As an anti-Hillary activist, I was nevertheless stunned by this article...

[DeadElephant_ORG]

Those of you who have seen my posts know that I'm a staunch Obama supporter, and that I - to be very frank - can't stand Hillary. But I just read this article (below), sent to me by a friend, and I'm shaking with emotion. It's long, but well worth the read. I'd love to hear other opinions about it.

DeadElephant.ORG
-------------------------------------------------------

Goodbye To All That (#2)

by Robin Morgan

February 2, 2008“

Goodbye To All That” was my (in)famous 1970 essay breaking free from a politics of accommodation especially affecting women (for an online version, see http://blog.fair-use.org/category/chicago/).

During my decades in civil-rights, anti-war, and contemporary women’s movements, I’ve avoided writing another specific “Goodbye . . .” But not since the suffrage struggle have two communities—joint conscience-keepers of this country—been so set in competition, as the contest between Hillary Rodham Clinton (HRC) and Barack Obama (BO) unfurls. So.

Goodbye to the double standard . . .

—Hillary is too ballsy but too womanly, a Snow Maiden who’s emotional, and so much a politician as to be unfit for politics.

—She’s “ambitious” but he shows “fire in the belly.” (Ever had labor pains?)—When a sexist idiot screamed “Iron my shirt!” at HRC, it was considered amusing; if a racist idiot shouted “Shine my shoes!” at BO, it would’ve inspired hours of airtime and pages of newsprint analyzing our national dishonor.

—Young political Kennedys—Kathleen, Kerry, and Bobby Jr.—all endorsed Hillary. Senator Ted, age 76, endorsed Obama. If the situation were reversed, pundits would snort “See? Ted and establishment types back her, but the forward-looking generation backs him.” (Personally, I’m unimpressed with Caroline’s longing for the Return of the Fathers. Unlike the rest of the world, Americans have short memories. Me, I still recall Marilyn Monroe’s suicide, and a dead girl named Mary Jo Kopechne in Chappaquiddick.)

Goodbye to the toxic viciousness . . .

Carl Bernstein's disgust at Hillary’s “thick ankles.” Nixon-trickster Roger Stone’s new Hillary-hating 527 group, “Citizens United Not Timid” (check the capital letters). John McCain answering “How do we beat the bitch?" with “Excellent question!” Would he have dared reply similarly to “How do we beat the black bastard?” For shame.

Goodbye to the HRC nutcracker with metal spikes between splayed thighs. If it was a tap-dancing blackface doll, we would be righteously outraged—and they would not be selling it in airports. Shame.

Goodbye to the most intimately violent T-shirts in election history, including one with the murderous slogan “If Only Hillary had married O.J. Instead!” Shame.

Goodbye to Comedy Central’s “Southpark” featuring a storyline in which terrorists secrete a bomb in HRC’s vagina. I refuse to wrench my brain down into the gutter far enough to find a race-based comparison. For shame.

Goodbye to the sick, malicious idea that this is funny. This is not “Clinton hating,” not “Hillary hating.” This is sociopathic woman-hating. If it were about Jews, we would recognize it instantly as anti-Semitic propaganda; if about race, as KKK poison. Hell, PETA would go ballistic if such vomitous spew were directed at animals. Where is our sense of outrage—as citizens, voters, Americans?

Goodbye to the news-coverage target-practice . . .

The women’s movement and Media Matters wrung an apology from MSNBC’s Chris Matthews for relentless misogynistic comments (www.womensmediacenter.com). But what about NBC’s Tim Russert’s continual sexist asides and his all-white-male panels pontificating on race and gender? Or CNN’s Tony Harris chuckling at “the chromosome thing” while interviewing a woman from The White House Project? And that’s not even mentioning Fox News.

Goodbye to pretending the black community is entirely male and all women are white . . .

Surprise! Women exist in all opinions, pigmentations, ethnicities, abilities, sexual preferences, and ages—not only African American and European American but Latina and Native American, Asian American and Pacific Islanders, Arab American and—hey, every group, because a group wouldn’t exist if we hadn’t given birth to it. A few non-racist countries may exist—but sexism is everywhere. No matter how many ways a woman breaks free from other discriminations, she remains a female human being in a world still so patriarchal that it’s the “norm.”

So why should all women not be as justly proud of our womanhood and the centuries, even millennia, of struggle that got us this far, as black Americans, women and men, are justly proud of their struggles?

Goodbye to a campaign where he has to pass as white (which whites—especially wealthy ones—adore), while she has to pass as male (which both men and women demanded of her, and then found unforgivable). If she were blackor he were female we wouldn’t be having such problems, and I for one would be in heaven. But at present such a candidate wouldn’t stand a chance—even if she shared Condi Rice’s Bush-defending politics.

I was celebrating the pivotal power at last focused on African American women deciding on which of two candidates to bestow their vote—until a number of Hillary-supporting black feminists told me they’re being called “race traitors.”

So goodbye to conversations about this nation’s deepest scar—slavery—which fail to acknowledge that labor- and sexual-slavery exist today in the U.S. and elsewhere on this planet, and the majority of those enslaved are women.

