One of the most interesting things to come out of this election cycle, for me, has been the level of hostility shown by some venerable feminists toward the idea of women choosing to vote for Obama rather than Clinton. As a feminist myself who is supporting Obama, it hurts a bit when women you grew up admiring turn around and criticize your choice of candidate. I recently came across an interesting piece by Michelle Goldberg in the Guardian (via Ezra Klein) that helps explain some of the anger.
Goldberg writes:
Some have suggested the whole [Geraldine Ferraro] thing was part of a Clinton scheme to ratchet up racial tensions in advance of the Pennsylvania primary. That's possible, but there's a simpler explanation. Several otherwise admirable, even heroic women seem to identify with Clinton so profoundly that they interpret rejection of her as a personal rebuke. Stung, they accuse Obama supporters of flighty illogic, but there's a powerful, extra-rational emotional current in their arguments, a flailing in the face of an imagined betrayal. In their anger, they're lashing out in all kinds of counterproductive ways, doing far more damage to feminism than a Clinton loss ever could.
I suspect there's more than a germ of truth in that statement. There's a theme running through Steinem's and Ferraro's recent comments that women have waited long enough and it's finally our turn to take the reins. I so wish that were true! But where is our champion feminist? Who speaks for us? Where is my female Obama?
Geraldine Ferraro's recent comments pained me deeply because I voted for her on the Mondale ticket in my first ever presidential election and I did so with so much pride - me, 18, voting for a woman to be vice-president! Surely, I thought (oh to be 18 again), I was just getting started on voting for a woman for president ASAP.
And here we are - a mere 24 years later - with an eminently qualified woman running for president, yet I find myself caucusing for and donating to her male opponent. I would love to vote for a woman, nothing's changed there, but she'd have to be the best candidate or damn close. Hillary's just not the best candidate this year to me.
I imagine all these truly wonderful women at Emily's List-type fundraisers over the last decade vowing that they'll see a woman elected in their lifetime, no matter who.
Twenty-four years later, that opportunity has come. But something happened on the way to voting for a woman for president, and that something was Barack Obama.