Slighcarp and Grimshaw

Now, this is not a politics blog. But I’m finding it very hard to stay away from politics given the awe-inspiring race between Hillary and Barack in the Democratic party. I happily got to vote this past Super Tuesday. From the beginning I have been a supporter of Hillary. Then I started to hear this buzz that if the Republicans nominate McCain (which it looks like they’re going to have to, like it or not), then Barack will do better against him than Hillary would. This almost swayed me into voting for Barack. But standing in the booth no part of me could not vote for a woman. A woman is running for President of the United States of America, and I got to vote for a woman. This is wonderful.

I found this screed in support of Hillary by Robin Morgan through the viral nature that is the intertron (and Slate.com) and reading it made me feel so powerful as a feminist. It made me feel how excited my mother is to have the choice of a woman in the presidential race.

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.

But then, I watched this video of comedians discussing the race for president on Slate’s video channel and my heart fell. I heard the death of Hillary’s bid for president. Among the Hillary analysis presented is the gem that Hillary Clinton is “like Optimus Prime fucked a bumper sticker.” And another, from Bill Maher: “People hate Hillary because they hate themselves,” meaning she’s a strong woman and people don’t like a person who is stronger than they are.

One moment, though, stands out as the one that broke my feminist heart. (Anyone else notice how often my heart is broken?) The sole Republican at the table proclaimed himself more liberal than Hillary: he is pro-choice, anti-death-penalty, and pro-gay-marriage. But, he says, “You could hold a gun to Hllary Clinton’s head and she’s never gonna say those things.” I think this is true. And it is, for me, Hillary’s death knell.

Here it is, two days later, and she has lost to Obama in Washington, Louisiana and Nebraska. Sigh.