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Why They Rooted for Hillary
From primary season, let's move secondary season; from the singular to the plural.
For as long as Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama have been battling it out for the Democratic nomination, the spotlight's been on them: their qualifications, their promises, their baggage. According to a Pew Center study, in the first half of last year, only three percent of campaign coverage focused on issues. This year, that's stumbled to a pathetic seven percent. It's no surprise.
Feminists say the personal is political. In our privatized economy neoliberals say it's strictly personal. Your troubles, your chances, the way you're treated, it's all unique to -- and determined by -- you! So we're told. It's a convenient way to take systems of wealth and power and privilege out of the picture and a happy-for-some way to eradicate history. We've privatized prisons and health-care and education and war and we do the same to our politics and our politicians. It's all about them.
Well, enough about them. We better make this about us. The people I know who rooted for Hillary Clinton did it for a reason. It wasn't her hair, her shoes, her husband... It was out of a stubborn, long-suffering belief that after centuries of being put second, a woman president might put gender justice first. And by gender justice we mean human justice. As Kavita Ramdas of the Global Fund for Women explained on GRITtv Tuesday night, you can't teeter the welfare of the world on that part of society -- the female part -- that you treat the worst without consequences for the planet.
The Clinton supporters I know long for a president who would reprioritize; a president who would reapportion spending and security and power so that women had our fair share of each. They thought (and many still believe) that it would take a woman to do it -- and maybe it will, but it shouldn't have to. Not if we de-privatize and re-personalize. The problem -- it's not about her. And the solution -- it's not about him. It's about us.
Watch this commentary and a rollicking conversation among women on race and class and gender in the '08 race on GRITtv. "GRITtv with Laura Flanders" plays on Free Speech TV directly following Democracy Now, and online, at GRITtv.org. Sign up for a video feed.
Laura Flanders is the host of RadioNation and the author of Blue Grit: True Democrats Take Back Politics from the Politicians, out now from The Penguin Press.
© 2008 The Nation
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93 Comments so far
Show AllIs there any difference between someone who votes for Hillary because she is a woman or votes for Obama because he calls himself an African American and has dark skin, and someone who does not vote for them for these same reasons? No. They are all mindless racists and sexists and most of them are MSM creations serving the elites propaganda agenda to divide and rule.
Too bad Obama didn't drag Lieberman by the collar. Somebody needs to.
While Limbaugh and Coulter may complain that McClone is not conservative enough, they will never say that about Lieberman.
Yea marylou. Martinis all around and a free trip on the house to all and sundry to the Gaza. Bottoms up!
For VP, we need a pretty Hispanic non-Zionist jewish woman orator, with impeccable credentials who is a constitutional law professor in an Ivy League school and has otherwise lived in seclusion with her husband and young children and only goes out to work and to attend a non-denominational church.
... and strong enough to hold Lieberman by the feet while Obama continues talking.
I rooted for Hillary because she is what she is: a neo liberal, imperial militarist.
Now I'm a left wing, progressive. (Nader is a moderate in my worldview---also the best candidate!)
But Hillary doesn't pretend to be something she's not. Her political twin, Barack Obama, does pretend to be something he's not: a change agent.
Obama is also a neo liberal, imperial militarist, but he presents himself as this fake change guy.
That's what I object to; that phoniness.
I disagree with those who feel that gender trumps all other considerations. Yes, I would very much like to see more women in high office and yes, much of the vitriol directed at Hillary Clinton has been sexist. Unlike the Clintonistas, however, I stubbornly refuse to sacrifice human rights on the altar of political expediency.
The Clintons' intransigent defiance of global consensus on issues such as landmines, cluster bombs, recruitment of minors into the military, execution of juvenile offenders and mentally retarded people and the cruel sanctions in Iraq that killed over 500,000 Iraqi children with no discernable effect on Saddam Hussain concern me. Hillary's support for the Iraq war and her parroting of Bush's lies in support of her vote raise serious questions abour her judgment. Her saber rattling and refusal to negotiate with our enemies are unwise and dangerous. The way Bill Clinton held out promises of signing to force crippling concessions on the International Criminal Court Statute, then refused to sign the final, watered down product, was cynical and disgraceful. The way they solicited votes and money from gays, then betrayed them with Don't Ask, Don't Tell and the Defense of Marriage Act isn't reassuring. Clinton's behind-the-scenes efforts to block a meaningful UN response to the Rwanda genocide, which cost 800,000 lives, doesn't impress me. The callous response to our destruction of al Shifa, the pharmaceutical plant that met most of Sudan's needs prior to the Clinton-ordered Tomahawk missile attack, on the false premise that it was a chemical weapons plant, was disgraceful. We should have stepped in to supply the life-saving drugs of which we had deprived the people there, and doing so would have gone a long way towards improving our image in the Islamic world.