Women have endured sex/race/ethnic/religious hatred, rape and battery, invasion of spirit and flesh, forced pregnancy; being the majority of the poor, the illiterate, the disabled, of refugees, caregivers, the HIV/AIDS afflicted, the powerless. We have survived invisibility, ridicule, religious fundamentalisms, polygamy, teargas, forced feedings, jails, asylums, sati, purdah, female genital mutilation, witch burnings, stonings, and attempted gynocides. We have tried reason, persuasion, reassurances, and being extra-qualified, only to learn it never was about qualifications after all. We know that at this historical moment women experience the world differently from men—though not all the same as one another—and can govern differently, from Elizabeth Tudor to Michele Bachelet and Ellen Johnson Sirleaf.

We remember when Shirley Chisholm and Patricia Schroeder ran for this high office and barely got past the gate—they showed too much passion, raised too little cash, were joke fodder. Goodbye to all that. (And goodbye to some feminists so famished for a female president they were even willing to abandon women’s rights in backing Elizabeth Dole.)

Goodbye, goodbye to . . .

—blaming anything Bill Clinton does on Hillary (even including his womanizing like the Kennedy guys—though unlike them, he got reported on). Let’s get real. If he hadn’t campaigned strongly for her everyone would cluck over what that meant. Enough of Bill and Teddy Kennedy locking their alpha male horns while Hillary pays for it.

—an era when parts of the populace feel so disaffected by politics that a comparative lack of knowledge, experience, and skill is actually seen as attractive, when celebrity-culture mania now infects our elections so that it’s “cooler” to glow with marquee charisma than to understand the vast global complexities of power on a nuclear, wounded planet.

—the notion that it’s fun to elect a handsome, cocky president who feels he can learn on the job, goodbye to George W. Bush and the destruction brought by his inexperience, ignorance, and arrogance. Goodbye to the accusation that HRC acts “entitled” when she’s worked intensely at everything she’s done—including being a nose-to-the-grindstone, first-rate senator from my state.

Goodbye to her being exploited as a Rorschach test by women who reduce her to a blank screen on which they project their own fears, failures, fantasies.

Goodbye to the phrase “polarizing figure” to describe someone who embodies the transitions women have made in the last century and are poised to make in this one. It was the women’s movement that quipped, “We are becoming the men we wanted to marry.” She heard us, and she has.

Goodbye to some women letting history pass by while wringing their hands, because Hillary isn’t as “likeable” as they’ve been warned they must be, or because she didn’t leave him, couldn’t “control” him, kept her family together and raised a smart, sane daughter. (Think of the blame if Chelsea had ever acted in the alcoholic, neurotic manner of the Bush twins!) Goodbye to some women pouting because she didn’t bake cookies or she did, sniping because she learned the rules and then bent or broke them. Grow the hell up. She is not running for Ms.-perfect-pure-queen-icon of the feminist movement. She’s running to be president of the United States.

Goodbye to the shocking American ignorance of our own and other countries’ history. Margaret Thatcher and Golda Meir rose through party ranks and war, positioning themselves as proto-male leaders. Almost all other female heads of government so far have been related to men of power—granddaughters, daughters, sisters, wives, widows: Gandhi, Bandaranike, Bhutto, Aquino, Chamorro, Wazed, Macapagal-Arroyo, Johnson Sirleaf, Bachelet, Kirchner, and more. Even in our “land of opportunity,” it’s mostly the first pathway “in” permitted to women: Representatives Doris Matsui and Mary Bono and Sala Burton; Senator Jean Carnahan . . . far too many to list here.

Goodbye to a misrepresented generational divide . . .

Goodbye to the so-called spontaneous “Obama Girl” flaunting her bikini-clad ass online—then confessing Oh yeah it wasn’t her idea after all, some guys got her to do it and dictated the clothes, which she said “made me feel like a dork.”

Goodbye to some young women eager to win male approval by showing they’re not feminists (at least not the kind who actually threaten thestatus quo), who can’t identify with a woman candidate because she is unafraid of eeueweeeu yucky power, who fear their boyfriends might look at them funny if they say something good about her. Goodbye to women of any age again feeling unworthy, sulking “what if she’s not electable?” or “maybe it’s post-feminism and whoooosh we’re already free.” Let a statement by the magnificent Harriet Tubman stand as reply. When asked how she managed to save hundreds of enslaved African Americans via the Underground Railroad during the Civil War, she replied bitterly, “I could have saved thousands—if only I’d been able to convince them they were slaves.”

I’d rather say a joyful Hello to all the glorious young women who do identifywith Hillary, and all the brave, smart men—of all ethnicities and any age—who get that it’s in their self-interest, too. She’s better qualified. (D’uh.) She’s a high-profile candidate with an enormous grasp of foreign- and domestic-policy nuance, dedication to detail, ability to absorb staggering insult and personal pain while retaining dignity, resolve, even humor, and keep on keeping on. (Also, yes, dammit, let’s hear it for her connections and funding and party-building background, too. Obama was awfully glad about those when she raised dough and campaigned for him to get to the Senate in the first place.)

