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Edited on Sat Jun-07-08 04:07 PM by Chalco
I was in the audience today for Hillary's speech with my husband. What struck us both right away was the crowd. Most, 90%, were under 30. As we were standing in line my husband remarked on that (I'm 59 and he's 65) and everyone around us laughed. They were all under 30. He asked them what's up with that. The media says all Hillary supporters are over 50. These young people were gorgeous. So thoughtful. They admitted that many of their friends were Obamabots but that they liked her ability to think, plan and follow through.
So we finally get inside and there are no seats so we are standing and I decide to sit on the floor against the wall. A reporter from a Japanese newspaper came over and asked if he can interview me. I say "Sure!" We talk for 15 minutes. He said he's only been in the U.S. for 3 years and asked my forgiveness for his questions and curiosity but his view of America had changed since he moved here from Japan. He was quite surprised by the treatment of women in particular. He said that the view from Japan was that there was no more discrimination against women but observing this primary fight had educated him otherwise. He asked why this was so. Why had this man with relatively little experience been able to beat out Hillary Clinton? He felt that Obama and Clinton had the same values, had voted the same way and that Hillary was a stronger candidate. What happened, he asked.
I said that sexism was deeper than racism. Racism in our country was two hundred years old sexism was older than our country. That the only way I would be able to understand and heal from this episode was when I thought of the analogy of the depth of wounds and that since racism in our country was only a few hundred years old and was a festering sore, we had to take care of that first. The bleeding had to stop. And because sexism was several thousand years old the wound had scarred over and we were able to keep walking and breathing, but that it would have to be taken care of next because that wound is now festering and women are angry.
Then, he said but there are many women supporters of Obama. Why? And, I said that's because women eat their own. They're jealous. It's easier to fawn over the next man in power than a woman in power.
He asked, do you think the reason he won was all due to racism versus sexism and I said no. Some of it was due to tactics. That his team was better at undermining Hillary and getting the press to go along with it. The sexism of the press put Obama over the top.
He said he’s been to Obama gatherings as well and noticed a difference in how Hillary and Obama spoke. She spoke about policy and he spoke in lofty terms. And I said, yes, he speaks in platitudes and never comes down to how we’re going to achieve whatever lofty goal he states. She has the same lofty goals but she starts out with a lofty goal and then talks about how we are going to achieve it, then she states another lofty goal and how she’s going to achieve it. He stays at the top of the funnel and she starts at the top and works her way down into reality.
Finally, he asked me what I hoped for Hillary’s future. I said I hoped she would be on the ticket as VP after all she had half the votes. If she decided not to do that I said I hoped she would work to end the unconscious discrimination of women.
He thanked me and said goodbye. The crowd started roaring so I got up. Hillary, Hillary’s mother, Chelsea and Bill were working the crowd. Tears started streaming down my face.
The part that moved me the most was: “There are no acceptable limits and there are no acceptable prejudices in the twenty-first century.
You can be so proud that, from now on, it will be unremarkable for a woman to win primary state victories, unremarkable to have a woman in a close race to be our nominee, unremarkable to think that a woman can be the President of the United States. And that is truly remarkable.
To those who are disappointed that we couldn’t go all the way – especially the young people who put so much into this campaign – it would break my heart if, in falling short of my goal, I in any way discouraged any of you from pursuing yours. Always aim high, work hard, and care deeply about what you believe in. When you stumble, keep faith. When you’re knocked down, get right back up. And never listen to anyone who says you can’t or shouldn’t go on.
As we gather here today in this historic magnificent building, the 50th woman to leave this Earth is orbiting overhead. If we can blast 50 women into space, we will someday launch a woman into the White House.
Although we weren’t able to shatter that highest, hardest glass ceiling this time, thanks to you, it’s got about 18 million cracks in it. And the light is shining through like never before, filling us all with the hope and the sure knowledge that the path will be a little easier next time.”
Yes, we inched forward, but not far enough.
On the way home we ran into two “friends” who asked what was up. We said we were on the way home from seeing Hillary speak. It was immediately apparent they were Obamabots. She asked, what did she say? Is she going to support Obama? Yes, I said she was very gracious. It’s about time, was the response.
But there it was. The division. And my husband saw it, too, and said “Why do they hate her so much?”
It is so disheartening.
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