This is Women’s History Month. Just in time for the revolutionary news that a guy will be our next President again. Not that I’m bitter. I didn’t even have a woman candidate I preferred (I prefer somebody who will beat Trump, after that I’m open). I just thought that by now . . .
Happy Women’s History Month!
Well I’m bitter.
I’m not even American and I’m bitter. It’s probably displaced hostility towards my own political leaders.
When I was in (U.S.) college, a group of us were outraged about something and started meeting about it. One of us had a friend from another women’s college, who brought her ‘collective’ to talk to us about an injustice we’d never actually considered in the way they had. They asked us ‘why should Help Wanted ads be divided into Help Wanted Male and Help Wanted Female?’ And ‘why should women be required to quit their jobs when they marry?’ And ‘why do they call jobs by the gender of those who do them? — like Fireman? or Policeman?’
They followed that up with what became an engrossing discussion about the broader issues of justice and fairness that underlay those questions, all of which had been first activated in our minds by the inspirational civil rights movement that was still underway around us.
The women’s movement of that time has arisen and become mainstream and almost boring to most Americans, I think. And my feeling is that the group of women who ran for US president this time around are both still enmeshed in some of the old cultural norms but also still motivated by the self-righteousness of the movement to break them.
I’m waiting for the next Greta Thunberg of politics who will look different, talk different, and refuse to campaign, walk, talk, or fund-raise in the way politicians have been doing. Someone who will be a woman, yes, but who’ll offer a level of anger that unites masses of voters from both ends of the political spectrum in a novel way, about matters that touch us all.
Worse than mainstream or boring, I think that the Women’s movement has become off-putting and commercialized. For instance, that bit about Natalie Portman’s dress at the Oscars. All I could think was, “women yelling at women for not supporting women…” Sigh.
Or maybe just a woman supported women by making sure their names are heard.
I didn’t think I was that bitter, but I’m also reading Michelle Obama’s “Becoming” this week and and it hit suddenly hit me hard yesterday. I know Michelle has said multiple times she won’t run and I don’t blame her, but she talked so much about people who have unrecongnized potential (in all sorts of fields!) because they don’t fit the “rich white man” mold. And that hurts when I think about November.
Elections always involve compromise and yes, I will vote for whomever is the Democratic candidate on election day, but truthfully I would vote for a wet rag before I would vote for “That Man.” I think I’m going to quietly keep donating to Emily’s List and hope for the future.
I just signed up to do some volunteer work for Women for the Win, a group of media professionals who volunteer to help progressive women candidates running for local office make campaign videos. It’s small, but it’s something.
Bitter here. Very bitter.
Keep on fighting.
Is it really wrong if I shove a dirty sock down the throat of the wannabe edgelord, definition of white frat brah privilege who is sitting behind me? Asking for a friend.
Not if it isn’t fatal. But he will probably just cite it as justification for his hateful views.
Do it metaphorically. Tell him he’s going to die alone.
I hope I live for the day someone’s sex is irrelevant to the position. That won’t happen until we have elected a woman of either party. I think I would be a good president. It’s not something I ever visualized myself wanting so I’m not educated enough in all areas needed. Tulsie G is still in the race. I still see something wild cardish happening.
There is mathematically no path, unless Biden and Sanders hand over their delegates to her at the convention. Which will never happen. And if there were any hope in hell of such a thing happening, I think the brilliant candidate we just lost and the very savvy people around her would have made a different decision.
She could go third party.
Third party candidates just pull voters from the main parties. In a close general election, that’s most likely to cause the less desirable candidate to win.
In the primary, vote your heart. In the general, vote strategically for one of the two main candidates.
Best voting advice: “Voting isn’t marriage; it’s public transport. You are not waiting for “the one” who is absolutely perfect. You are getting the bus. And if there isn’t one going to exactly your destination, you don’t stay at home and sulk. You take the one going closest to where you want to be.”
