Women Count PAC Ad

A friend of mine hipped me to this ad in the New York Times the other day. (I'll wait while you go check it out.)

My friend was pissed - here's what she had to say:

I don't know how many of you saw the "It's Not Personal" ad run by the WomenCountPAC in the NYT yesterday but I am just beside myself. How dare they tell me that HRC represents my "voice... hopes, dreams and aspirations"? I'm sorry but assuming that I will vote for her because she is female is as misguided and ignorant as assuming that I am voting for Barack because he is black.

My mother raised me to be respected and loved, and neither could exist without the other. If I had a man that disrespected me the way Bill Clinton did (on multiple occasions, with multiple partners!), his behind and his belongings would be out on the curb. And I'm supposed to look to Hillary as an example? Why exactly did she stick around?

Assigning sexism as an excuse for not voting for Hillary is a sad, sorry, delusional excuse for loyalty. I want someone in the White House who is good and kind, strong and fearless, intelligent and able to solve crises by critical thought and action. Oh, and then there's the finances.... I'm sorry but she is in D-E-B-T. The contributions she receives from here on out will go partly to paying the interest that she must charge for having loaned herself money in the first place. And the poor vendors who provided services are still waiting to get paid. It's so convoluted I can't stand it. If she can't manage her campaign and her staff now, how will she manage in the White House?

The tone of the "It's Not Personal" ad suggests that I need Hillary to make my "values and votes count". I am an intelligent, motivated, inspired and strong woman who makes choices independent of some collective wave whose intent is to mandate my choices based solely on my sex. I make my own damn vote count by virtue of being here and speaking up.

So, with all of that said and done, please go out and vote your heart and your intelligence, not your race or your sex.

Adriane

Oh No She Di-int!

I have been trying to wrap my head around Hillary's RFK comment since she made it the first time. But since I read that one, and didn't actually hear it, I kinda ignored it. It just didn't seem real.

But then I actually saw it.

I still don't have any words. But fortunately, Keith Olberman does.





What he said.

Voting for a Black President

Now that the math is almost entirely conclusive it is starting to hit me. I am going to have the chance to vote for a Black person to be the President of the United States.

Wow.

And there's a really good chance that he's going to win.

Double wow.

But before I talk about that, a friend asked me why I supported Senator Obama. She's a black woman, (I'm not gonna guess age, but let's just say she looks younger than me), and an Obama supporter. She too has been offended by the way Hillary has used race in this election.

So I told her that as a bi-racial guy born in the 60's raised by a single white mom (after my parents split when I was 10) who valued education and books over most everything else, voting for Obama felt like voting for myself. My friend was surprised, it seemed that she thought I would mention specific policy issues, leadership or any other non-racial things.

But I didn't.

It's not that those things don't matter. Of course they do. Those things are a given. If Alan Keyes shared my specific demographics, I'd wouldn't vote for him. Hell, if he were my identical twin I wouldn't vote for him to be dog catcher. In fact, there are a great deal of black politicians that I don't support or wouldn't vote for. And that's because their positions on issues differ from mine, or their behavior as public officials has caused me to question their judgment, or because the non-black person running against em was a better match for my political views.

But Obama gives voice to most of the political positions that I hold dear. He explains my positions better than I do. He inspires me to action in a way that no other elected official ever has. And his very candidacy is forcing people - black, white, latino, asian and everything else - to evaluate their biases like nothing else can.

So no, I don't just support him because he's black. That would be idiotic. But I do support him with greater fervor than I would an identical (which isn't possible by the way) white politician.

And that's OK. That's to be expected.

Supporting someone who is like you is not the same as being against someone who is not like you. Loving your family members is not the same as hating the people not related to you.


And in November I'm going to get a chance to vote for a black man to be President of the United States of America. I still can't believe it.