Sunday, June 08, 2008

Making the Transition

I had so looked forward to casting my ballot for Senator Hillary Clinton for President of the United States.

Not to be.

The fact that she is a woman played a big role in my hopes, no question about it. (Although not so big that I would have voted for a Republican to be our first woman President.) I have a photograph of the Lovely Daughter shortly before her first birthday, taken as Gloria Steinem spoke at the Chautauqua Institution. Twenty years later, the LD, like many women of her generation, eschews the term "feminist" and probably does not find it particularly remarkable that a woman and an African-American have been vying for the Democratic nomination, which I see as wonderfully indicative of the tremendous changes that we have witnessed since I was her age. Nevertheless, it would have been something had she been able to cast her first ballot for a woman.

I'm glad Hillary has conceded the nomination with grace and dignity, and I'm glad that she will be in the arena as we seek to put an end to Republican tenure in the White House. If another Republican were elected President in my lifetime, it would be too soon for me. So, while it will take me a few days to come around to the reality that Senator Obama will be our nominee, I'll get there.

But first I plan to give a little time to some grateful reflection for Hillary Clinton, for whom I would have been so honored to have voted.

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

I am working on the same thing. I think she would have been amazing!

Lisa :-] said...

I'm sure she would have been a competent administrator. She is a bright and capable woman. Unfortunately, she's a bit short on the "charisma" the American people yearn to line up behind.

Does Obama have it? Perhaps...but I STILL don't think this country is prepared to elect a black man as president. I've already heard and seen things--here in Oregon--that bode poorly for Mr. Obama. It will be interesting, but not necessarily surprising, to see how the whole general election plays out.

Mark Smith said...

I could easily vote for a woman for President.

I could not bring myself to vote for Hillary. I voted for Obama as the less divisive Dem in my primary.

Some of the reason that she lost isn't a gender thing - it's an artificial "us vs. them" thing.

Jan said...

Good, good, good. I like what you said.

Terri said...

Oh GG...I haven't had the heart to blog about this...it makes me sad...but you have said it all so graciously. I know I'll vote for Obama, but I am neither happy nor excited about it. I do think we in this country are in for an interesting time...Obama did not "win" by much of a margin...and anyone else going into a "job" with that close of a margin would understand that this is not a decisive vote in his favor. If, for example, I learned that I had been offered a job but that those who offered it to me were split 51 to 49 I would worry a great deal about what lay ahead. So, in order to keep another Republican out of the White House I do hope we can unite and support what we have. And, I hope Hillary finds a really satisfying and effective way to retain her position in politics.

Jody Harrington said...

I would have liked to vote for a woman for President, too--but not, as you won't be surprised to know, enough to vote for a Democrat.

Still, in the past few weeks I found myself happy to see Hillary do well and was sorry she didn't pull it out in the end because her positions are closer to mine than Obama's. I did admire her speech on Saturday.

I agree with Mark. I don't think she lost because of her gender. I think she lost because of her political baggage (Bill) and her failure to take Obama's challenge seriously early in the campaign and change her strategy accordingly.

I will be very glad if I live to see the day when we have no more "firsts" and the gender/race of candidates is not the subject of endless analysis and comment instead of their experience, political records and platforms.

Virginia said...

Hillary was the ONLY one of the pack I would be willing to cast a vote for. Not sure what I will do now. I don't believe in Obama and would never vote for a Republican. I think I have to turn off all the media between now and November, and sticking my head in a hole in the ground has some appeal right now.

Diane M. Roth said...

I don't believe in Obama, but I have hope that as an intelligent person, he can facilitate some change. We'll see.

I do believe that, for some people, Bill was a part of Hillary's baggage. A woman from my congregation told me recently she would be happy to vote for Hillary, but didn't want Bill.

As for No Republicans, it will depend on the particular person, and their positions and integrity. I do want us to get past the polarization not just of race and class, but also the extreme polarizations on party. Of course, there will always be differences: but we can only create change by be willing to work together.