Is it too late for Elizabeth to pull a Bernie and become a Democrat running as a Republican?
Oh, no, no, no. That would hand the election to Trump which she knows.
Right now, she’s one of the most powerful people in Congress. If she stays a Senator, she can continue to do great things.
Or become sec of Treasury and do great things.
Tomorrow is International Womens Day. Since it is also my birthday, I’ve always been conscious of the designation, but I’ve never seen anything done to mark it. What good are all these designations if we never do anything about them? I get a kick out of Jenny’s headings on her blog and the resulting comments about how we will all celebrate, but sometimes I think they are just an excuse to not do anything. My pessimism may just be due to the fact that my state’s primary is on the 17th and I have no idea who I want to for. All the people I was thinking of have dropped out of the race.
One of the things that “Women’s Day” and “Women’s Month” does is spur media to write about it, about where we’ve been, the current state of things, women in history, women’s issues, etc. It just helps to keep attention trained on the inequality that’s still everywhere. Is that a huge deal? No, but it helps.
Oops. that was supposed to be want to Vote for.
Not bitter. At this point I’m just doing everything I can to get him out and every Democrat running in.
Me too. I’ve been an Independent since I first registered to vote, but for the foreseeable future it’s every Democrat every time.
How about those sports! (There is nothing for an entitled middle class white male to contribute to today’s discussions.)
I am 100% unsurprised at the results. Not even fazed. I voted for Warren because I still could and I’m unashamed of that.
I truly do not think I will see a woman president in my lifetime. If I were to have grandchildren, which I’m not gonna do, I don’t think they would see a woman president in their lifetimes. There’s just something in the makeup of humans that makes a whole lot of men haaaaaaaaate women and unless we somehow come up with a way to solve that, we”re always going to be in this position.
No idea about lifetimes, but it’ll happen.
It’s an American problem. Think of all the countries in the world who have had female heads of state: Angela Merkel, Golda Meyer, Indira Ghandi, Margaret Thatcher and there are others but those are the ones I can think of without doing a Google search.
And it’s not just American men who discriminate against women. Women do all the time. The number of women I worked with 40 years ago who did not want to work for another woman was legion. Fortunately they generally did not have a say if they wanted to keep their job and that is one problem that seems to have disappeared as men and women have both had female bosses and the end of the world did not happen.
And previously we have only had one woman, maybe, in each party. And this time a lot of woman raised their hands and said “Pick me”. Remember when there were no women sitting in the Supreme Court? I can. I figure I am good for another 20 to 25 years. It might happen in my lifetime.
Jacinta Ardern
Julia Gillard. (She had a target on her back from day 1 though.)
I’m bitter, but I’ll get over it in a while.
I voted for Warren, and I loved the picture of her with Rachel Maddow and Bailey, the Warren family dog. The chyron said “Bailey. Dog. (D) Massachusetts.”
So what I’m doing right now is the spadework on a program I committed to for a ladies’ group in April on the ERA. The Equal Rights Amendment was ratified in January by the 38th state . . . so do we have a 28th Amendment? Answer: right now we don’t know. The legal issues are 1) interesting, and 2) contradictory, and 3) likely to end up in the Supreme Court, which will be Very Interesting for the conservative justices.
If you’re under the impression that having the ERA as the 28th Amendment wouldn’t make any difference for anyone . . . Not True. In fact, though no one was thinking about it at the time, it would make a huge difference, for instance, for anyone with a gender identity issue. And while some laws specify that women can’t be discriminated against, this amendment would apply that to all laws, and change the discrimination standard from Intermediate Scrutiny to Strict Scrutiny.
I’m hoping that at this point, the general reaction to this is “We still haven’t passed the ERA?” so that politicians have to give in and ratify the damn the thing.
