Ladies, If You Didn’t Vote For Hillary…Why Are You Screaming About Your Rights Now?

In the summer of 2005, I had a conversation with two very close women friends about Hillary running for President. They waxed rhapsodic about how great she would be. While I agreed wholeheartedly, I was very cynical about her chances.

I said, “In the privacy of the voting booth, it is not men who will take her down. It is women. Not enough women will vote for her.”

The ones who will not vote for her are the ones who do not vote for themselves. And in the primary, this turned out to be the case. So you’ll understand when I get a big kick out of the women supporting Obama, celebrities and civilians alike, who are shouting at those of us who won’t fall in line…

But the Republicans will overturn Roe v. Wade!!!

…Uh, not likely. Eight years of Reagan and twelve years of the Bushies did not overturn stare decisis (well settled law) and I sincerely doubt that the moderate/maverick McCain/Palin ticket will.

Besides, ladies, if you were so worried about it, maybe you should have voted for the gal who has been showing up for our causes her whole life. Not the guy whose gonna love you and leave you…

Roe v. Wade allows for lots of saber rattling by both sides every four years to keep the respective party faithful in line. As if women are one issue voters and have nothing else on their minds; as if we really think this issue is on the forefront of anyone’s Presidential agenda. Please see Texas Hill Country’s wonderful piece on Roe v. McCain.

In fact, my progressive Hillary-supporter-to-the-death husband had this to say in response:

“…on the state of the women’s movement: if it is [only about] Roe, then women are in for a long haul. As a man, and an early supporter of NOW, I have long advocated for women to take their power.

Unfortunately, my wife was right when she said that Hillary’s undoing would come from women. It’s been women like Maureen Dowd and Arianna Huffington that led the bashing of Hillary. Until women are willing to believe in their own power, nothing will change for them.

Too many women are waiting to be told who to vote for, how to vote, and the younger ones don’t even know the history of the women’s movement or why they should care.

If the women of this country had come out in force for the smartest person running for president, Hillary would be set for the White House. She has paved the road for Sarah Palin and hopefully, Gov. Palin won’t drop the ball.

When I listen to arguments against Gov. Palin and they are “She can’t manage her own kids, how can she run the country?” it makes me want to puke.

Nobody says about Obumble: “He raised his kids in a church that taught them welcome to the KKK of America and God damn America with a wife who’s never been proud of the country, so how can he make positive choices for the country?”

…There are too many of us men who understand that we are not the arbiters of women’s bodies and have no right to tell them what they should do. We should be there in support to help make the best decision.”

Women are the most powerful voting block in this nation. If we unite, guess what – we’ll finally get an agenda passed and not listen when we are told to keep waiting in line. Obama certainly wants his women fans to wait in line…right, Sweetie?

Hillary’s policies were spot on, coherent and much more effective. She has a record on women’s rights that you can trust. Well?

“Oh, but he gives a great speech. He’s so brilliant!!!”

No. He’s got a brilliant teleprompter operator who keeps the copy flowing for him.

I had an experience recently that I found fascinating from a behavioral standpoint. I was in a room of 10 other professional women, all educated, all entrepreneurs who ranged in age from 28 to 60. A 50-ish woman announced that she needed to buy a new car. The leader of the group immediately said “take a man with you” – as if having a penis automatically means you are a mechanic, you are better able to negotiate a good deal and the salesmen will not screw with you.

Every other woman in that group nodded in agreement – except me. Now it so happens in our house, you want a good deal on a car – I’m your gal.

While this incident is by no means a generalization, I was disappointed to see smart women buying into an idiotic stereotype about themselves. I didn’t know doodle-y squat about cars – I went to the library. I got on the Internet. I figured it out. I am now a barracuda at the car dealership.

In re Hillary: How can women trust another woman if they don’t trust themselves?

You’ll pardon me if these are not the women I want telling me who I need to vote for. I had a 42 year old female Obama supporter say to my face that she thinks ‘Hillary is smarter, but Obama is for change.’ Ugh. I’m not even going to dignify that with a response.

This is even more painful because in my involvement this campaign season, I have been privileged to find among my new friends and colleagues the most amazing, powerful, savvy women who understand very clearly what we’re fighting for and why they wanted Hillary and not Obama. Likewise, the progressive men who stepped up just as solidly and courageously have made an otherwise incredibly infuriating experience that much less so. I applaud you all.

Another woman, 55, said she voted for Obama because ‘he’s cute.’ But look at his legislative record! His flip flops on FISA! NAFTA! Iraq! AIG! Women’s rights! Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell! Gay rights! Present votes, no votes, wrong votes! Lying about Revs. Wright, Pfleger and Meeks! Lying about Rezko, Auchi, Ayers!!

Blah blah blah, like talking to a wall.

“I like him. He’s just nice.”

I did not bother to inquire further.

And any women who trash either Senator Clinton or Governor Palin using sexist reasoning have no business telling me who is going to protect my rights when they are, by extension, slandering themselves every time they repeat these kinds of attacks.

Ironic that today, we have Michelle Obama having the equivalent of a fireside chat with a group in Charlotte, N.C. According to Associated Press

Michelle Obama asked voters Thursday to make their choice on the issues, not because, “I like that guy” or, “she’s cute.”

Might she be talking about Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin?

“I’m talking about me,” she said with a smile.

Cute? If Michelle is inferring that Governor Palin hasn’t got anything but ‘cute’ going for her, think again. This woman is living feminism – she has it all: family, husband, career. She is also living her principles whether you or I agree with all of them or not.

Michelle Obama is the last person who should be talking about ‘not voting for someone because they’re cute’ – she’s got the husband who walked into a Pennsylvania factory and offered a woman a kiss for a vote. How about if he ‘gets down on one knee,’ he said…

After a most questionable primary victory, no man who ignores 18,000,000 Hillary voters and tells the women to ‘get over it’ can convince me he gives a rosy red damn about my rights. No one who pays the women on his staff less than the men can convince me he gives a damn about equal pay and opportunity for women. And no man who behaves like a sexist on the campaign trail gets to force my vote for him in order to protect my reproductive freedom.

Pardon my dust but the words ‘trust’ and ‘Senator Obama’ don’t exactly go together comfortably in the same sentence.

Vote on the issues? If Senator Obama wanders too far from his teleprompter, he’s lucky he remembers what the issues are.

And I promise you ladies, he is not gonna remember YOU!!

Months ago, after I tried my best to impress upon the ‘nice, cute voter’ every argument regarding Obama’s problematic record and two-faced rhetoric, she voted ‘cute’ anyway.

Well, for those ladies who did the same and keep yelling at us to follow suit, frankly, I would feel much safer with a candidate I didn’t agree with half the time who actually told me what he stands for than a candidate who pretends to agree with everything I say, but when push comes to shove, will shove me under the bus along with the other ‘leave-behinds’ he has stepped over in his ultimate power grab.

The choice is yours. In voting for Obama, you may be choosing the label of “Democrat” but that is all you are getting. A label.

Obama’s so ‘progressive’ that he chose a safe, good ole sexist from the Senate, while McCain reached out to a maverick soul mate in Sarah Palin.

You see, the words ‘progressive’ and ‘Senator Obama’ don’t exactly go together either.

And beyond women’s rights, if you want to see a progressive and a true leader in action on the economic front, watch and read here.

The only true progressive in the race this year, the woman who brought us ‘a long way baby’ is back in New York, continuing to do her job, for women’s rights and for all of us.

Even though some of you didn’t give enough of a damn to reward her for it.