Real Life Politics

Washington Post opinion columnist Ruth Marcus was online Wednesday, March 19 at 1 p.m. ET to discuss her recent columns and the latest news.

The transcript follows.

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Ruth Marcus: Hi everyone. Looking forward to answering your questions today.

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Anonymous: I am very glad that Mrs Clinton is going to win the battle, because she is a woman just like me -- the only difference is that in our culture women are not supposed to win, they are just expected to be good and obedient. I feel honored to see that a woman is going to be the president of the United States. I wish her luck and victory.

Ruth Marcus: Hi -- I'm not sure that your assumption about who is going to "win the battle" is correct. The battle is continuing for a long time, as far as I can see, and I'd give the edge to Obama at this point because he is ahead in pledged delegates.

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Anonymous: Would you also state that "if Obama doesn't win, it's not because of his race"? Also, do you think you are too liberal to be objective?

washingtonpost.com: The Force of Gender (Post, March 5)

Ruth Marcus: I'm not supposed to be objective -- I'm a columnist, and I'm supposed to provide both analysis and opinion. And I'm sorry, but there are too many double negatives in your first question to make sure I'm answering it properly. I think: if Obama doesn't win, race may well be a factor in that, although not the only factor.

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St. Paul, Minn.: Ms. Marcus -- Thank you for your excellent idea in your column today about a three-way debate. Perhaps then Sen. McCain could be asked why, for all his self-proclaimed foreign policy expertise, he seemed not to know the most basic facts about the political situation in Iraq and needed Sen. Lieberman to set him straight. I fear that, in the long process to name a Democratic nominee, this very disturbing fact quickly will be forgotten.

washingtonpost.com: Debate Dream Team (Post, March 19)

Ruth Marcus: I thought that was an odd comment from Sen. McCain, and I do think that it would have gotten a lot more attention were it not coming from someone who generally is judged to have a lot of foreign policy expertise.

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Wilmington, Del.: Your column and George Will's recent column on "experience" both left me wondering about the "what ifs" of Clinton's career trajectory. What if she never had been a political spouse? Would she have still made her way to the U.S. Senate? From what state? If so, would she ever have been considered a potential presidential candidate, at least without an initial stop as vice president? What would separate her from a Mikulski or Landrieu, both of whom are, while each very different, wonderfully skilled politicians, neither of whom I ever can remember being spoken of as potential presidential candidates?

Or, more basically, would she ever have even entered into elected politics without having started at such a high office? It is easy enough to imagine her having made her way to a senior advisory or cabinet position absent having been married to Bill Clinton. I must admit it is harder to imagine her working her way up the elected ranks like Deborah Stabenow or Maria Cantwell without being the celebrity candidate with such special experience.

Ruth Marcus: We'll never know -- but she was the commencement speaker at Wellesley, graduate of Yale Law School, and friends did argue that she was throwing away a brilliant career to follow Bill Clinton to Arkansas ... so, hard to say what might have happened in an alternate universe.

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Washington: Is there an eloquent female preacher in American history?

Ruth Marcus: Probably not a lot of female preachers in American history.

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Yonkers, N.Y.: Ms. Marcus, I'm sure that I'm the only one who cares, but on your NPR spot yesterday, when you and the other guest were asked to name the "gold standard" of presidential writings -- not counting Jefferson's Declaration of Independence, of course -- there's a very obvious answer that I'm sure many of the listeners knew: Grant's memoirs are looked upon as one of the great narratives ever written in American literature. Not so good a president, but a great writer. Your host should have known that, too. And the general was dying of cancer when he wrote it. Otherwise, I liked the radio spot. Nixon's books are unintentionally a fascinating psychological study, by the way.

washingtonpost.com: Books by Clinton, McCain, Obama Offer Insight (NPR, March 4)

Ruth Marcus: I was sorry that I didn't bring up Churchill's memoirs, actually. (Yes, I know, not a president.)

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Chaska, Minn.: There's been a lot of talk about Hillary's failure to make her tax returns public, but practically none about the fact that John McCain hasn't done so, either. Why is that?

Ruth Marcus: Well, we have editorialized pushing both of them to release their returns, and this is a good reminder to push Sen. McCain again. Sen. Clinton at least has said she'll have hers out next month.

