 52-48 percent, or 53-47 percent for Democrats over Republicans, or vice versa… the balance of power in the United States Senate would now be, roughly speaking, 75 Republicans, 24 Democrats, and 1 Independent.

That, in a nutshell, is how important the black vote is to the Democrat Party. The continued viability of the party depends on their ability to let Barack Obama have the 2008 presidential nomination… no matter what.

On those rare occasions when a liberal Democrat speaks the truth it should be cause for celebration. Instead Geraldine Ferraro has been driven out of the Clinton campaign and probably into the footnotes of American political history. She spoke the truth, it cannot be denied.