I’d rather look forward to what a good president he might make in eight years, when his vision and spirit are seasoned by practical know-how—and he’ll be all of 54. Meanwhile, goodbye to turning him into a shining knight when actually he’s an astute, smooth pol with speechwriters who’ve worked with the Kennedys’ own speechwriter-courtier Ted Sorenson. If it’s only about ringing rhetoric, let speechwriters run. But isn’t it about getting the policies we want enacted?

And goodbye to the ageism . . .

How dare anyone unilaterally decide when to turn the page on history, papering over real inequities and suffering constituencies in the promise of a feel-good campaign? How dare anyone claim to unify while dividing, or think that to rouse U.S. youth from torpor it’s useful to triage the single largest demographic in this country’s history: the boomer generation—the majority of which is female?

Old woman are the one group that doesn’t grow more conservative with age—and we are the generation of radicals who said “Well-behaved women seldom make history.” Goodbye to going gently into any goodnight any man prescribes for us. We are the women who changed the reality of the United States. And though we never went away, brace yourselves: we’re back!

We are the women who brought this country equal credit, better pay, affirmative action, the concept of a family-focused workplace; the women who established rape-crisis centers and battery shelters, marital-rape and date-rape laws; the women who defended lesbian custody rights, who fought for prison reform, founded the peace and environmental movements; who insisted that medical research include female anatomy; who inspired men to become more nurturing parents; who created women’s studies and Title IX so we all could cheer the WNBA stars and Mia Hamm. We are the women who reclaimed sexuality from violent pornography, who put childcare on the national agenda, who transformed demographics, artistic expression, language itself. We are the women who forged a worldwide movement. We are the proud successors of women who, though it took more than 50 years, won us the vote.

We are the women who now comprise the majority of U.S. voters.

Hillary said she found her own voice in New Hampshire. There’s not a woman alive who, if she’s honest, doesn’t recognize what she means. Then HRC got drowned out by campaign experts, Bill, and media’s obsession with everything Bill.

So listen to her voice:

“For too long, the history of women has been a history of silence. Even today, there are those who are trying to silence our words.

“It is a violation of human rights when babies are denied food, or drowned, or suffocated, or their spines broken, simply because they are born girls. It is a violation of human rights when woman and girls are sold into the slavery of prostitution. It is a violation of human rights when women are doused with gasoline, set on fire and burned to death because their marriage dowries are deemed too small. It is a violation of human rights when individual women are raped in their own communities and when thousands of women are subjected to rape as a tactic or prize of war. It is a violation of human rights when a leading cause of death worldwide along women ages 14 to 44 is the violence they are subjected to in their own homes. It is a violation of human rights when women are denied the right to plan their own families, and that includes being forced to have abortions or being sterilized against their will.

“Women’s rights are human rights. Among those rights are the right to speak freely—and the right to be heard.”

That was Hillary Rodham Clinton defying the U.S. State Department and the Chinese Government at the 1995 UN World Conference on Women in Beijing (look here for the full, stunning speech).

And this voice, age 21, in “Commencement Remarks of Hillary D. Rodham, President of Wellesley College Government Association, Class of 1969.”

“We are, all of us, exploring a world none of us understands. . . . searching for a more immediate, ecstatic, and penetrating mode of living. . . . integrity, the courage to be whole, living in relation to one another in the full poetry of existence. The struggle for an integrated life existing in an atmosphere of communal trust and respect is one with desperately important political and social consequences. . . . Fear is always with us, but we just don't have time for it.”

She ended with the commitment “to practice, with all the skill of our being: the art of making possible.”

And for decades, she’s been learning how.

So goodbye to Hillary’s second-guessing herself. The real question is deeper than her re-finding her voice. Can we women find ours? Can we do this for ourselves?

“Our President, Ourselves!”

Time is short and the contest tightening. We need to rise in furious energy—as we did when Anita Hill was so vilely treated in the U.S. Senate, as we did when Rosie Jiminez was butchered by an illegal abortion, as we did and do for women globally who are condemned for trying to break through. We need to win, this time. Goodbye to supporting HRC tepidly, with ambivalent caveats and apologetic smiles. Time to volunteer, make phone calls, send emails, donate money, argue, rally, march, shout, vote.

Me? I support Hillary Rodham because she’s the best qualified of all candidates running in both parties. I support her because her progressive politics are as strong as her proven ability to withstand what will be a massive right-wing assault in the general election. I support her because she knows how to get us out of Iraq. I support her because she’s refreshingly thoughtful, and I’m bloodied from eight years of a jolly “uniter” with ejaculatory politics. I needn’t agree with her on every point. I agree with the 97 percent of her positions that are identical with Obama’s—and the few where hers are both more practical and to the left of his (like health care). I support her because she’s already smashed the first-lady stereotype and made history as a fine senator, because I believe she will continue to make history not only as the first US woman president, but as a great US president.

As for the “woman thing”?

Me, I’m voting for Hillary not because she’s a woman—but because I am.

###

[LisaM]

1. Check your PM in about three minutes

I'm going to send you something.