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Boston: Ruth, I am so confused, could you please help? Is Sen. Obama a dangerous Muslim or a crazy Christian? I'm getting my smears all confused...

Ruth Marcus: A friend of mine suggested that this week Sen. Obama would have been better off being Muslim. I thought it was a pretty good line.

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Anonymous: Most analyses I have seen describe McCain's long break until the convention and general election as universally positive for him, including giving him time to strengthen his support among conservatives. Obama and Clinton will at least stay in the headlines, and the more McCain tells Republicans just how conservative he is, the more he would seem to risk alienating the independents who until now have seen him as the most moderate Republican running.

Ruth Marcus: Nonetheless, I'd rather be in McCain's position, and from his point of view the longer the Democrats bicker between themselves the better. He can raise money and start reaching out not only to his base but to independents and Reagan Democrats.

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Rockland, Maine: Buried in a Slate article about autobiographical books that have turned out to have large sections that are untrue is a statement that Barack Obama's autobiography in which he says his father was born in Kenya and spent years there is untrue. It says he was born in and spent 24 years in California. Is this true? If it is, why is it not on the front page of every newspaper, including The Washington Post?

washingtonpost.com: Worst Publishing Week Ever (Slate, March 4)

Ruth Marcus: That's news to me. He certainly spent time in the United States, but I don't think there's any suggestion that his father was not a Kenyan with long-standing ties to and experience in that country.

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Minneapolis: In the last election cycle, much was made about John Kerry "marrying well" into the wealth of Teresa Heinz Kerry. We haven't seen similar rhetoric about McCain. It seems unlikely that McCain would be where he is today if he hadn't married into the wealthy and politically connected Hensley family in Arizona.

Ruth Marcus: What makes you say that? He has a pretty impressive family lineage of his own, was a war hero, and hasn't benefited from her money in terms of putting it into his campaigns, as far as I know. I'm not accepting your premise that John Kerry benefited from his wife's wealth, though.

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Boston: Posting early because of a meeting. I thought the Obama speech was great, but I'm shocked at how much traction he's getting for the "crazy uncle" comparison. We choose our pastors; we don't choose our uncles.

Ruth Marcus: Good point. I was moved by his grandmother comparison, though.

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Fremont, Calif.: Regarding Grant's memoirs, I was under the impression that Mark Twain had a great deal to do with the quality of the writing.

Ruth Marcus: Now I'm going to have to confess that I haven't read them -- but I will.

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Anonymous: How does anyone in the media or a rival campaign say Obama's speech fell short without appearing to race bait the candidate? For example, Michael Gerson this morning called Rev. Wright a political extremist (one of the most common terms used to describe terrorists since Sept. 11). Obama's white grandmother's uneasiness about black men on the street, meanwhile, simply suggested "issues."

Gerson's unwritten implication then becomes that Obama's unwillingness to completely disown Rev. Wright (and the Black Church in a broader context) makes him an "extremist sympathizer." This (fill in the blank)-baiting is similar to the red/race-baiting defenders of Jim Crow who discredited civil rights advocates as communist sympathizers in the 1940s-1960s. Hats off to the Clinton campaign, so far, for recognizing this trap. This is one fascinating election.

washingtonpost.com: A Speech That Fell Short (Post, March 19)

Ruth Marcus: Well, I was very impressed by the speech, but I think it is possible to criticize Sen. Obama's involvement with Rev. Wright without being racist.

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Lieberman Whispering to McCain: Given that Lieberman still caucuses with the Democrats, will he have a price to pay for correcting McCain when he confused the whole Sunni/Shia, Iran/Iraq split? Even though I, as a Democrat, didn't get upset, most liberals are probably apoplectic.

Ruth Marcus: I think the Democrats have many other issues with Sen. Lieberman that just make that a footnote.

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Boston: Count me among the many who wonder why the comments of the Rev. Wright have caused such consternation, while the equally horrendous comments of the Rev. Hagee (who believes Jews are going to be incinerated in the final days except for a "remnant" who agree to become Christians) get a free pass. I know some Christians agree with the Rev. Hagee, but most find him rather extreme. So why the double standard in media outrage? Nobody pressures Sen. McCain to denounce these and other hateful comments the Rev. Hagee made. What's going on here?

