Wednesday, February 06, 2008

"I'd Vote for a Woman, Just Not Her"

A lot of people have expressed that sentiment either on the Internet, or in articles, or in person. Such people claim that it's not Clinton's gender that bothers them, it is her personality. They don't trust her, think that she is insincere, and are supporting Obama in the 2008 race for the Democratic nomination. The sentiment that Clinton shouldn't be elected is often expressed by Democratic women in their 40s and 50s. Such women seem to assume that there will be an opportunity in the near future to nominate and elect a Democratic woman as president.

They shouldn't be so sure. In 1928, the Democratic Party nominated the first Roman Catholic, Al Smith, for President. He was defeated. It was another 32 years before another Roman Catholic, John F. Kennedy, was nominated and there has not been a Roman Catholic nominated by the Democratic Party or the Republican Party since 1960. This in spite of the fact that Roman Catholics are a highly prized voting block by both political parties.

In 1984 then New York Senator Geraldine Ferraro was selected for Vice-President by Walter Mondale. Now, 20 years later, Hillary Clinton is running for president. That means that two decades have passed since Ferraro was on the ticket and she wasn't chosen by voters but rather by the Presidential Democratic nominee.

Hillary Clinton possess several advantages that most women politicians don't possess. She has great name recognition, can raise money, is Senator from a big state that is home to a lot of big media companies, and has a husband who is a former president. She is the best positioned woman to run for president in the history of the Democratic Party. If she doesn't make it, it will be years, possibly a great many years, before another woman is in such a position.

All that is not to say that women voters who like Obama shouldn't vote for him, or should support Clinton just because she is a woman. What I am saying is that people who support the idea of a woman president, but vote against Clinton, should realize that they might not another opportunity in their lifetimes.

2 comments:

J said...

After viewing the California results a few things are factually accurate. Hillary is getting the majority Latino, Women and Asian votes and she is getting them for a reason. This trend is continuing through the country.

Obama has never done anything for the Latino community, but suddenly shows up and assumes he can gain their trust it does not work that way. Most supporting Obama who are not African American are the established liberal elites, not the working class liberal, conservative or centrist democrats. His campaign has taken various sexist spins and overtones, which are contained within the spin he and his followers have prevailed at pontificating in the bias media.

After the dust of poetic dust and rhetoric has settled, after the masses of non registered student voters are counted, or not- After asking numerous of his supporters why they like him and hearing endlessly, he speaks so beautifully and Oprah likes him and Ted Kennedy endorsed him, The voters in California saw through the empty content of his beautiful rhetoric. Kennedy’s endorsement did not even carry weight in his own state Hillary won Massachusetts. California told Oprah no maam you don’t rule here. This is the west, this is CALIFORNIA we do it our way!

Thank You California. With Obamas extensive record of a whole three years in the Congress and a member of the Ted Kennedy Elite Good Old Boys club of Washington, which Obama is now the newest member of, Californian’s said “Hell no we wont go there” Send Oprah and her Book club back to Chicago, which has one of the worst education systems in the nation. Tell Maria to go home to Arnie and We don’t give adman who Endorses Obama, “Californians said Hell no we wont go” Tha Latino Community knows Hillary and Bill have stood by them. We all know Hillary’s triumphs and errors but far more triumphs for the people and children in America in her 35 year legacy. Then there are the sexist comments of course. This country is so far behind the gender lines of world leaders it’s sickening.

Women in this nation did not even receive the right to vote until 1920. The working people of America Know Hillary Like Edwards care about them and have the experience to bring hope with content and a TRUE CHANGE for the better. To heal this nation and the world, takes far more experience than simply chanting like a hollow mantra “ yes we can” Well in the Hillary camp the chant is much stronger.

“YES WE WILL” and as Tom Petty said “ We wont back down”

Virginia has always been a state, which calls its own shots, much like California. Virginia will not bow down to hollow rhetoric and beautiful oration. Not all Liberals buy into this lets hand McCain the General election, buy making Obama the nominee movement.

People are not looking at the facts of Obama's life and voting record (100 present votes) and lack of experience in every area.It’s the liberals like myself, but those who have lost their mind, in their reactionary mode to the BUSH nightmare who are supporting Obama the people making over 75,000 a year....thats Obama's crowd with the exception of various income brackets of African American voters.

Obama cannot negotiate with world leaders he has NO international relations experience. Virginia like California is not going to by into the empty poetics and lack of experience of Obama. Hillary is the nations great hope-

Anonymous said...

The issue with voting for Hillary should have nothing to do with the fact that she is a woman. Yes, of course it would be nice to make headway in that area. (nice, too, to make headway regarding race in that area as well) But it should have nothing to do with why someone should vote for someone in my opinion. If another woman doesn't get that opportunity soon, then that is just a sign that the majority of the country is still too "insert your own term here" to elect a woman. It is not a reason to elect this woman now. The issue with her is that too many people hate her. The goal is to get the republicans OUT of office in Nov... and she is not the best one to do that. People will go out of their way to vote against her in November. And Obama will draw many independent votes. And if by chance she can get in (and of course I would vote for her if she is the nominee even though she is my second choice), then be prepared for four long years of hearing nothing but Hillary bashing from the crazy right.... nothing will get done with all the distractions surrounding her. People on the right eat, live, and breathe up ways to obsess about her.

BTW I am a white woman in her 40s. I guess I fit the demographic in the article. I am not a liberal elite by any means.