Aside from the Clintons' incessant lying, arrogance, narcissism, greed and hypocrisy, their record on human rights is enough to nauseate any morally decent person and disqualify them from any important post.
Oh, pleeeeeze! Cut the crap, Laura Flanders!
Hillary Clinton is *not* a feminist.
Hillary Clinton is *not* a progressive.
Hillary Clinton is *not* a friend of peace.
Hillary Clinton is *not* an advocate of grassroots power versus corporate power. (In fact, precisely the opposite!)
So don't act as if, male or female, Senator Clinton's nomination would in any way advance progressive causes.
There's nothing "historically significant" about a woman gaining office and then acting just as aggressively, just as militaristically, just as much a "gun for hire," corporate mouthpiece as any garden variety male whore-politician.
Of course you and the other "cruise missile liberals" over at The Nation (John Nichols, Katrina Van Heuvel, Katha Pollitt, et al) as well as your other employer, Air America, have never spoken out against *Democratic* imperialism, have you? (Heaven forfend!) Have never spoken out about the *Democratic* Party's criminal complicity in the Iraqi War.
So who's kidding who?
Go -- go rejoice that THIS Barack Obama and THIS voting record represents what you want in a president -- http://www.counterpunch.org/gonzalez02292008.html
Usually agree with Flanders, but this is poor. If anything, it reveals the bankruptcy of the "feminist movement," at least the one lead by the usual media-savvy suspects.
Voting for someone simply due to genitals is disgusting and ignorant. It is as ignorant as refusing to vote for Obama because of his race or his name. But apparently, they are to be excused because they're not a bunch of crackers but instead East Coast liberal elites. And voting for a woman who has helped destroy the lives of women and children in Iraq in truly biblcal proportions should go against everything these so-called feminists stand for.
Or is okay because these are Arabs and Muslims?
I was sitting next to a conservative in Texas at lunch today, and he told me he'd vote for Obama, but not if Hillary is on the ticket. Hillary has an army of supporters and just as many people on the other side. Obama will have the same. Obama won't be perfect, but the tone that he's set is a step in the right direction.
Although I was shocked and upset when Hillary voted for the war, I want her to find peace and move on where she can give back to the world outside of Washington. I bet Al Gore and Jimmy Carter are both happier using their positions, taking action to help the world outside of the hostile political scene. I don't want to hear a "come back" story for Hillary in US politics, but rather a genuine come back story for Hillary. I didn't vote for Hillary, but I hope to see her more grounded, happy, successful, Arundhati Roy style.
I was in China a couple years ago and gave $10 to a woman with a baby, and a swarm of people appeared asking for money. I saw a very young child working in India recently, and when I asked about child labor laws, a friend told me that child is probably lucky to make money for their family. I was on the south island of New Zealand in 2002, and an old couple told me they were "more shocked that the US public was shocked about 9/11, than what happened on 9/11".
As more and more people live compromised lives in the western world, attached to jobs, life styles, and expectations, maybe we have a perfect storm. Pain, guilt, and shame eating away, due to the exporting of violence and weapons from my country, the country that afforded me opportunities. With the devaluation of the dollar, rising energy prices, and our youth outmatched in India and China by at least 100 to 1, it's time to realize this is our time to help someone else. No politician, priest, minister, guru, or management consultant has the answer for me. However, I do feed off the tone that Obama sets. He might not be perfect, but for me, it's positive energy to fuel
the journey.
ANDREWS: You have a lovely, pure heart.