[sandnsea]

2. Long, Long List of Shady Clinton Donors

I was stunned by this one.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=132x4473288

[foerschie]

69. What does that have to do with this post?

[Donnachaidh]

78. marginalizing a REAL issue must be fun for some

Let's change the subject on a REAL concern for women. Just another poster willing to marginalize women's issues to *win*. :puke:

[Autumn]

3. Thank you

This makes me proud.

[jab105]

4. Obama would be gone as a candidate for president if he EVER said

that people should vote for him because he is black...because it would marginalize him...

Hillary CLinton can use vote for me cause I'm a woman as much as she wants...

I just dont see it...and yes, I'm female.

[Captain Hilts]

16. As 52% of the population, women have been grossly under-represented in Govt. nt

[seybor]

30. SHE doesn't use her gender like HE doesn't use his race

The way people around hear attribute their own and others' comments to the candidates themselves is shameful and depressing.

[Indenturedebtor]

44. BS!!!!!!!

Did you watch the Worcester Mass rally the night before Super Tuesday?

I assume that you didn't. I did. Her MC (I think it was rep McGovern) brought his daughter up on stage and crowned his endorsement of HRC with a lovely speech about how part of the reason he supports her is for the sake of his daughter and her female friends... Furthermore she had the crowd divided up so the men were on the ground and the women were sitting in 3-4 rows behind her. Nice symbolism there. The press would have a field day if Obama pulled something like that with men on the stage, or better yet black men.

So again i say BS!!!!!!! She's proven over and over again that she will do anything to gain more power.

But this sexist crap is not ok... from her detractors or her supporters :puke:

[foerschie]

70. Your're right

I'm sure we can expect alot more sexist seating from her in the future, will it ever end?

[VarnettaTuckpocket]

72. Obama would've been gone if he'd had a racist emcee one of his campaign events

And spew racism to a cheering crowd, but since McClurkin is a homophobe instead, Obama gets away with it.

[xultar]

5. Makes you think don't it. Now just go back, all that same shit has been said

about her here @ DU for over a year now. I don't know how her supporters do it. They have been hearing that stuff from the RW and now DU for ages.

[rodeodance]

61. It is extreemly hurtful when it comes a DU member!

[LostinVA]

6. I find it interesting you self-identify as an "anti-Hillary activist"

Makes it sound like you don't care about who's in the White House, as long as it's not Hillary.

[DeadElephant_ORG]

9. Hillary has made light of progressives (like me) for a long time

My ideal candidate would have been Gore. I supported Kucinich, and then Edwards, in turns, hoping for a candidate who would speak up for my values. Check out the DeadElephant.ORG campaign slogans to get where I'm coming from. So... I'm not "anybody but Hillary". Just give me a true progressive. Barack is well to my right, but he has the charisma to insure that at least some progressive ideals will be heard and acted upon by the entire country.

[LostinVA]

10. His voting record is to the right of Hillary and I'm very much a progressive

Gore would have been my ideal candidate, as well.

[Sapphocrat]

22. Ditto on all from this very progressive progressive.

And re Gore: Especially now that he's seen the light on equal rights, he is the perfect candidate.

Sometimes it takes a lot more seasoning before even the best of the best is capable of ending up on the right side of history... wouldn't you say?

[readmoreoften]

52. Everyone is going to be so surprised if Obama is elected. His right leanings will shock them.

He's going to beef up the military and take us on a whole new ride. Out of Iraq, into wherever.

[mtnester]

75. Exaclt...I was wondering why the OP could not say they were an Obama for President activist

weird (not really..it was one hell of a tell)

[IntravenousDemilo]

7. There's a great line in "The History Boys", spoken by Mrs Lintott (Frances de la Tour)

"History is women walking behind men... with a bucket." I think it's fair to say that throughout human history, women of all races have been much more put upon than men of any race. When did black people get to vote in US federal elections? What about women?

Women are probably better suited to running things than we are, both logically and emotionally. I'm just not that excited about this particular woman, mostly because I don't believe in political dynasties and the misplaced feelings of entitlement that they engender.

[Donnachaidh]

76. Great Movie moment!

But you cannot possibly convey the tone in which she spoke the line.

[Laurab]

8. I read it, I'm not shaking with emotion.

I've seen it all before - here on DU, mostly. I'm a woman, and I voted for Obama. I'd love to have a woman president, just not this particular woman.

[Hoof Hearted]

11. .

.

[gaspee]

12. I know I'm going to catch it for this

But this essay is exactly why I'm leaning Clinton now that my first choice, Edwards, is gone.

I don't see much of a difference, policy wise, between Clinton and Obama. I still haven't decided yet (Edwards or Clinton) but this article definitely speaks for me.

I'm a radical feminist, socialist, lesbian leaning bisexual atheist so none of the candidates really accepts me or is working toward the same goals I am which is why I'm having a hard time deciding who I'm going to vote for on March 4. Edwards is the closest to what I want, but my gut reaction to the Clinton hate is HOW DARE THEY! and I just might vote for her.

