Nobama, No Thanks

Dear Senator Clinton,
I have been reading today that you will hold a rally in NY tomorrow night that will be a pivotal moment in your campaign. There are many rumors circulating and much speculation about what will occur. I understand if you are going to suspend your campaign. I will be elated if you continue your campaign. I would like to ask you to consider the following, however. As a feminist and a woman with two daughters I would ask you not to endorse Senator Obama.
I realize that as a Democrat the conventional wisdom is that you must endorse him to be seen as a team player. The fact is that your team has benched you. Your supporters see this and we are appalled. We have watched as the media and the pundits and your own opponent, a fellow Democrat for crying out loud, have insulted and belittled you time and again. We have watched as the leaders of your party remained silent in the face of the most egregious misogyny. The excuse given when cries of sexism erupted was always "it's not about women, it's about her," as if that made it ok.
The fact is that when Senator Obama dismissed a female reporter with his "sweetie" comment and the boyz with him snickered he showed his true colors, and demonstrated once and for all that the "it's just Hillary" argument is false. I am extremely worried about the fall out of this campaign in terms of what will now be acceptable behavior toward women who compete in traditionally male arenas.
My daughter, as the only natural born citizen in our Canadian immigrant family always used to say "I'm the only one in the family who can be President. I guess I'll have to do it." It was adorable to hear her say that when she was four and five years old and I never doubted that if that was what she wanted, that was what she could do. I doubt it now.
If you choose to fight this all the way, I am behind you. I will be happy to spend the summer fighting the good fight here in Washington state or wherever I would be effective. What I will not do is cast a vote for Senator Obama, period. I will also not cast a vote for anyone who has endorsed him. I will happily go to the polls and vote for any downballot Democrat who has endorsed you. I will write in your name on my ballot if that is allowed in my state, but I will never tick the box next to the name of a man who has condoned and benefitted from the demeaning and subdugation of American women.

Sincerely,

(me)

The Rules

After the West Virginia primary last night, CNN paid pundit and member of the Obamination Donna Brazile got into a heated discussion with Hillary campaign media honcho Howard Wolfson about the DNC "rules" with regard to the Florida and Michigan delegates. Wolfson made the case that perhaps the DNC might not want to disenfranchise the 2.3 million folks who voted in those states, but Donna is a stickler for the rules and wouldn't hear of changing them, even for 2.3 million Democratic voters. Two things strike me about this conversation, which is one that has been repeated ad nauseum since Hillary fell behind in pledged delegates.

First of all, the "rules" that Brazile and the other Obamination Democrats keep touting are not the rules at all. The actual Delegate Selection Rules provide a clear remedy for states that hold their primaries or caucuses in violation of the timing rules: the loss of 50% of their pledged delegates and alternates, and all of their "at-large" or add-on delegates. That is the actual rule. It is also almost never mentioned that Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina all held primaries or caucuses on dates that violated the timing rules.

The second thing that strikes me is the absolute failure of the media with regard to calling out Donna and the rest of the Obamination on this point. It seems a highly relevant point of interest in such a hotly contested primary, but no mention of it has been made anywhere except for a few Hillary forums. The rules are easily accessible from the DNC website. Here they are. If you don't believe me, read them for yourself.

MIckey "the Mouth" Obama

Today on CNN, Michelle Obama was shown campaigning for her husband, and talking about -gasp- his middle name! Yes, it's Hussein, or as Mrs. Obama calls it the "ultimate fear bomb." The speech was obviously a response to the political right's use of Senator Obama's middle name in a disparaging way, and a clever one at that. It's becoming a trend for the missus to tackle subjects too touchy for the Great One to deign to address himself. Like black pride. Remember the big flap about MO's "really proud" comment? When she said that for the first time in her life she was really proud of her country because people were voting for her husband, who is black? The Great One can't really touch something like that with a ten foot pole, but he can have his wife do it.

