September 13, 2008
Am I going to vote Democrat or Republican in the presidential race? Am I going to vote for Sarah Palin? I did indeed say Palin and not McCain. Why? McCain is more moderate and represents my views more so than Palin. But Palin is a woman and I am tired of watching women battle sexism year after year and see so little change. So I am inclined to vote for a woman because it gets a woman closer to the White House. Because even though her views are opposed to mine she gets the X-factor a heart beat away from the White House. Without Palin, women (conservative or liberal) remain decades away from the oval office. Palin opens the doors for a woman on the Democratic side to run against her. Two women running against each other for president -- what more could I ask?
What does she do for women’s rights? We don’t know yet. She reaps the benefits of strong women before her who have been tagged with unfortunate sexist names. She represents their hard work. Just because she opposes abortion does not make her the anti-woman or the anti-feminist for that matter. It makes her a woman who has a choice. She may be against abortion but she represents pro-voice. All women should be allowed to voice their opinion. That is what a feminist does. A feminist allows everyone to have a choice in their lives. Abortion is legal and yet Palin chose not to have one. Abortion is legal and yet her family’s values shine through her daughter’s decision (choice) not to have one. Maybe abortion can be legal but Palin paves the way for evangelicals and the religious right to voice their rights to choose not to have an abortion and to teach those who believe in their value of life and thus choose not to have an abortion. They have a choice. Can she possibly pander both ideals-pro-choice and anti-abortion? Can she possibly be the poster child for “Pro-voice?” Can she demonstrate the true meaning of pro-choice and that perhaps more people can see that it does not depend on “laws” but on ideology? Is this a reform message Palin and McCain can spread? Maybe I am idealistic, but maybe, more so, I just want to have hope. There are other issues I have hope for.
Hope that I will not have to revisit the misogynist professor who claims social construction of gender but underlying his claim is a covert sexism that comes out when he, one of 6 brothers and 1 sister, continuously states that his mother and sister are “so annoying” and that women in general talk too much. Or when this same professor mutes my voice but lets the males in the class talk forever, or when a boss overlooks you for promotion because you are pregnant, or when someone advises you not to discuss your kids at a job interview because it will hurt your chances? Why do I have to continuously listen to this mush from men? Palin -- in a media moment -- dissipated these stereotypes in one night. Is she a maverick? Will I vote for Palin, this maverick, or will I continue to support the same mush men that shout change, are the loudest purveyors of change, but do nothing when the moment for real change is there? Will I support mush men who care little of what I have to say?
Disingenuous as it may seem, coming from a Republican party, McCain’s pick was genius. I was a Hillary supporter, and I lost all interest in the campaign to the extent that I did not watch the DNC but for a few painful moments during Barack Obama’s acceptance speech.
The painful moment came when he invoked Clinton’s name and claimed her a “role model” for his daughters. My thoughts are: a role model, in what way? Was it the eloquent way that she conceded to him? Was it the spectacular speech she gave on his behalf? Was it because as a woman she again had to be humiliated by a ‘good ole boy’ network? What is the modeling he had in mind as once again the democrats talk the talk but walk away from “the right thing to do?” There were 18 million cries that went out to Obama but he did not listen. Yet, he patronizes Clinton as a role model. Yes, she is a role model. She fought harder, she worked harder, and she got slapped and stomped on and demeaned over and over again while being asked to stand by her party behind the curtain, speak when necessary and then silently watch. If Obama did not listen to 18 million voices, he certainly will not hear mine.
Am I going to support a woman because I am a woman even if her views are diametrically opposed to mine? Well, let’s see.
The Democrats echoed what they think of women. Eighteen million votes went to a woman. Eighteen million votes went to Obama. Less than 5 percent went to Biden. Am I going to support a party that doesn’t support 50 percent of its constituency? Who is representing me? Obama? Biden? They sealed over the ceiling that Clinton cracked. It will now be awhile for a woman to be represented in the White House, that is, in the Democratic Party. That is the message I get from Obama, down to some of the Democrats’ grandest supporters such as pundits like Keith Olberman and Chris Matthews of MSNBC (or as women call it, the MISOGYNY channel)who used blatant sexism in their reporting on Clinton. Am I going to sit here and wait for this demeaning spectacle to repeat itself many years from now?
What choice do I have? I am a Democrat. I am a feminist; I am a supporter of Clinton’s political views on health care, equality, family leave. What am I to do? What are 18 million muted voices going to do?
I am going to think hard about my vote. Notwithstanding other issues, I feel this is a very important decision. Women are the center of this by the mere fact that McCain put Palin on the ticket. It is an important decision for women. Sarah Palin may not have yet fought for women’s rights but she certainly is a model for those before her who did. The latest of course was Clinton, and Palin praised her for the roads she forged and the doors she opened and the splintered ceiling that Obama sealed over. Palin realizes that it was Clinton’s hard work that got her the VP pick by McCain. So do I. So do women. We are not fooled.
What makes this interesting is that neither Obama, nor perhaps even McCain recognized the irony in this: The Democrats sealed over the cracked glass. The Republicans played on this and not only unlocked the door but gave Palin a stairway to the top of the ceiling, opened it up so the glass didn’t have to shatter. She floated angelically to the top. It was an ascension of the Madonna through heaven’s gate. Republicans idolize the mother. Now they have their newest icon-the hockey mom- the all-American Woman. They have their own rendition of the ‘feminist,” the new feminist, the conservative feminist. The adulation of the American woman is now about a pit bull with lipstick. This irony is the Democrats will have to spider out to all of their women senators, governors, and their hardest working female, Hillary Clinton, to once again clean up their mess. (In fact, Mika Brezinski of MSNBC who diissed Clinton’s candidacy now urges the Dems to send her out to counteract Palin. The spectacle is galling.) And women like me who want so much to help, predict more of the same mush. Why do I want that? I want more for my daughters and my sons. Is Sarah Palin, the maverick, gun-shooting, lipstick-wearing hockey mom, the true change I am seeking?
Is this the year that for me – a yellow-dog Democrat – that yellow dog just won’t hunt? It remains to be seen.
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Deborah Myers is a former El Pasoan who attended UTEP and Austin High School and who stays in touch with local politics. She now lives in California with her family.