[mrreowwr_kittty]

29. I'm going the other way

Actually, I already did, as I voted for Barack last Tuesday. It may be a (troubling) sign that I'm inured to the hatred toward HRC, and misogyny in general, but the downright racist attacks against Barack inspire outraged feelings in me that I've never felt. The "Muslim" smear pushed me over the edge. For whatever reason I'm just really keenly aware of the racism in this country right now, like I've never been before. Recently, I had a disturbing exchange when I got back from Nevada. I ran into a good friend, an active Clinton supporter. I told her about my experience volunteering there and how disturbed I was by how racist some people are. She abruptly cut me off with, "No! More people are sexist! Sexism is a much bigger problem in this country!" She didn't even want to hear about racism. I was like, excuse me? Shouldn't we be talking about both?

Anyway, there's nothing wrong with voting for Clinton or Edwards, for whatever reason you choose. No flames here. Robin Morgan says she's voting for Clinton because she, herself, is a woman. I (partly) voted for Obama because I'm white.

[RiverStone]

33. Better to vote with your head and win, then with your heart and lose

Or maybe I got that backwards...

There is no perfect candidate - they are flawed for different reasons. You can find pandering in both campaigns and yes, their policies are not that different.

Though I can tell ya *unequivocally* that Obama is more electable and better against the pukes.

Ultimately the very bottom line question I ask myself is....who can win?

Answer - Obama.

And if Hillary's polarizing aspects causes us to lose the election - the amount of personal liberties that would further be taken away with pukes in power would be far worse than any frustration you feel toward Obama. Can ya imagine, the pukes infusing the constitution, and our schools, and the airwaves, and your home with all their religious fear mongering in-your-face bullshit?

I just want us Dems to WIN! That is the most important common goal and Obama has a much better chance, IMO of course.

Best wishes in your decision gaspee :hi:

[foerschie]

71. Then you're voting out of fear

Fear of losing. I'm not scared.

[never_get_over_it]

74. You won't catch it from me

I went from Kucinich to Edwards to Clinton - simply because there is no real difference in them policy wise - I do think her experience is IMPORTANT - but mostly the sexist shit has driven me right into her camp.....

you know some idiot has put up a CUNextTuesday website - are there any comparable N word sites...

maybe there are but - I've always said it doesn't matter what color IT is as long as you have one

nobody will ever convince me that racism is worse than sexism....

[avrdream]

13. Thank you for being considerate enough to at least read the article.

Most of those not supporting Hillary wouldn't even take the time for that sort of research. I admire your openmindedness and agree fully with Robin Morgan's words.

There is a disgusting double-standard going on around here and in the U.S. Can you imagine if Schuster had called Obama a pimp?

[DURHAM D]

14. Floating around somewhere is a comment that Chelsea made in

an email to a friend regarding this article and it ended up on the internet.

Chels said she did not agree 100% with the points made in this article but she did not really even get "it" until the "Iron My Shirt" event and instead of the media being outraged they were amused by it.

[Captain Hilts]

17. "Iron my shirt" got little MSM attention. Now, if he'd said, "shine my shoes" to BO...

I think we might have heard more. Hard to say. Earl Butz was fired for making racist jokes, but Don Regan wasn't. Nor did McCain get much shit for telling the vulgar joke about Chelsea Clinton.

[sandnsea]

35. Well they said "sold drugs"

and that came right from the campaign and it was denied as racist.

[DeadElephant_ORG]

15. link to the original article

http://www.womensmediacenter.com/ex/020108.html

should've included this in the first place.

[La Lioness Priyanka]

18. this sort of echoes why i am voting for her. i like her. i find very little policy difference

between her and obama. what policy diff there is i prefer hers to his. and i cant stand the sexism that people throw at her.

[rodeodance]

62. i have to admit it was the tipping factor for me also.

[mrreowwr_kittty]

19. I'm a feminist and I thought it was an incoherent rant. Insulting too.

I'm an admirer of Robin Morgan's previous works but I think she's temporarily lost her damn mind, along with Gloria Steinem and several other feminist leaders. Personally, I think some of these women have spent far too much time in their rarefied Upper East Side bubbles. This allows them to create this totally false narrative that (a) all women who support HRC are radical feminists (b) all women who don't are deluded man-pleasing sellouts. Doesn't matter if you have a problem with the war vote, or her ties with lobbyists, or anything else. If you aren't supporting HRC you aren't a feminist and are slapping the face of the foremothers who paved the way for you. There's nothing wrong with them supporting Clinton because she's a woman but I'll thank them to keep their ignorant insults to themselves if I make a different choice.

The Obama Girl thing in particular annoyed me. She was a performer doing a satirical (admittedly grossly sexist) spoof. Morgan sarcastically acknowledges that, but I can't help but wonder why she would even include the Obama Girl, unless she was implying something about actual young female Obama supporters. I'm guessing she doesn't know very many of them so she just filled in the blank with the first available strawwoman.

She'd also have more credibility if she spent more time extolling the policies of her preferred candidate rather than taking cheap potshots at Obama (comparing him to GWB more than once) and his young supporters.