Ruth Marcus: I have been having this argument with a friend of mine. Chuck, are you reading? I think Sen. McCain's relationship with Rev. Hagee is far less close and far less long-standing than Sen. Obama's relationship with Rev. Wright, and Sen. McCain did reject some of Rev. Hagee's troubling statements.

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Minneapolis: Can we expect the major McCain gaffe on Iran and al-Qaeda to break through the Obama-Wright chatter? Certainly, if Obama or Clinton had to be corrected by someone else on the podium regarding such a topic, it would be a major story and evidence that Democrats weren't credible on national security.

Ruth Marcus: No, and yes. Probably won't break through the chatter, and I agree, it would be a bigger deal if the speaker had been different.

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For Boston: Sen. Obama is a Christian with a crazy (ex)-pastor who thinks the U.S. government created the AIDS virus to kill African Americans. I hope that clarifies it. This is the most insane presidential campaign in history -- and it's only March!

Ruth Marcus: I think it's a wonderful presidential campaign with three serious, credible candidates who each deserve an enormous amount of respect. Seriously. And I'm loving every week of this campaign.

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Rockville, Md.: I would like to suggest the possibility that there is a biological basis why we humans seek out a male as opposed to a female to fill certain kinds of leadership positions. We don't have a problem with women governors or senators, but when it comes to the U.S. presidency, deep down we want a father figure who is wise, strong and decisive, while at the same time responsive to us and concerned about our well-being within the wider world. Do you think that there is any validity in this view? Is it possible that even after we have one or more female presidents that we will still have a built-in biological basis that gives a few unique men an inherent advantage over any woman?

Ruth Marcus: This is a reference to a column of a few weeks ago, when I had an organizing break-down that kept me from the chat. But ... as to father figures, without taking anything away from my husband, I hope my daughters see me as wise, strong, decisive, responsive and concerned, and I don't see any reason why voters won't overcome their apprehensions once the ceiling is broken for the first time. I don't see the built-in biological basis.

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Virginia Beach, Va.: The Slate article another poster referred to is a parody! The "facts" about Obama's father were intended as a joke.

Ruth Marcus: FYI.

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Re: Female preachers: Amie Semple McPherson, Barbara Brown Taylor, among others...

Ruth Marcus: And more FYI.

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Is there an eloquent female preacher in American history?: Sojourner Truth?

Ruth Marcus: And one last one.

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Fairfax, Va.: Comment: To infer that, if Hilary does not obtain the nomination, it is not due to her gender may be somewhat incorrect. There were more than several news interviews of voters who specifically stated that they were not voting for her solely because she was a woman. Granted that one can not extrapolate and generalize to a broader population, but I think it is safe to say there is a meaningful number of voters who still are caught up in gender issues.

Ruth Marcus: Okay, yes, but there also are a meaningful number who are tipped toward Sen. Clinton because of gender.

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Political Marriage: John Kerry had his career path long before he met Theresa Heinz and John McCain was successful long before he married his current wife. Let's get back to psychoanalyzing the Clinton's marriage.

Ruth Marcus: Will we never tire of psychoanalyzing the Clintons' marriage? I'm tired of it.

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Taneytown, Md.: You are right that this is an amazing campaign, with candidates worthy of respect. Can you imagine being the reporter covering the New York and New Jersey statehouses the past couple of years? Good heavens!

Ruth Marcus: Well, that would have been fun in its own way ... and the fun in New York seems to be continuing.

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Minneapolis: The Hensley family bankrolled McCain's first congressional run, and their power in the Arizona Republican Party cleared the path for him.

washingtonpost.com: A Beer Baron and a Powerful Publisher Put McCain on a Political Path (New York Times, Feb. 21, 2000)

Ruth Marcus: A McCain point on his wife's family. I'm not sure what "bankrolled" means in this context. There are limits to what individuals can contribute to candidates.

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Hamilton, Va.: I am a middle-aged white guy, teen-aged during the '60s, drafted. I realize that the Rev. Wright's comments are great fodder for Obama's opponents, but I have to say that I wasn't particularly offended by them. It does not surprise me that there are blacks, especially of Wright's generation who don't have the highest opinion of white folks. Do you blame them? I thought Obama's speech was quite elegant -- a biracial man calmly addressing the issue is a great way to bring the subject up. It has to be addressed before November anyway.