ALEX LAWYER: IF I was the jury, you just won your case! Great posting. I'm so glad you add to this forum.
let us celebrate hillary clinton's run to almost nomination of her party. hillary ran a brilliant campaign. admittedly, obama ran a better one by the rules, but hillary's marathon was magnificent! let us celebrate her run.
marcy kaptur of ohio will be the VP....
she is not a total phoney on helping the workers as hillary was and is .. and she has the RECORD to back that up..
she will help carry ohio and mich and pa which will seal the election for obama... this is hillarys and bills worst nitemare... marcy kaptur will be the boss woman of the democrat party....
she is a white woman version of john edwards but with alot better and proven record of helping workers and she voted NO against this war for oil for the robber barons... unlike the crook hillary and the phoney edwards...
jimmy carter said it would be a worst mistake of any to select hillary as VP he is so RIGHT.. obama has a 6 month lead on mccain now .. when marcy kaptur is known around the country that will go to double digits.. stupid people who say obama cannot win without hillary... just the opposite... with hillary he could NOT win... all the independents would go for mccain...
obama has NOW a 6 POINT lead over mccain not a 6 months lead.. will go to double digits when he names marcy kaptur as VP
Laura, I love you, but I think you're off base here. It may take a female president to right the gender inequities, but not this female. She has proven herself that she is willing to put on the same suit of armor as the boys when it comes to leadership. Is this what you really want - a sword-rattling toughie with a vagina? Will that really make a difference? Did Margaret Thatcher improve things for women?
"The problem — it's not about her. And the solution — it's not about him. It's about us."
I couldn't agree more.
I'm ignoring politics until voting day, then I'm voting Green.
The thing to remember about baby boomer lawyers is that they learned how to take tests. Not think independently. Sound familiar? I am not a lawyer, I am a baby boomer, 1.1.47. Political strategy is heavily dependent on demographics,which is totally antithetical to independent thought. I do have an advanced degree, I do know that lawyers are research intensive, even when changing careers. But all they ever do is re-phrase what someone else already thought. Why do we elect lawyers? Because we have been led to believe we are a nation of laws?
Siuox
How women behave is like asking how mice in a maze designed by Pavlov behave. What we take for human nature is the product of centuries of conditioning
i agree entirely...same thing applies to males..every-one is complicit
it's a hell of a thing and no mistake
but simply swopping roles when those roles are very much part of the conditioning isn't going to cut it..the roles we play are the conditioning
a hell of a thing
Obama's manipulated "victory" means that the US is turning its back on the old, the poor, women and choosing charisma and youth. Under this rebranded image, the policies will stay the same: no universal health care, no protection for employees, no justice for Palestine, endless wars and threats of wars, and big takings for the Wall Street elite who bankroll Obama and will make sure they get their money's worth. Only the face has changed. The US will still strut and bellow and claim pre-eminence, with even more of a self righteous swagger now.
OldBadgertoo,
Nobody here believes Obama is a magician with a magic wand, but your attitude supposes there are no degrees, no incremental improvements in life or politics.
That's a sweeping concept that takes the millions of lives ruined by George W Bush very lightly.
Gender justice-human justice? ...and you expected this from Hillary?
Pulleeaze!
Though she married a Southern Democrat (and I've yet to figure out the difference between a Southern Democrate and a Republican) she is a Republican to the core. One reason she got so much support from the Right is that they'd much prefer to go after her in the general election but even if she won it, they'd still have one of their own in the White House - just not the one they went for. She's a Republican in Democrat clothing; always has been.
WONDER 678: Excellent point.
CHRIS B: I realize BOTH genders have been programmed, but remember that females have had to adapt to the MALE model. Years ago studies on heart disease were exclusively done on men with the results generalized to (erroneously) fit women. Freud thought women were neurotic because they didn't have a penis. I believe at one point the church argued women did not have souls! And on and on. How about nuns and men deciding the abortion ethic? (That was years ago.)
The way to escape polarity is by returning to the circle. Although some falsely call it "new age" astrology is a means for understanding aspects of a spiritual blueprint upon which this world, and its peoples, were designed. Just as the old dual stereotypes of whore or madonna have coded a great many, there are far more expressions than those related by polarity. The circle, which includes TWELVE basic portals of expression, like snowflakes, each of these has an infinite number of personalized variations, these twelve are simulations of Jesus' numbered disciples and Abraham's tribes.
