Wednesday, June 4, 2008

election '08: the collective mega (lady) boner


so, i am excited about the finalization (at least it seems so) of the primaries for the democrats. my "man" won. but i wasn't like a lot of obama's voters who seemed to grow increasingly bitter over the rival clinton camp. in fact, when it came to their respective platforms, neither one was so markedly different from the other that i was able to choose a candidate based on policies alone.

instead, i ultimately chose obama because in my lifetime, i have never heard people so excited about politics as those who support obama have been. and i guess, after the last seven years, i think that's one of the things i've been most concerned about: a collective disillusionment. and i think, when americans are active and excited about politics, remarkable things happen in american history: the civil rights movement, women's suffrage, the end of slavery, etc. to name a few. i want to see that within my lifetime.

but i want to speak very quickly about clinton. she still has my respect. and i get excited when i think about her campaign and how it has done really positive things for women in politics and other professional fields. i read this today originally from feministing.org and wanted to share the discussion:


Over the course of this historic, thrilling, aggressive primary election, we've seen more female pundits than ever before writing and speaking about presidential politics. We've experienced unprecedented interest from male politicos in women's participation in the electoral process. And demands for women's leadership have been given their fairest hearing to date in the United States, with Democrats nationwide expecting Obama to give close consideration to female vice presidential prospects -- not only because there are a few wildly successful and talented women who would be great at the job, but also as a gesture of good will toward the feminist energy that animated so many Clinton supporters.


who did YOU vote for and why? what are your thoughts about the primaries?

2 comments:

worry said...

the wire is his favorite show, that's reason enough to want him to win.

Hip E. said...

I voted for Obama because he seems like a smart, genuine person and because of his push to get away from the type of politics that has dominated for the last 12 years. Last fall, I would have been happy to vote for Clinton, not least because of the apoplexy it would have caused in the Limbaughs and Hannitys had she won. However, once the campaign got going, I was continually and repeatedly shocked at how low she was willing to go in her increasingly desperate efforts to win. Especially the way she did Not act to dissuade her most rabid supporters from their craziest attacks on Obama and threats to vote for McCain. Early this year I had doubts about her chances in the general because so many millions of people already hate her. It was scary to start to think that maybe some of that hatred was actually based on something.