The AGs of Nevada, Illinois, and Virginia have filed a suit in the DC District Court saying that Indeed we Have Ratified the ERA and requesting that the National Archivist be directed and required to accept the ratification and proclaim the addition. The original language says that the amendment takes effect two years after the 38th ratification, and a previous case, “Dillon [bootlegging],” says that the controlling date is the date of the ratification, not the date the archivist makes the proclamation, so a short delay will make no difference. The grounds will likely be whether the expiration date matters — there is one case that says Yes and another, later, that says No. It’s possible that SCOTUS may recuse itself from the whole question.
I am very concerned that women’s health issues — “abortion” is another word for birth control, pre-natal care, family counseling, regular checkups, infant and child care, and menstrual/menopausal concerns — were taken seriously only by Warren and Sanders.
My focus is on the Senate races.
I have high hopes for the VP choice. I think Warren is more powerful in the Senate and should stay there, but Harris or Klobuchar would make me happy.
Biden/Klobuchar
I am still holding out hope for Stacey Abrams. An amazing political talent, a WOC, and also a romance writer? Sign me up!
Except Biden has not done as well with Hispanics. Probably Biden/Julian Castro.
It doesn’t have to be a former candidate. Stacy Abrams.
Also for those who need more Warren there was SNL (not that it’s an adequate substitute…)
https://twitter.com/nbcsnl/status/1236515663587487745?s=21
https://twitter.com/nbcsnl/status/1236523965759262720?s=21
Is it weird that I feel more inclined to vote for Warren now? Like I might just write her in for my primary vote just to Make A Point now that I know it won’t actually hurt the general election.
She was never my candidate – I liked a lot about her, but was bothered by some of the choices she’s made. Like I thought it was a bad call to make Chief Justice Roberts read that question about himself at the impeachment inquiry – it just seemed like trying to score political points. And I thought she was being weirdly cagey in how she would talk about how her policies would effect taxes particularly when she was trying to thread the needle about Medicare for all (if your brand is that you’re the straight forward candidate with a plan…don’t dodge problematic details like a typical politician…like Bernie just put it out there – taxes increase, but overall costs decrease), the whole “Bernie said a woman can’t get elected thing” was a distraction seemingly amplified by her team…and even if that wasn’t her fanning that rumor/truth…and to be clear, I could totally believe it if something like that was said….she didn’t shut it down, which I think showed bad judgment in how to handle that situation. It could have been her moment to step up and have a conversation about gender the way Obama did about race when he was a candidate…but instead she avoided shaking hands with Bernie at the debate. So times like that where instead of seeming presidential, she seemed petty. Which I know is a gendered term! And I know a man wouldn’t be dinged for stuff like that in the same way…and yet…it’s not how I want my President to behave. And don’t get me started on the whole ancestry thing she’d brought on herself. (Which I know she’s mea culpa’d for but we all know would have been ALL we would have heard from out of Trump’s mouth.)
So I’ll be honest, I wasn’t sure I would vote for her in the primary before, because I really didn’t think she could beat Trump. (Although, also honestly I’m not sure I trust any of the candidates to be able to defeat him. which is maybe just a paranoia hangover from 2016 in general) And I agree with you – she’s great in the Senate and I think you can be a bit more of a fighter in the Senate…but that it’s better when you’ve got a Uniter as President…and I don’t see her as necessarily bringing people together.
I’m reluctantly ok with Joe, although I worry about his age, some of his general fuzziness and that fact that we’re going to be hearing all about the Ukraine and his son,etc and handing all of those conspiracy theory talking points over to the opposition to use in the general. But I do like the idea of someone who knows how things worked before Trump dismantled everything being able to hit the ground running to put things back in order quickly. I suppose it just comes down to – do you want to Bern the system down, or do you want to restore order and move forward…and I’m more of a “let’s not throw out baby with the bathwater” type of personality.
