February 5, 2008
About a month ago, I wrote a piece for this website called “I ♥ Huckabee.” It was at the height of Huckamania, after his Iowa caucus win, and Republicans were starting to take him seriously. As it turns out, the Huck phenomenon was as ephemeral as Rudy Giuliani’s inevitability. It now looks like we’ll be seeing more of John McCain, and that Huckabee’s chances of moving up are restricted to the Admiral’s House, and not the White House (sorry, Red Skirt: I think the Mittmentum is slowing down!).
| Super Tuesday on BoomerGirl |
As my old standard bearer John Kerry used to say, “bring it on.” The Republicans are trying to tamp down their euphoria that Democrats seem to be on the verge of choosing Hillary Clinton as their standard bearer, because they think she unites enough people who simply can’t stand her. But when Ann Coulter, sworn Clinton enemy and wing-nut whack job author of books like, "Treason: Liberal Treachery from the Cold War to the War on Terrorism" and "Godless: The church of Liberalism" says she will campaign for Hillary if McCain is the nominee, they should think twice about who unites whom.
Here in my home state of Kansas, we have a caucus coming up. And I have been feeling like I was on my way to my wedding, but I didn’t know who I’m marrying. This past week, The New Republic queried their best and brightest about who they were supporting, and the group was evenly split between Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton. It could have just as easily been my own messy mind. Until about two weeks ago.
If you’re reading this, you’re probably a Boomer Girl, born between 1946 and 1960. Even if you weren’t in the eye of the hurricane that was second wave feminism, your place on the periphery meant that consciousness about the new possibilities was right in front of your face. There were women who symbolically dipped their toes in presidential waters, but it was not until this year that a woman emerged who has what it takes to go all the way. Hillary Clinton’s greatest weakness is that she voted to give the President the authority to go to war. And there is the practical consideration of her electability (I don’t buy that she is not electable, although many do). But in debate after debate, she is a commanding presence, with an amazing grasp of policy arcana and a clear vision of how she will respond to this war going forward and protect this country. Couple this with her stands on social issues, and her experience (“ready on Day One”) and it is easy to see why icons like Gloria Steinem support her.
But Boomers also came of age in the era of civil rights. And Barack Obama is a compelling political figure. He is smart, a spellbinding orator, and he has the potential to bring our country together (lest you think this is political PR, look at what Republican Susan Eisenhower has written in the Washington Post). He says he would not have voted to give the President the authority to go to war (he was not yet in the Senate when the vote took place). While that may sound convenient, there is strong evidence to suggest that it also happens to be the truth, hence his contrasting slogan, “right on Day One.”
In almost every other way, they are similar-bordering-on-identical. What’s a Boomer Girl to do?
For starters, I thank my lucky stars for the choices in front of me. Republicans may work themselves into a faux lather over the way race and gender politics are playing out in the Democratic party, but they ought to consider why they don’t have the problem, and likely won’t for decades to come.
Those of us in blue skirts have a choice between two transformational candidates.
I have watched the debates, read the blogs (yes, even Backyard Conservative), the autobiographies, and the newsmagazines. I’ve watched the Daily Show, the Colbert Report, Washington Week, and McLaughlin. It has taken a long time, but I have finally come to the conclusion that we have an opportunity with Barack Obama as President that would be terrible to pass up.
One of the more mild tactics that the Republicans use on Obama (and will continue, if he is the nominee) is to refer to him by his full name—Barack Hussein Obama—to repel the less thoughtful voters among us. But I love that that is his middle name. In fact, I am enthralled with his whole narrative: that he had a white mother from Kansas, a grandmother who still lives in a mud hut in Kenya, a sister who is half Filipino, and yet he identifies as African-American. Even now, he is being asked to intervene in the conflict in Kenya (so much for his lack of foreign policy experience: someone in the Bush administration thinks his participation is important enough that they are reaching out to him). I admire the fact that he worked as a community organizer on behalf of the poor in Chicago, before he taught in the law school, or entered politics. And I love the fact that kids between the ages of 18-25, across party lines, are rallying to volunteer for him (as we speak, I have two kids-juniors at the University of Iowa- staying in my home, who drove here from Iowa City to get Obama supporters to the caucuses). The current White House occupant, with his singular disinterest in other cultures, the nuances of foreign policy, and ethics and oversight, has brought us so low that we require a strong antidote.
I admire Hilary. I think she gets a bad rap from those who irrationally dislike her. I think she’s smart and competent, and if she is our nominee, I will walk the path with her all the way. But this Tuesday, when I go to my caucuses, I’m voting my hopes.
Comments
patmcq (anonymous) says...
I'm writing this after the Kansas caucuses (cauci?). We went for Obama on Tuesday and Huck on Saturday. You know, we could actually go Blue this year. If Republicans were so strongly Huck, and McCain gets the nomination, we'll have lots of folks sitting at home reading their Bibles on Election Day, which means that the Dems that came out of their cellars for the caucus will have the polls all to themselves.
On the other hand, if it's Ms. Clinton, the Reps will be voting and, to use that quaint Chicago phrase, voting often.
February 9, 2008 at 6:21 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
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