Letter to Women Voters
by Gussie

According to the demographics, I should be voting for Hillary Clinton: I’m a white, 60-year-old, highly educated woman from the Northeast. But I’m voting for Obama. I’ve waited all my life for a viable woman candidate for the presidency, but this is not the right woman. I want a woman of the highest ability and virtue, who would serve as a glorious role model to all young women. Hillary Clinton is not that woman.

She rode into power with her husband, and together they’ve acquired a long and seriously flawed history of self-serving and secretive financial and political dealings. The most cursory research will prove that true. She started out her political life supporting the racist Barry Goldwater. She is as comfortable with deception and trickery as George Bush. When I hear woman saying, “Oh, but that’s how you get things done in Washington,” I literally cringe.

I am passionately supporting Barack Obama. He can beat the Republicans; she cannot. Obama has attracted Independents and even Republicans to his camp, and in a general election they would vote for him, but not for Clinton. Clinton voted for the war, and has never apologized for it. Obama has spoken out against it from the beginning. Obama brings us hope—and not just that. Take a serious look at his ideas and experience.

Please, I beg of you, Sisters young and old: wait for the right woman. Then we can be proud.

Submitted by Gussie (view blog) on Sat, 02/09/2008 - 08:54

Comments

 

Another Obama supporter

Hi Gussie,

Like you, I also am an enthusiastic Obama supporter. And I also support him because as you have I've investigated his "ideas and experience" and have concluded that I believe he is the best candidate. I would love to see a follow up post from you describing how and which of Obama's ideas and experience won you over.

However, as I've pointed out to Clinton supporters who tell us that we should vote for Clinton as a vote against Obama and who tell us we are naive and have been blinded by being sucked into a hysterical emotional cult, that I find the idea that I cannot be a thinking woman and choose to vote for Obama, offensive. To that same point, as Obama supporters we do our candidate and ourselves no favors by in any way diminishing the decision of Clinton supporters.

I'm all for loudly listing all the great, substantive positive reasons there are to vote for Obama rather than focusing on the reasons why we dislike other candidates. And given how brilliant the women who post and read here are, I have no lack of faith in their capacity to make a reasoned choice that is right for them. Hopefully, we can persuade some of those undecideds out there to join us!

PopConsumer
Beyond Help

Submitted by Maria Niles on Sat, 02/09/2008 - 13:27
 

Thanks Maria

That's a really lovely comment.

Almost every Democrat I speak to (and many non-Democrats) are torn, but they are also happy to be torn. I think it is a total fallacy to believe that Democrats are split. The vast majority of Hillary supporters have polled that they would gladly support Obama if he is the candidate, and Obama supporters have polled the same way.

This is very good news come November.

Now, if they can both steer clear of doing the Republicans work for them and focus on the issues, and their admittedly subtle differences on them, then I will be very happy indeed. They both veer back and forth over a line I'm not comfortable with in that regard.

Elisa Camahort
BlogHer
elisa@blogher.org

Submitted by Elisa Camahort on Sat, 02/09/2008 - 13:45
 

With apologies to Gussie

For shamefully hijacking her post with my comments...

Thank you for the complement, Elisa but I'll clarify my perspective just a bit. I have no problem with women sharing the reasons why they can't vote for a candidate or what they perceive to be the candidate's weaknesses as Gussie has done here. I want to be clear that I'm not asking Gussie and others not to speak out - just the opposite, I love hearing the range of women's voices this election. And I don't believe keeping quiet on negative sentiments is going to in any way stop, prevent or limit the attacks Republicans will make on either candidate come November. In fact, I think it is probably good preparation.

And to that point, I'm not that torn between Clinton and Obama. While no candidate is perfect and the reasons why I can't bring myself to vote for her (and I certainly share some of Gussie's concerns) outnumber and outweigh my differences with Obama. But, I can certainly understand why many women I know have chosen to support her. And if she is the nominee I'll vote for her more because my reasons for not voting for McCain far outweigh my differences with Clinton but, frankly, it will be with nowhere near the enthusiasm it would be if I were voting for Obama. I wish I were less cynical.

I just want us to be careful that in our enthusiasm for any candidate we don't send the message that smart, capable women are not engaging their brains when they decide differently. And, as I've expressed that sentiment on a few posts when it has been Clinton supporters calling on Obama supporters to change our minds, I thought it appropriate that I should speak up when I saw a call for Clinton supporters to change theirs.

Submitted by Maria Niles on Sat, 02/09/2008 - 18:11