I had been super excited for Harris initially, but it just felt to me like she never really found a consistent coherent message for her candidacy…which made my enthusiasm wane as her candidacy continued. Although I think she’s a strong VP or Supreme Court pick, or I could see her learning some messaging lessons coming out of this campaign and having a strong run in the future. I liked Andrew Yang too…I thought he was making extremely interesting and important points about the nature of our world and economy and the changes that are occurring as a result of automation. Plus, anyone who can joke that the opposite of Donald Trump is an Asian guy who loves math, will have a special place in my heart. For that matter, I also enjoyed Bennett’s joke that he promised you would not have to think about him for weeks at a time. I know better than to elect people on their jokes and whether or not I would “have a beer with them”…but also I feel like a having a good sense of humor & the awareness to be self-deprecating indicates an ability to work well with others and be a good leader, and would make for a good change to the current egomaniac.
But overall, it just feels like there’s no one who has a message and behavior consistent with the type of “hope and change” vision that made us all so excited for Obama in 2008.
But what do I know – and I’m in CT, so for better or worse my vote never matters anyway.
Harris on the Supreme Court? Yes, please.
Ugh. This conversation is too depressing for me. I’m going to bed.
Which I could have done without commenting. I can’t remember why I don’t like Biden, besides the fact he’s an old white man. Bernie is that too, but he’s closer to my political affiliation. I believe that one should not profit from Education or Medicine. I’m not saying people shouldn’t get paid well, but in my opinion, both higher education and all kinds of medicine have become money-making machines and I feel that is immoral. I’m a radical that way.
Now I really am going to bed.
Some of the reasons you might not like Biden: he’s got a pretty well-documented record of touching & speaking to women in ways that make them uncomfortable (of the paternalistic, “handsy-but-harmless” variety that makes me want to scream); he tried to stop Anita Hill from testifying about the sexual harassment she experienced, and then let republicans abuse her during the hearings (he was head of the senate judiciary committee at the time); he’s been anti-choice for most of his career (“I do not believe that a woman has the sole right to say what should happen to her body”) and has both supported and proposed anti-choice legislation; he’s supported criminalization policies in the ‘war on drugs’ that significantly contributed to mass incarceration, including legislation that specifically targeted poorer African-American and Latino communities (e.g. co-sponsoring mandatory-minimum sentencing laws, writing the 1994 crime bill, etc.); he has a 40-year history of supporting cuts to social security, food stamps, and other safety net programs (I think he touts this as “bipartisanship”); he’s been a huge supporter of big business and big banks (e.g. he played a role in repealing Glass Steagal, which paved the way for the 2008 financial recession; he’s worked against legislation that would have increased protections for people with educational, military, and medical debt, and instead supported legislation that makes it harder for people to declare bankruptcy when debt has ruined their lives, including specifically working to make sure that none of us can declare bankruptcy for even ruinous educational debt); I think I’ll stop there, although I’ve got more. And yes, he’s evolved on some of this (becoming ostensibly pro-choice, while still saying he ‘thinks abortion is always wrong,’ for instance), and offered some weak apologies for some of it, and I’m sure is a perfectly lovely human being.
I’m super-depressed that Biden appears to have a shot at being the Democratic nominee. Just because a literal shit sandwich would be better than Trump doesn’t mean that I wasn’t hoping for something a little better, you know? And I understand that others feel differently, and I’m certainly not calling Biden supporters anything bad…I understand we can disagree on policy (it’s what I spend a lot of time doing with people, including people I value and respect!). I’m just so very, deeply sad that this is the direction things seem to be going.
I’m sorry Warren’s campaign never gained more traction, although I continue to disagree with her in several pretty significant policy areas. I voted last week for Sanders, and was happy to do so. Not because he’d be the first Jewish president (though there are a lot of ‘firsts’ in his identity that are a bonus, for me), and not because of some kind of cult of personality thing. I’m personally frustrated by how pragmatic he’s been for his entire legislative career (while I can understand the incrementalist approach, it’s not always satisfying enough for me!), and by various other details. But I genuinely agree with *some* of his policies, and I really appreciate the way he consistently articulates values like compassion, love, and fairness (sometimes crankily, I realize, but not actually as shoutily as the media likes to portray). Not perfect, but I was kind of hoping maybe I’d get to vote for a “not perfect” candidate who would actually stand up for a woman drowning in debt, or a woman hoping not to get shot by police (or have her children shot by police) just because of the color of her skin, and for my reproductive (and overall) health, and so on.