[Onlooker]

27. I find it hard to believe you're a feminist

She provided numerous and credible examples, yet you responded with an incoherent rant that did not address what she said. One can disagree with how feminists should vote (I, for instance, a feminist gay man, support Obama simply because I think he can , but you haven't presented an argument), but I really can't understand how you can call yourself a feminist and criticize this article.

[mrreowwr_kittty]

31. I don't give a shit what you think I am

I can criticize any damn article I want. I am far from the only feminist who feels this way about this letter, the Gloria Steinem op-ed, and the tirades by the NY NOW president. Maybe you should do some googling and educate yourself to the fact that feminists are not some big monolithic entity and that we don't hang on the words of "icons" as if they were dogma handed down from the goddess above. Robin Morgan was making all kinds of baseless assumptions about women who support Obama: We're not real feminists. We're just pandering to our insecure boyfriends (mine voted for Hillary, BTW). We're dumb hoochies who shake our asses and giggle on youtube because one young woman, who had nothing to do with the Obama campaign, played the role of one. I don't think she knows what the fuck she's talking about, as evidenced by her repeating the tired meme of Obama's "inexperience". I doubt she's bothered to do a whit of research on Obama. She doesn't know Obama and she doesn't know me. And I'll thank her, and you, to take your ASSumptions and stick them.

[Onlooker]

34. I obviously hit a nerve

so you do give a shit, and a sexist would probably call you a "hysterical female" (assuming you're a woman), but I think you're merely incredibly rude, which is not a gender-specific trait.

Like I said, her points about sexism are all valid. Whether or not to support Clinton is an entirely different issue.

[mrreowwr_kittty]

40. Her points about women who do not support Clinton are NOT valid. nt

[readmoreoften]

50. I can't stand Robin Morgan, but she hits it on the nose with this one.

Not so much with young women supporting Obama, but with young women afraid to tell their male friends they support Clinton for fear of getting a rash of shit.

Obama's statements about believing in unilateral war, expanding the military, and redeploying where needed to promote America's glory do not leave me impressed. Is this just about Iraq or is this about: No Iran, No Pakistan, No Syria...No More Period.

We're not going to get policy change from either candidate. Let's be realistic.

[avrdream]

66. And that may be why the polls have been wrong.

The women afraid to say they are supporting Hillary.....such a shame.

After Iowa, my very own brother-in-law sent me an e-mail with one line: "Hillary is going DOWN!" He is a Repub but it is similar to the absolute rudeness that is out there. My own brother-in-law - my sister is pissed off about it.

[DURHAM D]

32. I am with you there.

I also cringe at his/her use of my community's pink triangle while spewing hateful bias over the past several weeks. Incomplete profile added to all of this makes me wonder who this poster really is.

[mrreowwr_kittty]

43. What hateful bias?

If this is about McClurkin, I have been consistent in pointing out the blatant HYPOCRISY of condemning Obama's homophobic associations while excusing Clinton's. I have yet to receive a satisfactory answer as to why it's okay for Hillary Clinton to have a $10000 a month consultant on her staff who is also a SC lawmaker who has made anti-gay statements on the floor of the Legislature. I'm against ALL hateful bias, unlike you who are apparently selective about it. And I don't have to fill my profile if I don't want to so fuck off.

[NMMNG]

20. I love it!

:applause:

[Evergreen Emerald]

21. It is a moving and amazing article.

She nailed it.

[Sapphocrat]

23. Excellent piece.

I'm glad you read it, and glad you were moved by it.

..we are the generation of radicals who said “Well-behaved women seldom make history.” ...

K&R

[Onlooker]

24. Wow, Keep this kicked.

That's an incredibly powerful piece, and I too am an Obama supporter. I'm going to forward it to some progressive Hillary haters I know.

It's a very important piece for all progressives to read. Made me think of Susan Faludi's outstanding book, Backlash.

[noamnety]

25. I thought her criticism of sexism in our culture was spot on

And her love for Clinton was completely misplaced.

Krenshaw and Ensler: Feminist Ultimatums: Not In Our Name

For many of us, feminism is not separate from the struggle against violence, war, racism and economic injustice. Gender hierarchy and race hierarchy are not separate and parallel dynamics. The empowerment of women is contingent upon all these things. Despite the fact that we know that identity does not equal politics--especially an antiwar, social equity and global justice politics--we are led to believe that having a woman in power is the penultimate accomplishment. And even when the "either/or" feminists back off this claim in general, we are told, it is true in the case of the particular, Hillary Clinton. Experience and judgment go hand in hand, we are told, but one has to wonder how is it that so many ordinary citizens who were outside the beltway instinctively sensed what would come with the war, but the female candidate running for President did not?

For us, the choice at hand is actually quite simple. It is not about the woman candidate vs. the Black male candidate. It is about the candidate who works to dismantle the bomb, rather than drop it; the candidate who works to abolish the old paradigm of power, rather than covet and rise to its highest point; the candidate who seeks solutions and dialogue rather than retaliation and punishment.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/kimberle-crenshaw-and-eve-ensler/feminist-ultimatums-not-_b_85165.html

I do think she is right, though that Clinton and Obama are 97% the same, which is why I don't support either of them. I have zero confidence in their ability (or rather desire) to get us out of Iraq, unless it's so they can reposition us in Iran.

