Geraldine Ferraro was the first woman to run as vice president on a major party ticket back in 1984 when she ran with Walter Mondale in an unsuccessful bid for the White House. She is back in the news after a long absence after her support for Hillary Clinton’s campaign resulted in this statement from her published on March 7:

“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,” she said. “For one thing, you have the press, which has been uniquely hard on her. It’s been a very sexist media. Some just don’t like her. The others have gotten caught up in the Obama campaign.

“If Obama was a white man, he would not be in this position,” she continued. “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.”

The interview actually took place on February 28.

Putting aside my own feelings about this comment, since the controversy in this election grows more heated every day, Ferraro’s astrology adds an interesting twist. (Astrotheme has the chart but use the birthtime with caution as it is unconfirmed.) Ferraro has a Virgo Sun, which typically shies away from publicity and the media and prefers to work behind the scenes. That Sun is opposed by strict Saturn, indicating a person who begins life with a lack of self-esteem that causes them to feel they have to work harder than anyone else to accomplish their goals. Saturn is retrograde in her chart which accentuates the self-critical tendency even more.

If the Astrotheme birthtime is correct, Ferraro has Aries rising which adds a great deal of spunk to the Virgo personality and makes it easier for her to assert herself on the public stage. She also has Mars (aggression) conjunct Jupiter (confidence and expansion) in Scorpio (deep emotions), revealing a passionate nature. That conjunction forms a square to her Moon, showing that she can be very touchy at times.

Since last fall transiting Saturn began a series of conjunctions to Ferraro’s Sun, a transit that often brings some despair and depression, and Saturn is currently opposing Saturn in Ferraro’s own chart. This is always a challenging time since Saturn, the Celestial Taskmaster, is busily at work during these transits letting us know where in our life we fall short of our own expectations.

Then last month recently transiting Chiron (wounding and healing) began to square that natal Mars/Jupiter conjunction, beginning with a very tight square of the Aquarius eclipse on February 6 to Mars and Jupiter in Ferraro’s chart. As one of my clients pointed out, eclipses promote the “unmasking” of something in our lives, and for Ferraro the eclipse, incorporating the painful sensitivity of the transit of Chiron and the sense of failure that the Saturn transit engenders, opened up those old doors of frustration. This is exacerbated by the fact that Ferraro’s progressed Moon is preparing to cross her ascendant (if the birth time is correct) where her emotions (Moon) are revealing themselves publicly (ascendant), and moving into a square to transiting Pluto, intensifying those emotions and adding a life-or-death sensibility.

Geraldine Ferraro’s controversial statement has served to bring an uncomfortable argument into the open that has been the elephant in the room. The only problem for the Clinton campaign is that the statement could be equally true of their candidate. How many Clinton supporters want to elect a woman? How many Obama supporters want to break the color barrier? Much of this election about transforming (Pluto) the base of power in this country (Capricorn), and that is not a bad thing.