With the presidential election only (ha) 10 months away the general feeling by those in the political realm is that our next president will be the democratic nominee (see: Bush, the war, scandal, approval ratings, etc. on the republican side). Even though Super Tuesday has already passed there is still no definitive answer on who that candidate will be. Obama and Clinton are neck and neck trading votes from delegates and states, pretty much ending up equal in their earnings (although in this graph it looks as if Al Gore still has a chance!). McCain is heading towards receiving the republican bid mere months after being hated on for becoming inauthentic in his most recent years. Probably the best course of action for this presidential year would be to get rid of the republican candidate completely and instead let the actual race be between Clinton and Obama. Now that would be interesting! Alas, i'm pretty sure that's not possible, besides they'd probably just split the votes and then we'd have to have a ridiculous amount of recounts, etc. How. Annoying.
For the past several years that Clinton had been hinting at running for president i just laughed it off. Even if she was going to run, i thought, no one would vote for her in the primaries and she'd drop out in the beginning of 2008. I mean, come on. She's a lady. If i learned anything in my women's studies classes it's that no one likes a woman in power. But apparently, i was all wrong. Evidently, she actually might win. WIN. (although one reason i think she is doing so well is because Obama has some things against him too-- mainly that he is NOT a old white man who has a lot of political experience...but that's a different discussion altogether.) Let me make this clear- i consider myself a woman, a feminist and white. Therefore i should be cheering on Clinton and this improbable run. Yet, i am less than pleased. The last time i visited home my mom broached the subject of politics with Al and i and proceeded to tell us she was scared of what Clinton might do if in office. I couldn't help but laugh out loud at her. The right-wing propaganda against Clinton is ridiculous and is forcing unsuspecting conservative people, like my mom, to think that this "feminist, radical, liberal woman" is going to force abortions on all women (even if they aren't pregnant) and castrate all men. Perhaps Clinton was a radical liberal feminist at one time but after her failed attempt at innovating health care in 1992 while her husband was in office she changed as a person. Clinton became part of the political machine, perhaps even, she became the machine itself. In reality Clinton should be the least scary of all the democratic nominees. If she is our next president we will probably see a lot of the same shenanigans we saw with Bush as our leader (but without the scary god-told-me-to-start-the-end-times shtick).
What i believe about Clinton, though, is in no means indicative of the general feminist climate. Actually, it seems most people who call themselves "feminist" (which honestly could mean any number of things) are pretty split between Clinton and Obama supporters (not unlike the race itself). Last week New York State's NOW (National Organization of Women) released a statement to the press demeaning Senator Kennedy for not supporting Clinton saying,
Women have just experienced the ultimate betrayal. Senator Kennedy’s endorsement of Hillary Clinton’s opponent in the Democratic presidential primary campaign has really hit women hard...This latest move by Kennedy, is so telling about the status of and respect for women’s rights, women’s voices, women’s equality, women’s authority and our ability – indeed, our obligation- to promote and earn and deserve and elect, unabashedly, a President that is the first woman after centuries of men who “know what’s best for us.This is insane, disgusting and not something that (i hope) most feminists feel. NOW New York lost a lot of respect after posting this from many feminist bloggers (INCLUDING MYSELF). (it must be noted that the national NOW branch has issued a statement saying that they do not agree with the feelings within NOW New York [aka- not all feminist groups are crazy, apparently just one].)
The anti-feminist Ann Coulter has also come out with her stance on Clinton. Last week on Hannity and Colmes Coulter announced she'd endorse Clinton if McCain is the republican candidate (and after the Super Tuesday results it seems more likely than not he will be)
I'm not sure, but this might be the end of the world. If conservative joke Ann Coulter is campaigning for Clinton (even if it is only to make a point) AND ultra-feminists feel as if she must win because of her womanhood i can only assume Clinton will be the next president of the United States. Sadly, in all of this ruckus about who is more liberal, who is more scary and who is the most democratic i agree with Coulter's stance the most (!!!). She seems to be the only conservative (maybe even person) that understands the inability for Clinton to do anything for the liberal side because of how integrated she is in the old wealthy white male political machine.
After i said all of this i realize that i don't really know anything at all about Obama except that he's charming, he looks good on the beaches of Hawai`i (see above) and he's new to this whole political thing (which can only be a good thing). I don't think he's the best candidate for the job, but at least he's not as misunderstood as his rival.
