To me, progressive values have always been about economic and social justice - maybe because I could have used some in my own life.
I’m also a big believer in building political coalitions among the least powerful (which, it stands to reason, are the broadest and most stable part of the base). It astounds me that so many intelligent people are convinced they shouldn’t even have to think about building a movement that requires them to concentrate on what basic issues they have in common - and not on looking down at the working poor because they have different needs and beliefs.
So many women feel that the election was somehow stolen, and by their own party, to boot. They thus feel much the way many Democrats feel about the 2000 election: bitter. When one side feels that they lost an election fairly, any bitterness recedes early on. But when the adjective “stolen” leaps to mind, bitterness is apt to prevail, vanquishing any desire for reconciliation and cooperation. That is what many former Clinton supporters are feeling now.
We are disgusted with the party we have long trusted to represent our interests. We are disgusted with ourselves for being snookered - again. We assess the party leaders’ rejection of Clinton as a cynical strategy. If Clinton had ended up as the candidate, the Democrats stood to lose the votes of many African Americans, who then might not vote at all. But if they made Obama the candidate? Well, then, the women always vote, and they will come around. Women always come around, no matter how badly they’re mistreated.
I am reminded of a particularly chilling passage in Vladimir Nabokov’s novel “Lolita.” Humbert Humbert, after raping the 12-year-old, is pondering why she has come back to his bed. “You see,” Humbert tells the reader, “she had absolutely nowhere else to go.”
That’s just how I feel. And they want my enthusiastic support? The Democratic Party can fend for itself.
On the obscure PUMA blog camille424 there are 378, 416, 184, 307, 253, 155, 368, 184, 315 comments on the most recent posts. On PUMA’s blog there are 950, 448, 731, 223, 235, 546, 592, 768, 137, 717 comments. These are all Democrats. Leftist and centrist Democrats. Unlike Obama’s Independents and Republicans. Listen to what they’re saying. They want an apology and something done about the misogyny and corruption of the primary. I voted Democratic my whole life — Clinton, Clinton, Gore, Kerry — and will write in Hillary’s name if this unity BS continues. There are now 300 Just Say No Deal/PUMA websites and blogs. Donna Darko and H1K are not a part of it so you can imagine the amount of anger out there. The election will be decided by old ladies playing bingo in Ohio. Like I said since February it’s about class and gender not race. These women don’t relate to him because of class and gender issues. It has nothing to do with race.
Harriet Christian was exactly right. If you’re still bothered about “inadequate black male” she was right about that too. That she can be called a racist white woman but she can’t say anything about black men. Her riff on race trumps gender:
I can be called white but you can’t be called black. That’s not my America. It’s equality for all of us. It’s about time we all stood up for it.
07/31/2008 