Jean Shinoda Bolen, ph.D opened my eyes when I read her books, GODS in Everyman, & GODDESSES in Every woman. Although she's a Jungian psychologist, the archtypes she related and the behaviors (easy to identify in the present) these give rise to were easily fitted to the ancient astrological prototypes. I am still editing a book that's been in progress for nearly a decade that integrates these identifying factors. It also explains why women are very changeable in terms of the male perspective, and how this ingenious dance of time lives within us. I feel pretty reverent for the fact that this understanding has come through me... now if I can only make it understandable to lay persons.
Obama would be smart to pick a nice Jewish girl for VP.
According to the Prophecy
Siuox..
realize BOTH genders have been programmed, but remember that females have had to adapt to the MALE model.
now then here's the rub of the matter.. the result of this has been a "program" of selective breeding...programed men breeding with programmed women selecting mates on the basis of that conditioning...each generation exagerating the characteristics of the previuos including a propensity towards the conditioned sexual response..
here's a very pragmatic and practical choice...
make better decisions regarding your breeding partners and free your children from the cycle...now then this is an area that women do have some control over (at least in the west)..studys have shown that it takes only three or four generations of selective breeding to turn a wild animal into a domesticated one..(to show it's power in basic terms)
that's it....wether we like it or not we are all active particpants in a program of selective breeding...and selective breeding can utterly transform a species within 100 years....that's the real engine of change that's how we got where we are to-day...wanna go some where different..make different choices
Would Hillary Clinton please leave the stage! This is Obama's moment and you're trying to muscle in, which is your M.O. (Just like your claim to "8 years in the White House".)
While I'm 78 years old and a white woman, all my friends and I are Obama supporters. I have an advanced degree, however, and made a better than average living so I can think and read people's behavior pretty well.
Hillary's judgment is suspect. Think of her vote to go to Iraq or of her recent decision to continue her "run for the White House." Neither stance helps women or children anywhere in the world nor does it make the U.S. safer.
Hillary likes turmoil, but she likes to be the center of attention anywhere, and she'll take it anyway she can which is why I see her as ruthless and not a positive choice for VP.
marcy kaptur.. should be VP.. ohio congresswoman who is even better than dennis K on attacking greed.. she attacks both greeds... the corporate greed as well as the abortion greed.....with he ron the ticket.. the yellow dog democrats will come back and become the franklin d roosevelt democrat party AGAIN...
the more people know marcy kaptur and her record the more people will go for this ticket especially during hard economic times.. she is the BEST!!
she was right on fighting nafta and gatt.. and right on voting no for the robber barons war for oil and greed.... she has fantastic judgement and a solid record...
the rust belt will love her on the ticket and now the south is hurting just like the rust belt cause of nafta and gatt coming from the clintons... states like ga.. sc and nc may flip to go democratic.. with marcy kaptur on the ticket ..
For Sale:
Truckload of top-end pastel pant-suits, heavily stained with ego.
Would suit squat middle-aged lady. Not necessary that she sees herself as a god.
Owner changing to style more suitable to begging forgiveness for bad recent investment from bankers and successful candidates
I am not very familiar with Marcy Kaptur, but I just went through her website. She seems remarkable. Her Roman Catholic faith might help Obama with that particular crowd, not to mention being from Ohio.
We'll see.
I believe Hillary was defeated for three reasons.
1. She picked Mark Penn to run her campaign. Oops.
2. Dashale developed a great strategy using the caucus states. Appealing to whites early. And Barack Obama is a dream candidate to work with.
3. He won enough of the early states with whites till blacks got on board after Wright to hold on till now. She could never catch up with that initial surge, almost, but not quite.
Its a victory, but not by much I'd say. Anyone see any fault in my reasoning?
marcy kaptur is the REAL franklin roosevelt democrat.. she is just as strong on fighting corporate greed as nader.. just as strong as dennis K.. and with the added plus of also fighting the other GREED harm.. abortion..
with her on the ticket she will become the most popular person in america.. even more so than obama... she will bring back the yellow dog democrats that left the party because of the GREED of abortion.. she is what sn bob casey of pa's father was... they are exactly the same... she will deliver pa.. ohio.. mich very easily.. BUT she will also bring back the yellow dog democrats and ga.. nc and sc may flip to democrats..
she will become the most popular person in govt and politics... she is BETTER than nader or dennis k since she is totally consistant on going after greed harm....
corporate greed harm of stealing the weaks money is one greed harm.. she is equal to nader and dennis k on this.. BUT she is consistant whereas nader and dennis k is NOT they over look the OTHER greed harm of the innocent and weak abortion makes one wonder if dennis k or nader is really REAL!!!
with marcy kaptor and bob casey of pa.. those 2 are REAL against all GREED harms..
marcy voted no to this greed war for oil for the robber barons and is strongly against the robber barons nafta and gatt greed harm whch lowers americans wages..
marcy kaptur is the REAL DEAL!!!! she is CONSISTANT!!! her judgement has been near perfect more so than anyone other than bob casey sr..
auspiciousbunny,
learn to use the internet.
