It's Not Misogyny. Really It Isn't.

I don't read as many magazines as I used to. I've let all of my subscriptions run out and only occasionally do I make an effort to pull a few back issues of titles that interest me and check them out and bring them home to read. (Current issues of magazines can only be read in the library and may not be checked out.) So it is that I am a little late in reading and responding to Newsweek magazine's feature Hear Her Roar (Newsweek March 17, 2008).

I was saddened and frustrated when I learned in Tina Brown's lead essay that many middle aged women in Ohio had been drawn to work on Hillary's campaign because of the perceived misogyny, gender discrimination and "good old boys glass ceiling" they see in the opposition to Ms. Clinton's presidential ambitions. It feels a it like the old trick question "...and when did you stop beating your wife?". To make a point of publicly stating as I do here and now that I fully support gender equality and would definitely vote for a female candidate for President of the United States, were I satisfied with her record of achievements, her policies and priorities and her character and competence seems, to me, to give the impression that such a proclamation is merely pro-forma and intended as a fig leaf to legitimize the clear cut calls for misogyny and discrimination soon to come.

Hillary Clinton has a long history, as a lawyer, as a political spouse and power behind the throne and as a United States Senator of never failing to put the interests of Big Business over the interests of ordinary Americans, and indeed above all other interests save her political ambitions which to me seem so clearly the one high principle Ms. Cinton has always been consistently devoted to.

I oppose Sentaor Clinton's candidacy because of her strong financial ties to Wall Street, her insurance company enrichment program err failed National Health Care program and because I can clearly foresee a Hillary presidency netting us eight more years or paralytic partisan gridlock in Washington and a nightly replay of all new versions of all of the trumped up bullshit scandals of the Bill Clinton years. Near the beginning of this campaign I stated in this post that I believed that nominating Hillary was the only way the Democrats could possibly lose and nothing that has happened since then has caused me to reconsider that conclusion.

It seems to me perfectly reasonable to oppose Ms. Clinton's candidacy on the basis of her policies, past performance and enormous political baggage. And it occurs to me that we will be a lot further along the road to gender equality those Ohio women claim to want when it is safe to o without be regarded as anti-feminist trying to roll back the tide of gender equality.

Not The Oval I Was Expecting To Blacken

I find myself holding and examining my Washington state Primary Election Ballot with considerably more interest and hope than I would have anticipated feeling at this point in this election cycle. I had previously conceived and written of a plan to vote for Ron Paul in the Republican primary (see The Complex Calculus of One Man's Vote). I find that I can't do that.

One thing that many people I respect have agreed on is that what will be needed most in the next President is someone who can work across party and ideological lines to actually get the People's business done, something that just is Not generally happening in the current Administration. And I had been So afraid that the Terry McAwful wing of the Hackocracy was gonna succeed in pushing Hillary, the only Demo who could Lose in November on an Inveitablity path to the ticket, and am thrilled that Obama has staged a decisive Saturday Sweeps across a very diverse bunch of states and has the wind at his back going into the next rounds. And it
begins to look to me as though we may be shaping up to a November choice of Obama vs McCain, Either of whom is a zillion times more likely than any of the other choices in their respective parties to be able to unify the country and work with both sides to get things done.

Which brings me back to my Washington Primary ballot and my decision to blacken a different oval than the one I had decided upon back in October when I was trying to generate some political discussion and started a Ron Paul for President group, just to generate some discussion. And I had thought I would support a long shot candidate as a gesture to his onine supporters who all seemed new to political involvement and genuinely moved by their candidate to become actively involved in the political process, which I quite applaud, even while having great reservations about their candidate and being unpersuaded by their arguments in his favor.

Obama has secured two thirds of Washington's delegates to the Democratic National Convention and party officials have cleary announced that the upcoming primary election will NOT count for any delegates. Meanwhile McCain is leading Huckabee by a whisker and is expected to carry the state but the 18 delegates allocated by the caucus are split among four candidates, including Romney who has already dropped out of the race. The results of the Republican primary will be used to allocate 19 additional delegates and a win for McCain could be critical to his success.

And so with an eye towards a new President who can work with both sides and get things done, I have darkened the oval next to Sen. John McCain--R on my Republican primary ballot. I will drop it off at city hall on my way to work once they are open to receive them next week. And will be anxiously continuing to follow the results. And I will do so, feeling much more hopeful about the future than I had expected to feel at this point.

And So It Begins

Iowa has spoken and the Presidential campaign now kicks into high gear. With the primaries so front loaded we may well be discussing the actual nominees and debating the general before Spring is sprung, and I find I am once again interested in writing about politics.

Those who've read my previous posts already know that I am at heart an Edwards man, though due to a peculiarity in the political process I am planning to take a Republican ballot in the primary and vote for Ron Paul, whom I don't actually support and would Never vote for in the general. (If this is confusing to you click here.) The media seem to be trying to spin Edwards' second place finish in Iowa as the death knell of his campaign (even though he placed ahead of the horrid Hillary whom they are not rushing to write off). But the fat lady isn't even warming up yet so clearly the media is per usual being premature in an attempt to sway the race to their corporate keepers' benefit and I continue to hold out hope of darkening an oval for John in November. But if Obama succeeds in using his bounce from Iowa to win again in New Hampshire, I may well jump right onto his bandwagon and begin flogging him like mad.

As for Huckabee, I will only say that I hope he continues to win and becomes the R's nominee since I am 101% certain that Americans are NOT under any circumstances whatsoever going to elect another Arkansas governor, let alone a frickin' Baptist preacher.

And all of this discussion of the early race quite fails to address what the real end game will be. Yesterday on Blog Catalog, for the first time in ages we had an interesting political thread when momoftwingirls posed the question "Do you think GWB will cancel the election and declare martial law?"

Few if any respondents considered this a likely scenario, but the question did lead us to consider the final outcome of the election. MadameX said that she had actually expected the 'cancel the election and declare martial law'-trick to be pulled last time and that she had not considered the possibility this time around as she is much less interested in the outcome of this one. I replied:

I did expect it in the last election and was not surprised that Ohio turned into another Florida instead. Who knows which state will be the surprise place it all turns out to hinge on but in my observation of the current ruling regime, they seem very much dedicated to the "stick to what worked before" school or totalitarian government. I personally will be shocked if we do Not have another outcome that boils down to The Supremes singing their classic hit "The Republicans Really Won Again" to the tune "Here He Comes Again" in the key of Rove.

And that's the real question, isn't it? Not 'whom will the voters select?' but rather 'how will the powers that be rig the outcome this time?' Since my political interest has been re-awakened I will probably be posting regularly about the horse race on this blog. But honestly, I will be shocked if the person actually selected by the majority of US voters takes the oath next January and moves to Pennsylvania Avenue. That hasn't actually happened in more than a decade.