New York N.O.W Chapter Out of Line on Kennedy Endorsment of Obama

write to president pappas: info@nownys.org

my message:
President Pappas -

“Speak your mind, even if your voice shakes” — Maggie Kuhn.

That is a wonderful quote, and quite apt for my situation. If you could hear my voice, and your eardrums didn’t give, you would hear it shake…in anger. When you “hushed the fact that he was late in his support of Title IX, the ERA, the Family Leave and Medical Act” perhaps you should have spoken out in opposition to Sen. Kennedy, even if your voice shook. When you “buried their (your) anger that his support for the compromises in No Child Left Behind and the Medicare bogus drug benefit brought us (you) the passage of these flawed bills” perhaps you should have spoken out in opposition to Sen. Kennedy, even if your voice shook.

For your information, while you were busy burying and hushing Sen. Kennedy’s record, Barack Obama was, for good reason, rising through the ranks of the Democratic party and inspiring millions of Americans. “The new guy” is actually a thoroughly vetted Senator from Illinois with an outstanding record.

That you mention “progressive white men who can’t or won’t handle the prospect of a woman president” shows your myopic, anachronistic world view. I what sexual, socio-economic, racial and ethnic gymnastics do you have to execute to demonize the rest of the people who support Sen. Obama? Latinas for Obama? Moderate black males for Obama? Dare I say it - white women for Obama? Traitors to their race and their sex? Perish the thought.

And here’s something else you might not have considered - Sen. Clinton isn’t even a progressive.

Her vote on the bankruptcy bill hurts millions of Americans - men and women.

Two years ago, on the anniversary of Roe v. Wade, she said this: “There is no reason why government cannot do more to educate and inform and provide assistance so that the choice guaranteed under our constitution either does not ever have to be exercised or only in very rare circumstances.” Wow. Does not ever have to be used. And let’s use government to get us there. How progressive. If that’s what she wants for American women, I shudder to think what kind of support she might offer to poor women around the world.

Her campaign’s tactics are nothing short of reprehensible. Time and again, blatantly and solely for political gain, she has sought to portray Sen. Obama as the “black” candidate.

And how many times is she going to refer to herself as a girl? She is a 61 year old woman who continually says “I’m your girl”. American Girl is her theme song. There are still people who refer to secretaries and checkout clerks as girls regardless of their age. It is demeaning and dismissive. But if it helps you win an election, what the hell?

Take her vote for the authorization for the use of military force in Iraq. Hundreds of thousands of us were marching in the streets (I don’t know if you have anti-war marches up there in Albany, but it’s where a lot of people walk through the streets together snarling traffic and garnering news coverage in an attempt to awaken their slumbering elected officials and avert needless bloodshed) because we knew that a yes vote was a vote for war. But she still maintains that she was duped by the Bush Administration. This alone proves that she either lacks the judgment, or is too politically expedient, to be president.

Speaking of political expediency, had you not possessed this quality (?), you might have spoken out against Sen. Kennedy when you thought it was appropriate, rather than hush it and bury it until you felt compelled to write a ridiculous letter in the heat of your anger. Let us not move forward, you say. Let us vote blindly on the basis of our color or our sex, you say. Let us continue to jam people into the same old boxes, you say. Even though it hurts to be jammed into a box not of our choosing, a box that doesn’t fit. It hurts women. It hurts men. It hurts blacks and whites and asians and latinos. And it hurts our democracy.

I hope that at least you will be open minded enough to support and praise President Obama when he succeeds in bringing together a majority to push through initiatives that are important to you, and to all Americans.

Scott
San Francisco, CA

Although dames have caused me nothing but trouble, I reamain a steadfast feminist.
However watching Pappas’s interview on the Idiot Box yesterday, made me think of one of those Sci-Fi flicks where an Evil Alien has taken over the body of a Human Leader. (Maybe I outta stop reading the Gleaner).

I know people in NYC think they get to tell everyone what to think, but how can they bang on Obama? ‘Cause he is a guy? Weak.
I think it is time for people to chill out on the endorsements. All it does is piss people off.
Like Zeke.
And you don’t want me pissed off.

Resistance is futile, Zeke. You will be assimilated
even before Hugh Jackson! (Kidding here….You sound
like the type not likely to ever be assimilated.)