Some policy positions you could look at
1) Single Transferable Voting, i.e. a methodology for counting votes that initially allocates the voter's vote to their most preferred candidate, and then, if the required votes to win have not been acquired, reallocates votes for the least favorite candidate to the voter's second choice on their ballot. Whereas under the winner-take-all format we have in this country the more candidates we have, (good for democracy), the fewer number of votes that count towards electing winning candidates, (bad for democracy).
Winner-Take-All methods of counting votes can only guarantee that the winning candidates elected represent a plurality, whereas the Single Transferable Voting method of counting votes guarantees that the winning candidates elected represent proportional pluralities.
Note that Obama introduced resolution SB 1789 in 2002 to introduce single transferable voting in Illinois. http://fairvote.org/?page=1755
Kucinich supports IRV as well.
www.kucinichonline.com/pdfs/Kucinich_Campaign_Reform_and_IRV.pdf
The Green Party also is also in favor of single transferable voting.
2)Social Security
Obama unlike HRC is for securing the future of one of the principal reforms of the New Deal, i.e. raising the maximum income level taxed from $102,000 to something marginally higher. It's a regressively taxed program so this would be marginally more progressive than promising as HRC has that we could 'grow' our way out of the debt the Bush regime has saddled us with.
"Obama is committed to ensuring Social Security is solvent and viable for the American people, now and in the future. Obama will be honest with the American people about the long-term solvency of Social Security and the ways we can address the shortfall. Obama will protect Social Security benefits for current and future beneficiaries alike. And he does not believe it is necessary or fair to hardworking seniors to raise the retirement age. Obama is strongly opposed to privatizing Social Security.
Obama believes that the first place to look for ways to strengthen Social Security is the payroll tax system. Currently, the Social Security payroll tax applies to only the first $102,000 a worker makes. Obama supports increasing the maximum amount of earnings covered by Social Security and he will work with Congress and the American people to choose a payroll tax reform package that will keep Social Security solvent for at least the next half century."
http://www.barackobama.com/issues/socialsecurity/
3) Health Care
Affordable healthcare debates are more likely to lead to single-payer healthcare than debates about which health insurance company is better.
And at least Obama has said that he if he was starting from scratch he would favor single-payer.
http://www.barackobama.com/factcheck/2008/01/05/fact_check_obama_consistent_in.php
The costs of health insurance undermine the efficacy of mandates.
The Massachusetts Mandated Health Insurance Plan
"But the reluctance of so many to enroll, along with the possible exemption of 60,000 residents who cannot afford premiums, has raised questions about whether even a mandate can guarantee truly universal coverage.
Additional concerns have been generated by projections that the state's insurers plan to raise rates 10 percent to 12 percent next year, twice this year's national average. That would undercut the plan's secondary goal of slowing the increase in health costs."We're going to be very aggressive in trying to get those numbers down to single digits," said Jon M. Kingsdale, executive director of the Commonwealth Health Insurance Connector Authority, the agency that markets the subsidized insurance policies. "If we continue with double-digit inflation, I don't think health reform is sustainable."…
Senator Barack Obama of Illinois sees it a different way. He argues there is danger in mandating coverage before it is clear it can be affordable for those at the margins. While Mr. Obama does not rule out a mandate down the road, his emphasis is on reducing costs and providing generous government subsidies to those who need them. He would mandate coverage for children. "
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/25/us/politics/25mass.html
AlexLawyer
I was going to make a comment about this statement in Laura Flanders' post:
The people I know who rooted for Hillary Clinton did it for a reason. It wasn't her hair, her shoes, her husband… It was out of a stubborn, long-suffering belief that after centuries of being put second, a woman president might put gender justice first.
But you said it all and brilliantly in your post.
