Plaidderpolitik

[Plaid Adder]

A friend of mine sent around an email asking a bunch of us politically involved women whether, like her, we were feeling regrets after last night's speech about the fact that Clinton didn't get the nomination, what that means about how we plan to vote, and whether we actually really like Obama. I wrote up my answer, which I thought might be of interest to other people, so I'm posting it here, slightly edited. Be warned that it is not warm and fuzzy.
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I was an Edwards supporter. Then I was an Obama supporter. Now, I am a person who cannot fucking stand the prospect of another Republican president, and therefore plans to vote for the Democratic candidate.

I was never a Clinton supporter for two reasons: 1) the Republican in Democratic clothing thing and 2) I do not believe she could have won the general election.

Seriously. In the primary, being a Clinton is a plus. In the GE, it's poison. Many people have made hating the Clintons part of their identity, whereas nobody's had a chance to do that yet with Obama. I think the country can find it easier to imagine a nonwhite president than a nonmale president and while I'm not happy about that it's what I believe. And although I thought that speech last night was fabulous, it's the first time in all the time she's been giving speeches that I would ever have said that of her.

As for sexism from the Obama campaign, I regard this as mostly the media and the Clinton campaign doing everything they could to create this phenomenon. The "periodically" comment I consider to be a moment of Out of Context Theater; if you're going to assume that was a deliberate allusion to PMS than IMHO you have to assume that Clinton's infamous "we all know Kennedy was assassinated in June, right" remark was a deliberate attempt to convince people not to vote for Obama cause he'll only be shot. I am sick of Out of Context Theater and have taken a pledge to myself not to reward the media assholes who play that game, even when they are pushing my personal buttons.

Media coverage of her campaign absolutely was sexist, just as media coverage of Obama's campaign was and still is racist. I'm sure Obama's campaign was happy to passively profit from media sexism but I've never seen him do something I would consider overtly and deliberately sexist in public. In private, you know, God knows. Edwards apparently cheats on his cancer-stricken wife when no one's looking, whereas Bill Clinton gets fellatio from 21 year old interns. I've given up on requiring that the candidate I support have unimpeachable personal integrity, or a home life that's not a train wreck.

The "I'm not voting for Obama because I'm pissed off that the woman lost" stance is, from my POV, a real indication of what has, all this time, been holding us back about identity politics. In theory, all the different marginalized groups should band together in common cause, understanding that all forms of oppression are linked and that they must all be abolished together. In practice, what's happened is, "I gotta get mine for my people; so fuck you and your people." This attitude is not specific to feminists; it is something I see in GBLT politics and in African-American politics, and it's fueled by the shared perception that YOUR group is always the one that is asked to 'wait,' 'be patient', and take one for the team. In fact, that's happened to all of our little identity fragments at different times in history, and playing competitive oppressions, while an irresistible pastime, is also a waste of time and effort. If we can put in a candidate who is highly motivated to do something about racism, that alleviates the burden for a significant number of women of color, and so that tide lifts the feminist boat too. It would have been the same with Clinton and sexism: African-Americans would benefit from, say, well-crafted and well-enforced equal pay legislation, since many AA families are headed by female wage earners. We should all have approached this primary contest as a win-win situation rather than a battle to the death for our own tiny pieces of the pie.

Sorry. I am bitter, too, I guess, but express it in a different way: by jettisoning idealism, principles, emotional investment, the importance of a "protest vote," all that kind of stuff and instead focusing on the pragmatic goal of ejecting the Republican Party from the throne of power. Along those lines, I have taken the position that I will forgive Obama for the various ways in which he is sure to disappoint me on the condition that he do one thing only, which is @#$! WIN.

And I think he can actually do that. And I think that will be quite clear when he gives his acceptance speech on Thursday.

YMMV,

The Plaid Adder

[DesertFlower]

1. self delete

[Demeter]

2. Actually, I Want 3 Things from Obama

1) Win

2) Clean out and incarcerate BushCo

3) End the illegal occupations and quasi-wars and bear-baitings

If his people take care of this, I figure the economy will mend, the civil rights will return, and the Imperial Presidency will die a long-desired death. And we might regain some friends in the greater world.

[ulysses]

3. well said, as always.

Sharp take on identity politics, not that that's a surprise. Kudos.