Ruth Marcus: The speech was elegant -- nice word for it. I'm not sure Sen. Obama would have chosen this way to bring the subject up, and I would fault his campaign for not knowing -- as they claim not to -- about some of Rev. Wright's more incendiary statements. And I differ with you about their offensiveness -- I thought they were, to use Sen. Obama's word, appalling.

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Rockville, Md.: "I'd give the edge to Obama at this point because he is ahead in pledged delegates." Come on, why do you think they have super delegates? Not to stand in for the potted plants. Just like pay day.

Ruth Marcus: Well, listen to Speaker Pelosi's statement that the superdelegates should follow the lead of the pledged delegates. I think that is what is likely to happen, absent circumstances that push them strongly to oppose Sen. Obama.

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Bethesda, Md,: If we can forgive Obama's pastor for his remarks because of his age and the era in which he was brought up, shouldn't Geraldine Ferraro get the same pass from his campaign? Aren't they the ones who started the fuss about her statement?

Ruth Marcus: Yes, they started the fuss, and Sen. Obama made an allusion to Ferraro's statements yesterday suggesting an equivalence. By the way, I thought what she said was way less problematic than what Rev. Wright said.

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Re: Hagee, et al.: Maybe McCain doesn't have the same kind of close relationship with Hagee and Parsley, but it is really interesting to see how crazy the media gets about the inflammatory statements by Wright when equally (at the least) outrageous statements by Jerry Falwell, Pat Robertson, and numerous other high-profile white fundamentalist preachers routinely are brushed off as just the way they are, those much-loved and revered (and quite politically powerful and connected) old guys. See, for example, how quickly their statements blaming the U.S. for bringing Sept. 11 and Katrina on itself fell off the radar screen. Please.

Ruth Marcus: I don't know ... seems to me there has been quite a bit of attention to their inflammatory statements, and McCain took quite a bit of grief when he made his pilgrimage to see Falwell.

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McCain's Lack of Knowledge: Last month, Sen. McCain excoriated Sen. Obama on Iraq. In his attack McCain had the Sunni/Shia issue wrong. NPR didn't correct him, but I laughed ... until I realized that Bush and Co. were also as unaware of basic facts, and that ignorance helped drag us into this morass. McCain knows how to talk tough. More than that I sincerely doubt.

Ruth Marcus: He has seemed pretty knowledgeable about foreign policy and engaged in the issue when I've seen him, much more so than on domestic issues. I didn't hear the NPR interview.

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Cary, N.C.: "But when it comes to the U.S. presidency, deep down we want a father figure who is wise, strong and decisive, while at the same time responsive to us and concerned about our well-being within the wider world..." Substitute "U.S. presidency" for "British prime minister" and you're talking about Margaret Thatcher...

Ruth Marcus: Interesting to think about whether a Republican or Democratic woman would have an easier time being elected.

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Seattle: Given that men have in large numbers jumped ship from supporting the GOP for the presidency and Congress this year -- even in conservative Rhode Island the second place winner Obama got three times the voters that the total GOP vote was -- how can this help Clinton, given that she can't convince men who are independent or Republican to support her?

Ruth Marcus: But there is some evidence in the polls that Obama loses Democratic votes in a general election matchup with McCain. It's so hard to say at this point who's got the edge.

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Minneapolis: It's true that McCain doesn't have the relationship with Hagee. But then shouldn't it be easier for McCain to completely renounce Hagee? Why does McCain accept his support at all? Republicans have spent 30 years courting right-wing hatemongers without the media penalizing for them it.

Ruth Marcus: Question: to what extent should we hold candidates responsible for the statements of their supporters? Ferraro? Wright? Hagee?

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Ruth Marcus: What does everything think should be done at this point in Michigan and Florida? Or about Michigan and Florida?

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Detroit: I'm a McCain backer, and to me his slip meant that either he was tired from a long trip and was having trouble keeping things straight, which concerns me somewhat, or he was tired and let slip classified information from recent intel briefings, which really would concern me. What do you think -- am I reading too many spy novels?

Ruth Marcus: You probably can't read too many spy novels! I doubt the classified information part, though. I'd bet on "tired" if those were the two options.