I am still waiting for Hillary AND Obama to discuss the effects of the Clinton sanctions on the Iraqi civilians. Did that even happen? Was it a dream? The fact that Clinton doesn't discuss it tells me she condones it. The fact that Obama doesn't discuss it and use it against her says the same about him.

War is not a feminist value.

[Bucky]

26. Sheesh, just nag nag nag me all day, lady.

hee-hee!

[DeadElephant_ORG]

28. the core of my problem with Hillary

Thanks everyone who chimed in with your thoughts. Here's what I've decided it comes down to for me. Robin Morgan wrote in comparing Hillary to Obama that

"If it’s only about ringing rhetoric, let speechwriters run. But isn’t it about getting the policies we want enacted?"

As George Lakoff has warned, this is where old-school progressives always get it flat wrong. Great politicians are effective communicators of MORAL IDEAS – they are NOT policy wonks. That’s why Ronald Reagan was vastly more effective than the first President Bush who followed him. Because Reagan moved the people, his policies were enacted.

I grant that Hillary has been unfairly tarred and blocked her entire political life. I grant that sexism has played a major role in the unfair treatment of her (including my own unfair treatment of her). I grant, in agreement with Robin Morgan, that the history, and the present reality of injustice towards women is real, and that it is much darker than I usually acknowledge.

But for all those reasons - and many more that have only to do with Hillary herself - Hillary cannot MOVE the population at large. Those who hate her - fairly or not - will never be moved by her. Her supporters, of course, are deeply inspired by her. But the key question - the question that matters - is whether or not those who have never supported her will ever listen to her. I just don’t believe that they will.

[Sapphocrat]

41. What's your opinion then...

...of Dennis Kucinich? He's a major policy wonk, and an extremely effective communicator -- of both "moral ideas" and practical action.

[DeadElephant_ORG]

65. you got me there. Kucinich has COURAGE... but he's limited beyond that.

[xultar]

36. keeick.

[jasmine621]

37. This is a marvelous piece. It should be published nation-wide in

a major mag or newspaper. It is so very true, complete, and sad.

I am at the point where I feel that the country does not deserve to have Hillary as President. that she should peace out and let Obama wear his prickly throne. He hasn't "paid his dues" I believe as have others before him, Jesse, Al, Andrew, Joe etc. Being of mixed parentage myself, I feel as though Obama in some ways uses this to keep would-be detractors on both sides at bay. Whatever the outcome of this primary and the GE, I will hold that the "universe is unfolding as it should." And Hillary should know that no matter what, she is loved.

[Politicub]

38. Wow - Thanks for posting this

"Old woman are the one group that doesn’t grow more conservative with age—and we are the generation of radicals who said “Well-behaved women seldom make history.” Goodbye to going gently into any goodnight any man prescribes for us. We are the women who changed the reality of the United States. And though we never
went away, brace yourselves: we’re back!"

Welcome back, ladies

[UALRBSofL]

64. I think it's the fact that the young generation is trying to take over our party

And putting us out to pasture. Sort of like changing of the guards. However, were not going anywhere. :)

[EffieBlack]

39. Excellent piece - thanks for posting it

I don't agree with everything in it, but it really is spot on.

[calimary]

42. WOW. An absolute tour-de-force!

I voted for Obama, but I still feel every last word of this essay deeply!

I sent it to my teenage son who does appreciate the idea of women's struggle through the ages, but still could get a clearer sense of it. This spells it out better than I ever could!

BRAVA!!!!!

:thumbsup:

:applause:

:yourock:

[nonconformist]

45. Holy shit, that was fantastic. K & R! nt

[CyberPieHole]

46. What a superb article. Kick and recommend

All the excellent reasons why one should vote for Hillary Clinton...and some I'd never even thought of.

[adapa]

47. thank you for posting this- amazing-regardless of the primary outcome

[cooolandrew]

48. It is a very emotive article, but it says little why HRC is the best candidate

Barack has fresh ideas and can take america to fresh new places, let alone he expanded rights for women in illinois so they can get better care for their kids and take time off for pregnancy. With Michelle Obama at his side there is no chance he couldn't address women's issues. Considering Hillary's military funding it won't leave much to resolve any issues.

I respect the womens movement but America's movement to a better more positive place would be best first. WHen the divisions of gender and race fall we are closer to peace.

[cooolandrew]

49. I feel Mchelle Obama will be more positive for her gender than HRC who has arisen such negativity.

[readmoreoften]

51. Michelle Obama isn't running for president. It's an absurd and, frankly, sexist comparison.

A first lady is supposed to be elegant and gracious. She's not supposed to run for Commander in Chief. When Michelle Obama runs for Commander in Chief you get back to me. She's not a politician. She's a politician's wife.

And by the way, if people make a nutcracker out of a female candidate's thighs and laughs at her thick ankles and says they can't stand her it's not HER FAULT she's divisive. It's called "blaming the victim."