Hillary's warmongering policies and dreams were certainly not addressed during the campaign other than an occasional brush-by when commentators mentioned her vote on the AUMF and maybe the Kyle-Lieberman amendment. I'd bet that a huge percentage of her supporters don't know the extent of her warmongering tendencies, though her statement about obliterating Iran should have given them a clue. I thought that feminists and all good women would leave her in droves because of that stunning statement, but apparently it went right over the heads of her most rabid supporters. I suppose it created cognitive dissonance so was ignored, an inconsequential piece that didn't fit into the picture.
To claim that Hillary Clinton is a symbol for "gender justice", as Ms. Flanders explains, is absurd, unless this "justice" is solely about Hillary's reproductive system with everything else ignored that America admires in our leaders -- integrity, wisdom, honesty, respect. The list is long.
So "gender justice" is only a mask that her supporters placed on Hillary that hid the truth about her.
I really can't believe you all? Who gives a crap if she is a woman?
She supports NAFTA
She supports the WTO
She supports Wal-Mart and other Big Box Retailers
She supports the War
She supports action against Iran
She wants to force people to pay Healthcare
She supports giant corp.
She supports the Patriot Act
She does not call for impeachment
She does nothing about genocide
She does nothing about the environment
She does nothing about Big Oil
She does nothing about Big Pharma
She says nothing critical about the media
She tried to change the rules just so she could win?
What do you think she would do in the Whitehouse?
And this is a short list of crap; I could go on for days.
And I will do the same about Obama when an article allows it.
The best chance we had was Kucinich. And congress wouldn't have let him get much done anyway.
Screw who is tall, short, pretty, handsome, rich, poor, man, woman, white, black, Christian, catholic, or any other religion. Screw all the crap they spew to the media.
All that is important is how they vote.
What they vote for is who they are.
And Obama took a lot of No Votes! That is the only reason I am even giving him the sliver of a chance at getting my vote. Ear marks screw up bills so I can see why he might just not vote at all.
When I find out more about his votes I will either vote for him or not vote at all.
You are a damn fool, with no intelligence if you vote against your own interest because HRC didn't win.
Screw who is tall, short, pretty, handsome, rich, poor, man, woman, white, black, Christian, catholic, or any other religion. Screw all the crap they spew to the media.
All that is important is how they vote.
What they vote for is who they are.
And Obama took a lot of No Votes! That is the only reason I am even giving him the sliver of a chance at getting my vote. Ear marks screw up bills so I can see why he might just not vote at all.
When I find out more about his votes I will either vote for him or not vote at all.
You are a damn fool, with no intelligence if you vote against your own interest because HRC didn't win.
Screw who is tall, short, pretty, handsome, rich, poor, man, woman, white, black, Christian, catholic, or any other religion. Screw all the crap they spew to the media.
All that is important is how they vote.
What they vote for is who they are.
And Obama took a lot of No Votes! That is the only reason I am even giving him the sliver of a chance at getting my vote. Ear marks screw up bills so I can see why he might just not vote at all.
When I find out more about his votes I will either vote for him or not vote at all.
You are a damn fool, with no intelligence if you vote against your own interest because HRC didn't win.
Uh, this isn't at all why I'm a Clinton supporter. I didn't expect Clinton to "put gender issues first". I thought she would be the best, most intelligent, and most experienced leader, and I felt that her femininity would bring a level of empathy and human understanding grossly lacking in the prior Presidents.
Hey Future, you seem to be upset that the Clinton supporters hold Obama's fate in their hands. Blame it on Obama and the people who directed his campaign. He turned off half of the Dems !! That's HIS fault, not Clinton's or her supporters'. He now needs to win our votes, and unlike the Obamabots we demand ACTIONS, not just optimistic rhetoric.
atheist
Obama didn't say that Hillary was losing because of her gender -- SHE did. But do you know what she said first? Here it is:
"I don't think they're picking on me because I'm a woman; I think they're picking on me because I'm winning," Mrs. Clinton said at a news conference at the Capitol after filing papers to run in the New Hampshire primary.
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/03/us/politics/03campaign.html
She sure changed her tune when she started losing.
