Apologies in advance
Today, I am not going to talk about shoes, or martinis, or gardening, or running, or even the absence of running.
Today, I am going to talk about politics.
Like many people, I have been (kind of) watching the DNC convention this week. I stream C-Span at work, listen to NPR in the car, and watch C-Span at home. That time between work and car is brutal. That is the time in which I missed Al Gore last night.
Also, I missed Tuesday night, because I suck. The times were really messing with me – I’m so used to accounting for a 3 hour time difference, not a one hour.
Anyways – I loved Bill Clinton’s speech. Enjoyed John Kerry’s. Hillary’s speech was inspired. (Why, oh why, didn’t she speak like that throughout the campaign? Her concession speech in June & the speech Tuesday were amazing.)
But Barack Obama’s speech last night? I wasn’t sold right away, but by the end, I was swept away. I’m ready for my lawn sign, now. I might even get a bumper sticker to go along with my 1-20-09 bumper sticker.
And then today, McCain announced his VP choice. Sarah Palin. I, like many others, I’m sure, said “Who?”
Early reports from the Democrat camp seemed excited! A woman! With no experience! The name “Quayle” was thrown around.
Early reports from the GOP camp seemed mixed. There was “inspired” and “Hail Mary” and “interesting” and “risky.”
Only the next 67 (I think) days will tell us what this choice really was.
BUT – if there is anyone out there who thinks that she is more worthy of a vote than Barack Obama because she is a woman, then we need to have a talk.
She’s adamantly anti-choice. She may be a woman, but she is not a feminist. She may be a woman, but she does not care about your rights. She may be a woman, but she will not go to bat for you. She will go to bat to increase drilling in the Alaskan wilderness. She will go to bat to have creationism taught in schools. She will go to bat to stack the Supreme Court with judges who will overturn Roe v. Wade. She will go to bat to decrease funding to organizations who provide abortion as one of the many, many family planning methods. She will go to bat to keep pay inequality intact. She might break a ceiling by being elected the first female Vice President (to the aging McCain, who’s had multiple cancers scares), but she will not work to help you break any glass ceilings.
She’s a woman. But she’s not a representative of me, or of any of the women I know. It sucks that Hillary Clinton wasn’t the nominee – but she’s not. But I never had any intention of not voting for Barack Obama.
I like to believe that the number of people who say they’ll vote for McCain because they’re so upset that Ms. Clinton was NOT the nominee are greatly exaggerated – that they’re getting more air time than their actual numbers should warrant. So – women (and men, of course, we are not sexist), don’t let this desperate maneuver sway you. Just because she’s a she, doesn’t mean she’ll work for you.
Stay tuned for a MUCH better post on the subject by the Ambitious One. She actually has political degrees, and experience and stuff. I just have a collection of opinions which don’t always mesh.
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Next week, we’ll be back to gardening, cooking, running and gin. Promise.
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