Frankly, there is no female who could run for president of the United States without being transformed into a hideous man-hating harpy: Michelle Obama included.

[BenDavid]

55. Volunteers told to share personal conversion stories with voters,

Not policy views......Obama basic training

Folks, this is down right Jim Jones.....

[Leopolds Ghost]

80. If a first lady is not supposed to run for CinC or be involved in politics, why is Hillary doing so?

[Ronnie]

54. That reminds me.

Way back when African-American voters were about evenly divided between Obama and Clinton, didn't Mrs. Obama say that Black voters would "come home"? Guess she called that right.

[rodeodance]

60. sexism has a lot to with "negativity"--and why bring michelle into this.??

[robbedvoter]

53. An "anti-hillary activist" - you and the whole corporate media, huh?

[Mother Of Four]

56. It was a very good article...

It was clear, concise and moving.

However, I keep wondering...

As my family is White, Black, Beige, Italian, Irish, German, Puerto Rican, Chippewa, Blackfoot, a dash Romanian, a little Russian for seasoning....


(Some through marriage, some through blood, some through adoption...)

Instead of WOMAN POWER!!!
Instead of BLACK POWER!!!
Instead of LATINO POWER!!! Being screamed from the rooftops...

When, I ask...is it going to be PEOPLE power,
Specifically the people of the United States?

Melanin and genetics don't make us different species, just different looking.

[foerschie]

73. Excellent Point!

[rodeodance]

57. by Robin Morgan---WHOW-I have not read her in a while. GOOD JOB MORGAN

[fishwax]

58. i find her arguments about the sexism of it all quite convincing, but i don't find her arguments

about why we should choose Clinton over Obama convincing.

[BlackVelvet04]

59. Thank you

for posting that. What a deeply powerful and moving piece.

Why is it that some of you had to use this thread to tell us once again (like we don't fucking know) just what it is about Hillary you hate? Can't you give it a rest for one minute? One thread?

I support Hillary because I think she's the best person for the job. I'll work for her and donate my money to her because she's a woman.

[rodeodance]

63. btw. thanks. I will email to all.

[Qanisqineq]

67. Wow. I had no idea

I was completely unaware of some of those things being done to Hillary Clinton -- the t-shirts, South Park, the nutcracker, the "thick ankles". I had heard about the "iron my shirt" incident but I live in Korea right now and get 90% of my news from DU and even then I miss out on a lot of what is posted here. And I thought the misogyny was bad with what I knew about.

I have always admired Hillary Clinton even if I didn't always agree with her. I was a Biden/Edwards supporter, then Edwards, then undecided after Edwards also dropped out. I started leaning towards Clinton partly because she was a woman. I like Obama. I really do and I think he would make a good president and an even better one after a few more years experience. But I can't help if part of me wants to see a woman strong enough to get out there and put up with the shit thrown her way. She has been through so much and she didn't decide to go hide away from the viciousness after leaving the White House. I would have. I would have said 'I don't want anymore of this toxic shit being said about me, I don't want to be attacked anymore, I am tired of the misogyny'. That isn't the only reason I support her but as a woman I can't help but think it is a big "fuck you" to all the woman-hating assholes out there.

[dailykoff]

68. "she is unafraid of eeueweeeu yucky power"?

"Hillary is too ballsy but too womanly, a Snow Maiden who’s emotional, and so much a politician as to be unfit for politics"?

It's hard to miss the fact that this is 100% fact-free spin. And they're trying to paint Obama's voters as cultists?

:shrug:

[Iceburg]

77. It should come as no suprise that upward of 18% of Republican women would vote for Hillary

http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/430821/survey_republican_women_support_hillary.html

Rasmussen Reports has combined results from some of their most recent surveys and have come up with some very interesting figures. They show that Hillary Clinton has the support of a good number of Republican women, but she loses just about the same level of support from Democratic men - and 18% gain from the women and as 20% loss from the men.
....
In the eight head to head polls that are used in this report, Clinton's best was the poll where she picked up 25% of the support from Republican women and her weakest was the one where she got just 10%. These two extremes are just about the same distance from the average of 18%.

more at above link

[Emillereid]

79. As a woman and a feminist I don't agree - I am not voting for or against

anyone because of their gender or their race or my gender or race. I am voting for the person most likely to bring a real change of direction to this country. Also I agree with Oprah who I saw last week. Apparently a lot of women have been giving her a hard time about supporting Obama calling her a traitor and the like. But as she explained so well - My support is not based on either gender or race. I am voting for Obama not because he's black, but because he's brilliant.

[Raffi Ella]

81. Kick

For some perspective and truth.You don't have to agree with this woman but her voice needs to be heard.




To the OP,thank you so much for posting this.I saw it last week and posted it here as well.It's the most compelling piece to date - brought this campaign home to me in a way nothing else has.

My support of her runs deep,it's personal and I have faith that she will indeed be our next President.I intend to rise to the occassion for her in anyway that I can.I know other Hillary Supporters feel the same way.


This fight has just begun and we are ready willing and able to take it on.