>> It wasn't her hair, her shoes, her husband… It was out of a stubborn,
>> long-suffering belief that after centuries of being put second, a woman
>> president might put gender justice first. And by gender justice we mean
>> human justice
Lara Flanders, please explain what gender justice is in a country where women have practically every right conceivable under the sun & perhaps even more rights than their men. Are not Clinton & her likes taking the women electorate for a ride when they ask you identify with them because they share your gender & not their political power, economic status or wealth? When Clinton signed Nafta, Gatt or imposed WTO on developing nations, did they not screw every man & woman in this country by exporting millions of well paid jobs? Did they not screw everyone alike in Mexico when they allowed american corporations to go and dump excess corn into Mexico. Cliton a gender equalizer ? Go and tell that to the 2 million odd iraqi women, each of whom would have lost at least one near and dear relative - man woman or child to either to the American sanctions or Amrican war visited upon them for no fault of theirs, but with blood dripping from Cliton & her democratic cohorts. Or, go and tell that to the Kosovan war refugees. Or, to the walmart employees. Given that Hillary takes experience credit for her tenune in the White House, should she not take the blame for the job losses caused by WTO & Nafta?
Yes. The boys had it too good for too long. It doesn't get any better than what the Bush & Cheney co are doing it now. I do not think any sensible man would support them because then happen to be men - nor would he have a desire to enjoy through vicarious means the doings of his "gender kind" dominating the world.
Far from it, the economic & social carnage left behind by decades of corporate take over of the american government is too wide and deep. Neither Obama nor Hillary have any answer to it, besides empty media circus aimed at populism & vote garnering. Rising energy costs, unemployment and losing dollar are the results of the carnage left behind by Clintons & Bushes. It will affect every man and woman the same way, perhpas women more than men in financially troubled relationships where women will take the brunt of raising children alone. If your gender-preferred candidate does not have a history our righting these economic wrongs, but only of sliding with the status quo, ...too bad - it only confirms that gender has little to do with a sense of social justice. While electing Bush &c for second term is a serious electoral mistake, showing Hillary the door is one right in the political circus of this country. Given the like resemblance between Hillary & Obama, I do not expect Obama to be the messiah from heaven, nor to be a substitute for Kucinich or Nader. But, he is the best the MSM & Corporte powers could prop up as far a liberal interests are concerned.
Sorry to ruin the festive atmosphere here, but who cares if she's a woman? Madeleine Albright is a woman. Condoleeza Rice is a woman. Dennis Kucinich is a man. Ralph Nader is a man.
I mean, id welcome a woman president but not at the detriment of what her politics are.
Interestigly enough, there are some Orewellianisms here, for those who care to discern. When Ms. Clinton has started her primary bid & has been running all along, it was not about the gender. It is also noteworthy that she did not present any gender specific agenda in various debates. Now when she ends it, it is all about denting chinks in the gender ceiling. Sort of salvaging her prime electoral base. Does she not owe it all those who supported her, besides those purely gender-baised voters?
Want a parallel? "Get rid of Saddam Hussein", "Get rid of nuclear weapons", "Destroy terrorism", "Spread democracy & freedom in the middle east", "Keep our troops safe", ...
"Excuse me, but rooting for Hillary JUST becuase she is a woman is completely irresponsible. In fact, it's sexist."
Im sorry to have to agree, but i do. Some feminists have got to wake up and shake up the mental cobwebs a bit. Lemme give you an example. In the Montreal public transit system, you can ask the bus driver if its late at night, to stop the bus between stops if youd like to be closer and it would make you feel safer. But theres a catch. You can ask this ONLY if youre a women. At first glance you think well, heres a good initiative to make womens lives better. The problem with this is that it reinforces this machismo notion that males are or should be really stronger than women, dont need to fear anything, etc.
When i first saw this i thought "Yeah but what about gramps who doesnt like it either at night" doesnt he deserve the right to be safer without this women-only rule that seems to me there to make men feel like "faggots" if theyd like to go out closer to home when they take the bus.
Another example is that in the Quebec justice system, women are almost automatically given custody of the children in court, which some men are fighting against. They are attacked by "feminists" for being "backwards" "masculinists". Some of them are masculinists in fact, but it doesnt mean that a father shouldnt have the same weight in the balance when a judge decides who gets to have custody. I dont think judges should be deciding that anyway, but thats another story.
Its post-feminism. Reverse Sexism. Feminists not caring about discriminating against males, that somehow women in power are less prone to have politics that are against women. Its simplistic magic thinking and we need to think harder than that.