Thank goodness we get to be rid of GWB in less than a year. Eight years is too long.
I'd been on the fence for a long time regarding which Democratic campaigner I wanted to secure the party's nomination. Hillary has experience, and she was the first lady during my favorite president's years in office (favorite since I've been alive...and, no, I don't care that he received head in the Oval Office--that's a private affair between Bill, Hillary, and Monica...no pun intended). The idea of a woman in office...finally(!)...stirred the feminst in me and I felt fairly certain that Hillary was the one.
Then, one day a couple of weeks ago, I was bored at work and not feeling very productive so I ventured over to Morag's Leafy Corner to read any updates she had to offer. It was there that I was directed to
this speech Obama made on the subject of race, which is a difficult topic for me. Recall
this post last year regarding racism.
I realized that what I've been missing in the 90 second sound bites through which I have come to know Clinton and Obama is the passion, the feeling behind the words being uttered by each. In listening to Barack speak, I felt the nurturing, passion, and genuine love for the people of his country that I just don't feel when listening to Hillary. Traditionally I have found that it is generally the woman who is the nurturer and will fill a home with love and compassion but somehow I don't feel that Hillary will kiss the skinned knees of our country with the same touch that Barack will. I think that's what attracts people to the womanness in Hillary--the fact that a woman is biologically more nurturing and compassiontate than a man. But when I listen to her speak I hear coldness and stoicism that I don't believe will lead our country out of darkness.
And the mud slinging has to stop. I've only really heard about it from Hillary's side but I'm not so naive as to think it's not coming from Obama's camp.
But, really, how is it demeaning for Barack to pull out a chair for Hillary? In the era that they both grew up it was the polite thing for a man to do. Yes, feminists everywhere, we don't have to assert ourselves as man-hating to claim that we are feminists. I simply believe that we all need to stand up for the rights of people everywhere. Equal rights should not be narrowed to specific groups...in my mind that's a form of segregation. Let's open our minds.
I want a woman in the White House, too. But I don't think Hillary is the right one.
And if you can tell me honestly why it was demeaning for Barack to pull out her chair for her, please enlighten me.
Thanks to my friend Ali for the great conversation following my listening to the speech that convinced me definitively that Barack Obama should be the next President of the United States. She helped me to understand that it's the compassion and nurturing that makes the difference between the two.