Well, that went on. Sorry…maybe. Hope you’re in bed by now! I’m heading that way myself, lightly sunburned (because I spent my afternoon at a weekly picnic where anarchists & socialists cook a meal for hungry homeless people, and spent too much time playing a big round of hide-and-seek with the kids and then lying in the sunshine while my friend played his violin. Nice things happen, even in challenging times!).
Much of what you say about Biden is true but I don’t think he has a record of cutting programs that serve the poor and I have worked at federal level as an advocate fighting for kids and families since 1997. We never worried about his vote ever. I remember the social security debates and the positions he took there were to defend against privatizing the whole system which would have destroyed it.
He also wrote the Violence Against Women Act.
Then there is this marvelous explanation from a black woman of why black people trust him:
Let me explain something to you about Joe Biden and why some of the shit that he’s done in his past doesn’t matter. This old rich white man played second fiddle to a black man. Not just any black man but a younger black man a smart black man. Not just for a day. Not 1, not 2 but eight years. He took his cues from this black man who had more power than him and was virtually unknown when he took the presidency and Joe Biden had been around forever. He was willing and proud to be his wing man. Not once did he try to undermine him, this black man. Instead Joe walked in lockstep with him he respected him, he loved and trusted him. He was lead by him and he learned from him. And Joe did not have a problem with it. You tell me what 40+ year “establishment” white politician has ever done that. Joe Biden is cut from a different cloth. And black folks understand that and for good reason. He has shown it. This is what showing up and being an ally looks like. When black people say they know Joe this is how we know.
The only thing she has wrong is that he wasn’t rich until he left the White House and in fact was considering selling his house to pay for Beaus cancer treatment until Obama told him not to and said he would pay for it if necessary which is such a lovely story about them both.
None of the candidates was my perfect fit. But I do think Biden is a genuinely decent and caring person who sees the individuals.
I saw that too, and, though I’m not black, understand it completely and agree with it 100%.
When I get depressed about Trump, sometimes I go back and look at Obama/Biden memes. All those pictures of them laughing together. God, I miss Obama. And MICHELLE.
I’m not arguing that he isn’t decent or caring. I don’t usually feel like I’ve got any objective way of evaluating the character of public figures, honestly, but I generally assume that most (though not all!) people genuinely mean well. Although I find most of Biden’s legislative record objectionable, I am totally fine with classifying Biden as a nice guy, it’s just not anywhere near enough to make me feel okay with the prospect of a Biden ticket.
In an interview yesterday, Biden said that if Medicare for All passed both chambers of congress and came across his desk, he’d veto it. This is the same guy who used to brag about being one of the “five most conservative Democrats in Congress.” Biden said last week that he’d like to have a Republican running mate, and his campaign this week has been floating a cabinet of billionaires — Jamie Dimon for treasury secretary, Mike Bloomberg to head up the world bank, etc.. I’m not saying that each of these things is likely to happen, I’m saying these are the things his campaign is offering as his vision of our policy-making future. My visions and values are, shall we say, somewhat different.
Just to be clear, if Biden wins the primary, and then somehow wins the general election, I genuinely hope he exceeds all our expectations, and especially that he thinks and acts in such a way that he helps bring important, systemic change. But I’m not optimistic…and I think that his nomination will do real and lasting damage to the democratic party. Right now, I feel like I’m watching an entire generation (of the most politically-engaged people that I’ve seen in my entire lifetime) being shown the door. It’s a bummer.
But if Biden is the candidate, not voting for him, writing in someone else or not voting is in fact voting for Trump. Can you live with yourself as a Trump supporter is the bottom line.