Letters to the Editor
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Sorry I meant "Gone with the wind"
I deserve being in hell because I have misspelled such an important American book. (Of course, some of the women who will reply against me, will tell me that I deserve being in hell for other reasons) ;-)
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Obama: Peyton Manning or Ryan Leaf?
He'd be thought of as impractical and inexperienced, and his rhetoric of hope would be criticized -- much more than it has been so far -- for lacking suggestions for concrete action. That's not a criticism of Obama, however. It's a criticism of how America responds differently to men and women. These are two separate things.
I think it is a criticsm of Obama as a candidate. After all, when has Obama had to fight for a political victory?
When he ran for Congress, he lost.
When he ran for the Senate, he beat Alan Keyes. That was after Jack Let's take Jeri to the sex club Ryan dropped out and Mike Let's morgtage the Saints future for Ricky Williams Ditka never dropped in.
Right now Obama appears to be coasting to victory on some kind of come to Jesus moment that most Salon readers would decry, if not excoriate, were he a preacher at a revival.
It's not Obama's fault he hasn't been tested, but that doesn't mean he's ready for the Republican Attack Machine.
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naomi wolf vs. gloria steinem
as quoted on Reuters...
"None of the polling or the focus groups indicate that people are ... (snubbing) her because she is a woman but because of a deficit in how she is projecting leadership," Wolf said.
"If anything, she is too entrenched, too competent a leader. She ... has been on the world stage and people (voters) are sick of people who are ... on the world stage," she said.
facts do not support gloria here.
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This Article was "Hillarious!"
I happened to catch four speeches at the close of the Iowa caucuses: Obama's, Clinton's, Edwards's, and Huckabee's. Clinton delivered a perfectly predicatable boiler-plate politician-speak speech to her supporters. It was utterly uninspiring. Huckabee came off as far more sincere and humble when he addressed his supporters, (I say that even though I disagree with most of his positions) he appeared earnest. Edwards's speech was unremarkable. After Obama spoke to his crowd, I realized that I had shifted from a slouching position on my couch to sitting perfectly upright - his speech had literally moved me. That's the difference, kids.
Hillary reminds me of the mayor of South Park.
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In Front of a Crowd
Yeah, like many other people here, I just don't buy it that it's man vs women here. Or even that it's black vs white or a black man vs a white woman. That's the way a right wing commentator would put it. Look at the other candidates, they're all white men, and they're all behind. Two of the white men dropped out after Iowa.
Hillary's big problems are her Iraq vote, and the money she's getting from big business. That's it; I'd be cheering for her otherwise.
Obama's big talent is speaking. He will go down in history along with Kennedy, MLK, and Hitler as a mesmerizing, crowd-controlling speaker with rare talent. Of course you listen, and he's really low on specifics, and he's only run a neighborhood something before, but here we are. He could just as well be a crippled aborigine woman with a conjoined twin stuck to the side of her head; doesn't matter.
It's his speaking that's moving this thing. Let's hope it amounts to something good in the end, cuz that's the direction it's all going in.
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hang my head in shame
I love Gloria Steinem, or did until I read her Op-Ed today.
Sorry Gloria, I'm one of those younger women who did the less radical thing of backing a candidate because they actually voted for and proposed platforms for the policies I think need to be implemented.
HRC lost me because she backed Bush on the war, because she's given every indication that she supports an attack against Iran, because she's the largest single recipient of lobby money from health insurance and big pharma (and then actually justified it by saying "lobbyists represent real people" -- please, how dumb do you think I am?). Whenever it's come down to a question of whether to protect big industry vs the small guy, she's come down squarely with big industry. On every issue other than reproductive rights, she votes with the GOP. She's a Dem in name only.
I wanted to like HRC, and I am excited that we have a woman as genuine front-runner for the presidency. I love that she was able to be successful in the law when she was -- I owe the job I have today to women like her. But come on, if she can't forward policies that protect us from corporate America (including that good old bugaboo the military-industrial complex), how is she going to forward the interests of women?
It is possible to disagree with a candidate based on their record, and not because you've been brainwashed by the patriarchy.
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So now the rich and powerful can become president regardless of race or gender...
Steinem's foolish diatribe (and this equally worthless entry regarding it) serve only to demonstrate the abject failure of identity politics. Now that the barriers of race and gender are being broken in such a highly visible contest as a presidential election, those who have made their careers and devoted their lives to this dubious cause are left scratching their heads and wondering how to continue. The response, not surprisingly, is to continue to look for blame and scapegoats, but now between the very minorities who were supposed to be helped by the focus on group identity. "Sure, both blacks and women have been victimized, but who had it worse?" is a pointless question that can never be answered, the asking of which will accomplish little.
Of course, no mention of that fact that either Clinton or Obama represent the general population of blacks and women in this country about as well as the collection of millionaires the Republicans are fielding represent the average white male. Identity politics have served our elite masters only too well by completely removing any aspect of class from this, or any other, debate.
I will be so glad when Steinem and her ilk are relegated to the dustbin of history, and some real substantive debate can finally result in this country. Debate that might actually serve to help average people, of all races and genders. In the meantime, expect more arguments about which rich and powerful minority has it worse...