5.26.2008

Gender Based Politics

The other night, I listened to an interview of some woman who is apparently part of a new political group, made up of women who intend to vote for John McCain, if Hillary doesn’t get the nomination from the Democratic party.

She cited gender bias by Democrats, as well as male chauvinism, as her main reasons for going GOP. She included Obama in the good ole boys club because of some of his remarks, directed at Hillary. The fact that he is male doesn’t help matters either.

I have said repeatedly since this campaign season opened a thousand years ago, that I was initially a Hillary supporter. I am exhilarated by the idea of having a woman in the White House. Because God knows we can’t screw it up any worse then men have done for the past several hundred years.

However, I think a person with a different point of view, a different way of looking at things is what this country needs to get it back on track, because we are very much off track and out of sync with the rest of the universe. We need our karma back.

I said in earlier writings, unfortunately, I don’t think Hillary is the one. Her votes in congress for the past several years have been status quo.....nothing new earth shaking or direction changing. I would venture to say that if Obama were not in the race, the Democratic primaries would have mirrored in looks and sound, the GOP. We would be hard pressed to tell the difference and three million new voters would not have stepped forward to participate in the primaries.

No one talked about change until Obama did. No one excited young people until Obama. No one included Gay and Lesbians in the main stream conversation, until he did. I think the only reason that main stream gays, read that main stream white gays, support Hillary is because the boys can’t look past her Diva-ness. Obama said there should be an end to “don’t ask, don’t tell” in the military. If I recall correctly, “don’t ask, don’t tell,” was a Bill Clinton thing. Did Hillary speak out against that, during or after the White House? Is she talking about it now? Or is she still settling for cheap shots?

When was the last time you saw 73,000 people turn up for a rally for a presidential candidate? It happened this past Sunday, in Oregon, for Obama.

But back to these women who intend to vote for McCain if Hillary is denied the nomination. I want you to really understand where I’m coming from. At one point in 2000, I actually considered voting for John McCain because he seemed to be a new type of republican. Shortly after I made that decision, he started pandering to the extreme right wing of his party and echoing Dubya. Soured my stomach and drove me screaming back to the democrats. As bad as the democrats are, there is at least some hope within the party, that a person like me, female, black and lesbian, can count for something.

Voting for McCain is like cutting off your nose to spite your face, to use an old cliche. McCain’s votes in Congress are 100% anti female. If he should make it to the White House, he will probably appoint the next Supreme Court Justice who would probably then vote to overturn Roe v. Wade. And we could still use and amendment guaranteeing equal pay for equal work, since women still make 75-cents for every man made dollar. Won’t happen if McCain gets into office. This White House, this GOP and yes, John McCain have gone out of their way to deny women’s rights on every front, not just the absolute, inalienable right to choose.

Based on policy alone, I can’t understand how women could even consider voting GOP in November. Yeah, I wanted Hillary, too. I want a woman in the White House. But this is not the time. It is apparently Obama’s time. And I’m okay with that.

Obama is the not answer by any stretch of the imagination. He is only the beginning. Intelligent women can’t help but see that.

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