Barack Hussein Obama

Along with being the Messiah or maybe because of it, Senator Barack Hussein Obama is one sensitive guy. By sensitive I mean thin skinned. His campaign's response to the political right's sinful use of his middle name is to have his wife speak about it. Today Michelle Obama appeared in a story on CNN campaigning about how using her husband's middle name was the "ultimate fear bomb". To take her husband's middle name in vain is nothing less than fearmongering according to the Senator's wife. I don't get it. Can we say it or not? If I say it is it fearmongering? Is fearmongering a word? Is saying Barack Hussein Obama supposed to make me feel scared? Just one more thing I don't understand about the big BO.

"Hoping" Obama Will "Change" His Sexist Language

if he becomes President. Remember the "periodically" comment? When Obama said that "periodically" when Senator Clinton is "feeling down" she "launches...attacks?" How about the "claws come out" comment? The smug way he dismissed her diplomatic experience when she was First Lady as "having tea" with diplomats? Ugh. Never mind the fact that he hasn't said one word (and he's all about words) about the many sexist remarks that have been made about his fellow Democratic candidate, by the main stream media no less, and that he doesn't even bother to address women's issues on his campaign website.

Pretty Accurate Representation

of the press' treatment of Obama.

Obama's "Movement"

I finally figured out what makes me so skeptical of Obama's message. I watched a few minutes of one of his stump speeches today on CNN. I can't usually watch him for long before I zone out from boredom, he is so repetitive, but this time something struck me. He was speaking about the "movement" he was leading. I mused on that for a while. Why do I not believe in his movement, in the face of his undeniable popularity, and the hugely enthusiastic following he has developed? Well, ought not there be some criteria to differentiate an authentic movement from the followers of the cynical pedagogue I believe Obama to be?

First of all, a "movement" ought to come from the people, at a grassroots level, and work its way up to the top, don't you think? The women's movement, for example, did not originate at the highest echelons of power in one of our nation's two main political parties, as Obama's so called "movement" did. Obama's campaign is great at organizing people at the grassroots level to do his bidding, but it did not originate there, rather is was pushed down from above. There was no pre-existing grassroots movement for "change" of the vague kind that Obama orates about.

A grassroot movement for Obama's kind of "change" couldn't ever exist because real movements are designed to achieve a specific goal or goals. Unions organized workers to ensure things like safe working conditions, and fair wages. They fought real and prolonged battles for real, tangible things that can be quantified. There are no specifics in Obama's rhetoric. There is no specific "change" he seems to want to achieve besides "uniting" people. How, and to what end will he unite people? Which people? Where? Who? Why? Obama says we are all one people. I'm not sure I believe him when he says that, but even if he's right, then what?

Real movements take real work. Besides campaigning for him, what real work for "change" have the bulk of Obama's followers done? More than that, what specific things does he ask his acolytes to do besides attend his rallies, feel good about themselves, and vote for him? Those are pretty easy demands. Real "change" demands real hard work toward real, defined goals. How many people marched and fought for equal rights for women and minorities? How many millions of hours of work by millions of dedicated people did it take for those movements to get even as far as they have today?

I've seen a real, grassroots movement first hand, and it's hard work. My aunt started a recycling center, almost single handedly in a small rural town in Canada about 20 years ago. Concerned about the amount of toxins that were being released into the atmosphere when rural people burned their trash, she set to work to change that in her own small way. She found businesses who bought recycables, convinced the town to donate some space in a vacant building, rounded up some volunteers, and spent thousands of hours sorting and loading trash so it could be shipped off to be recycled. The recycling center still operates, with volunteer labor provided now by high school students who receive community service credit. My aunt is no longer involved, but through her efforts, many thousands of tons of trash that would otherwise have been burned or buried in the landfill have been recycled. My aunt started her own small movement for real change, and it took real hard work.

There are two other things that serve to reinforce my skeptism about the authenticity of Obama's "movement." These are his sudden rise to popularity, and way the mass media has wholeheartedly embraced him. Real change is usually really unpopular to begin with, because people resist change. The only reason Obama can be so popular is because he doesn't propose any specific change. Real, positive social change is almost always about a shift of power from those who have a larger share to those with a lesser share. People don't like to give up any of their power, and will not do so without a struggle. Real change requires not just hard work, but sacrifice from someone, and sometimes from everyone.

Finally, there is one thing my father told me when I was a teenager that has stuck with me my whole life: "Just because something is popular doesn't mean it's good."