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Midlothian, Va.: The comments the Rev. Hagee made didn't specifically point to a large majority of Americans and shout " you are the cause of the world's evils!" Wright's attempts to force culpability for incidents and slights (real or imagined) on a general populace unequivocally would be called racism if he were white, and they would fit perfectly in the pantheon of anti-American and anti-Semitic statements from both 1930s Germany and modern-day Palestine.

Ruth Marcus: Wonder how you'd react to his statements if you were Catholic?

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Appalling and Problematic: I have to disagree with you about Ferraro and Wright. Ferraro implied that the only reason Obama had come so far was affirmative action, and that white people giving him support he hasn't earned. How can you think this is not offensive, problematic or flat-out racist? This from a woman (Ferraro) who was offered a position solely because of her gender? Is it impossible to believe that a black man could be more intelligent and qualified than many of his peers?

On the pastor: You label his comments appalling, and seem to hold the opinion that there was no reason anyone ever should have said any of these things. Well, I'm sorry if some of my fellow citizens had their feelings hurt, but would anyone like to acknowledge that black churches exist because white people wouldn't let black people worship next to them?

I don't believe that AIDS was created by the government to kill black people, but I do know that there have been too many incidents of white doctors who were supported by federal money experimenting on black people -- and Tuskegee is only the most public, not the worst. I don't think that most citizens today are overtly racist, but I do know that through the '70s (and perhaps the '80s) our own government spied on and harassed people who dared to speak out for civil rights.

Given all of this, why are you acting so shocked? Do you expect a black church to say nothing but good things about white people and the government? And despite all the rhetoric, it seems to have escaped you that black people are seriously overrepresented in the armed forces. Looks like angry preaching can indeed complement patriotism.

Ruth Marcus: "God damn America"" got me. Also the chickens coming home to roost, on the Sunday after Sept. 11. That doesn't take away from the idea that there are legitimate reasons for anger on the part of black Americans.

As to Ferraro, I thought she said a stupid thing, in part because it was in the context of knowing -- and stating publicly -- that she was picked for the veep slot because of her gender. She thought, incorrectly, that that inoculated her in some way when she commented on Obama. I think Sen. Obama is an extraordinarily gifted politician; I think that anyone who has political ambition in America and looks around at Congress or the presidency, and somehow had a magical choice about what race/gender to be, would have to choose being a white guy. That said, I do think that Sen. Obama's race has been an element, a positive one, in catapulting him to a position of prominence.

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Maryland: Question: to what extent should we hold candidates responsible for the statements of their supporters? Ferraro? Wright? Hagee? It bothers me that the Obama's would choose to support, for 20 years, a church that I would not feel comfortable attending as a white person. My church, Episcopalian, is currently in a huge battle over the ordination of gays that is splitting the church. I wouldn't feel comfortable if the Obamas went to an Episcopal church that sat on the anti-gay side of this issue either. It's about whether or not I feel included by the institutions that mold my president -- and a president has to include everyone.

Ruth Marcus: Nicely put point, but couldn't one continue to belong to a church that opposed ordination of gays without being labeled homophobic? There might be other reasons to belong to that church.

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Re: Michigan and Florida: Is Michigan still trying to work out a do-over? If so, bully for them. Florida's Democratic. Party is showing staggering incompetence -- what exactly is so hard about scheduling a revote by June? Money? Call George Soros, for pity's sake!

Ruth Marcus: The do-over seems to be at death's door, unfortunately. I agree about the Democratic Party -- it really has let this get completely fouled up.

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Houston: Seat the Florida delegation as-is (it was a level playing field). Do the Michigan primary ever -- there were ballot problems.

Ruth Marcus: The Obama campaign would argue that it was not a level playing field. He comes into the campaign with voters knowing less about him, and has benefited by being able to campaign in states and introduce himself to voters there.

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Florida and Michigan: There is no solution that won't "disenfranchise" some group. If Florida and Michigan become decisive in the nomination battle, the convention will be an unmitigated disaster.

Ruth Marcus: I don't think they could become decisive, but they might point toward some clarity. And how is there not an unmitigated disaster for Democrats without them?

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Ruth Marcus: Okay, that's all for now. See you in two weeks. Thanks for the great questions.

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