the rix mix

It would be swell if the Democratic presidential primary campaign ends tomorrow. But Obama needs Hillary Clinton to concede. It won't be enough to claim victory. This can't go on any longer. In a NYT op ed yesterday, Anna Holmes suggested that Hillary deliver a major speech, outide the context of the campaign, addressing sexism:

she could speak from a place of pride and passion, pride for how far she and other women have come; passion for how far we have to go, including the sad fact that sexism is so pervasive as to be almost invisible and so accepted that to mention it is to risk being accused of hypersensitivity.

She could talk openly about the tug of war between the personal and the political, between the armor women wear in public and what they expose in private. Lastly, she could recognize the occasion for what it is: an opportunity to heal the rifts between women in the Democratic Party and to bring new female voters into the fold.

The Repugs will attempt to make much of a small fringe of women who, with Hillary Clinton defeated, say that John McCain is preferable to Barack Obama. They defy rationality. I never framed the primary as a contest between a black man & white woman (except as an awareness that I was making that choice regardless of why I made it), but a lot of people did; white voters, black voters, white women, black women, & media. I was unable to separate Hillary from Bill, & that could be seen as a gender issue. I've been convinced for some time that Hillary Clinton rolled up big margins in certain demographics because she's Bill Clinton's wife, most recently in Puerto Rico. Week after week, her campaign reminded me of Bill Clinton, with its staff, its big name supporters, & its tactics. Didn't matter that Bill was moved out of the national spotlight & sent off to speak to small audiences in small towns. I might have viewed Hillary in an entirely different light without Bill. I admit it, I voted against Bill Clinton living in the White House. For me, that was voting for change. There's not much in Barack's platform that I prefer to Hillary's. She's just as liberal, maybe even more liberal. I like my liberalism mixed with old-fashioned populism & delivered with some kick ass partisanship, John Edwards style. I know the Clinton way & I don't trust it. I don't know how the Obama way, with all the power of positive mantras, could be less effective. It might work, it might not. Hillary's campaign was Democratic, Barack's appeal more democratic. I went with Barack.

Labels: THE election