I'm glad to "see" you. My relatives left town today and I was glad they were gone so I could start politickin' again. It's an addiction. You know, you remind me a little of a good friend of mine who is supporting Clinton in this race, and I respect her decision, and I respect yours.

You make a good point that Hillary Clinton's work in the white house is work, and should be recognized as such. Nepotism sometimes "counts" more against women then men as Sofia Coppola received more flak for owing her career to her grandfather, Francis Ford, then did Nicolas Cage who is Francis Ford's nephew.

I have been thinking about your posts for a couple of days. Especially the one about being aligned with mysogynists and I have rolled it over in my head. Part of the trouble though for me is that myogynists could also be voting for Hillary because they want Bill (I've heard a few talk like this) or because she was the good little woman who stood by her man. (ie. if she'd left him--the man--she wouldn't have a snowball's chance in hell...). Damned if you do, damned if you don't. In some of the youth that support Obama though, I haven't seen that. I tend to think that college students are especially open minded toward women and black people, and a lot of Obama's support comes from this crowd.

And re: likeability. I've also been mulling this over. My best friend (the one I mentioned above) has told me that at animal shelters, the ugly, maimed, crippled animals are often adopted first because people are afraid that no one else will love them. Maybe this explains part of the fierce, passionate support for both Obama and Clinton....that both are considered maimed by traditional standards....he, as a black man (and a "bambi") and she as a woman. Maybe this is why their supporters tend to feel protective loyalty. I am more comfortable with people who are pro-Obama, then those who are exclusively anti-Hillary (yes I know they exist). But you have a point--and so do other women in worrying that the anti-Hillary crowd are the ones who are pushing for Obama. But the same question could come up if Edwards were the remaining candidate. Because she is more well known, the question has always seemed to revolve around her.

Myself, I don't dislike Hillary, although I find her--because she is often opaque to me in her take on certain issues--difficult to like. Again, I'm not even sure this is a liability for her--being not easily liked. I'm not sure people disliked Al Gore--I think they tended to be too neutral about him and too neutral on Kerry too. No one is neutral about Hillary, that's for sure.

I've also never said (unless it was it a fit of irritation and prevarication) that I wouldn't vote for her. I will. I think Obama is more likely to be pressured to drop out since she is more the known quantity. I'm rooting for him to win. But I'm not rooting for her to fail. I do think that Clinton has "true grit" as the saying goes. I think she's got the clout she needs to wrap up the nomination with the superdelegates and the stubborness. I have also asked myself if I have been harder on her because she is a woman--harder on her because I want more from a female candidate than I would from a man. The answer to this is complex.

John Edwards famously said, in a leaked internal memo, that Clinton was "too corporate" and Obama was "too weak." What I love about Obama is that I don't think he's weak. I don't think kindness is weak, and I think he has true kindness. I think his strength is growing with this campaign. I think Clinton is too corporate (Obama is too--but not quite as deep yet) and yes, I think I'm probably being harder on her because she's a woman and I want more out of a woman candidate. But also, gender and race aside, I think they are both artists and politicians, but to me his message is stronger.

But this is a difficult campaign and I hope that both sides don't knock eachother out. The longer it takes to decide, the worse it is for the party because McCain has time to consolidate his strength. I think the nominee will be Hillary. But I also hope for Barack. And I hope that this devil of identity politics doesn't destroy what is valuable about having both a woman and a black man (also what is valuable about having this woman and this black man) as an option to vote for.

sorry for talking your ear off. And thanks for adding sustenance to the conversations here. If you were in San Francisco it would be nice to drink tea and talk politics. One thing that's gratifying for me is that I've cared about politics for a long time, but many of my female friends never expressed much interest...until this race. Now they're completely engaged suddenly. Even if they aren't supporting Clinton--I wonder if her presence is helping to engage them.

Just a thought.