My plan is pretty much the same as yours. After being a little unhappy for a while with the way some of the major feminist blogs treated second-wavers, I've been proud of the way they've (mostly) stepped up and unambiguously condemned the sexism against Hillary recently, and that makes it easier for me to move on.

Can I suggest a "Wednesday 'Why McCain is bad for women/feminists'" feature on the blog?

A weekly reminder that (as someone wrote here months ago) a tin can with a big blue D painted on it would make a better president than McCain can't be a bad thing, right?

As a Clinton supporter, my disappointment is primarily because of the way she (and her entire campaign) were treated by the mainstream media. It was a serious wake-up call to how sexist our country still is, and how scary it is because the sexist is so covert. No one said (in public at least) "don't vote for her because she's a woman" (except maybe Rush Limbaugh - but he doesn't count) but people said all of these things that implied that. She was held to different standards and analyzed differently than Obama, Edwards, McCain, Fuckabee, and any of the other male candidates were.

I never expected that everyone who identifies as a feminist, or every woman, vote for her simply because of the fact that she's a woman. That's not why I supported her - it was a bonus. But I was horribly disappointed in a lot of people I know who are ordinarily very progressive and not sexist at all saying all of the things that the media fed us - she's too political or aggressive or, my personal favorite, "she'll do anything to win" (duh? welcome to politics). It really scared me when women said these things, for reasons that I hope are obvious.

I mean yes, I was disappointed she didn't win the nomination. I still think she would be a wonderful President, and since she has seen the job first-hand she would need a MUCH smaller learning curve than Obama will, so she would be able to jump right in and start the unbearable process of digging us out of the hole that George Bush has gotten us into.

I will, however, not only be voting for Obama but campaigning for him (at least on a personal level - wearing merchandise and such). If I have extra money I'll likely send a little to the campaign. The focus now needs to be getting him elected because even if he wasn't your first choice he's still a shit-ton better than McCain.

I do think that he should pick Clinton as his running mate. I think that, if nothing else, it would be a great way to unify Democrats and that would make it an unbeatable ticket.

I will be spending almost all of my free time canvassing and phone banking for the first African-American President! I am very excited!

I will be spending almost all of my free time canvassing and phone banking for the first African-American President! I am very excited!

I am a very Clinton democrat. I initially didn't want Hillary to run because I don't like the dynasty thing that the Bushes had and didn't want it repeated. Then I watched her grow as a candidate and was very impressed, Yes, she made a few huge gaffes, but they all do, Obama included.

My problem with Obama has been that not only is he untested and inexperienced, but that it would have been better for the party as a whole if Clinton were at the top of the ticket and he were vice-President. Then he would get to run in the future as had vice presidential experience. We have seen before that one of the strengths of the Clintons is that they allow people around them to have meaningful power, e.g. Al Gore. I think that because Obama jumped the gun and ran this time, we have lost a chance to have the White House for what could have been a great 16 years.

I don't want Hillary as vice-president because I see no evidence that Obama will treat her with respect. I really don't want to have to watch Hillary relegated to a ceremonial role. I would much rather she remain in the Senate. Although I would love her in the Supreme Court, it is really important that if Obama is president, that he choses someone very young to provide counterweight to the republican justices. It is clear that that has been a republican strategy.

I will vote for Obama, but he has a way to go toward earning my trust and respect.

I'm staying in paris till august, but I will hopefully be reved up and ready to kick some McCain butt when I get back.

I immediately established an account at mybarackobama, joined 10 groups, started blogging on feminism and the election. I am trying hard to help Obama supporters understand Hillary supporters. Obviously the campaign has not thought through the dilemma of an influx of Hillary supporters into groups dedicated to bashing her. I like to debate, so it's fine for me. Too many posters are still looking in the rear view mirror, but lots of people are combatting that. I hope all my blogging and email is clearing the way for my less combative sisters.

It's easy to make a splash. Start a blog,join ten groups, and send your posts to all of those groups. There aren't many bloggers. I have received about 24 requests for friendship and mostly warm welcomes from individuals.

In general, it is a safer place than many progressive blogs. I posted lightly at my old hunting grounds, Obsidian Wings. I suddenly become the new Hillary:) even though I am funnier than she is.

I'd sure like a filibuster-proof majority (i.e. less than 40 Republicans) in the Senate as well. Democrats have won three special elections in the last year in areas where they were never expected to win (Hastert's old district, Mississippi), so I am more optimistic this year than usual about certain coalitions coming together and scoring some upsets.

My interest: getting rid of disgusting GOP crony Senator John Cornyn from Texas, replacing him with the first Hispanic Senator from Texas, Rick Noriega.

I feel much like Jen has about the election, I think; not deeply invested in either Obama or Clinton. In fact, I am not actually all that invested in the Democratic party as a whole, and I do not feel like they do all they can do to support me and the personal issues I face in my everyday life. That said, I am going to throw my heart and soul into making sure that a Democrat is elected into the White House in Nov. I might not consider them to be liberal enough for my politics, but they're certainly FAR above and beyond the idiocy of their Republican opponents, and for that I am thankful.

I will definitely be doing my part of Obama in the coming months, but I think I will be more invested in many more localized issues that I car about: defeating the anti-gay ballot measure in CA that would keep me from getting married next June, as well as anti-gay measures in Arizona and Florida, among others, defending transgender rights in my home state of MA, and standing in the way of anti-choicers in Colorado who want to control women's bodies. I think it's easy to get very wrapped up with the bid for president, but congressional stuff is *just* as important right now- we need a Dem congress to back up our Dem president. We need a legislature that won't pass stupid laws like the Partial Birth Abortion Ban that then need to be decided by the Roberts Court [another reason that we need a Dem president- so we can make sure it's not conservative-dominated for half a century to come]. We need to make sure that equally inflammatory legislation is not considered by that court; right now, it is doubtful that we will win. I am all about the micro level this summer and fall.

I have to second the disappointment over how Hillary Clinton was treated in the media. I'm not crazy about either of the candidates, and was mostly concerned over Hillary's saber-rattling towards Iran and Obama's lack of experience and associations with religious lunatics. Now, I'll do what I can to get Obama elected.
However, none of the candidates have satisfactorally answered how they will restore civil liberties, and that's a major concern for me. I also wish that there were a purely secular candidate and not one that pandered to religious extremists. Oh, for an athiest candidate!

I really wish that Hilary could have won. It totally sucks she did not. I will vote democrat. I am sure Obama is capable of voting present as president just as he did as senator. I must admit though, I really think anybody is better than Bush. Really, McCain is way more moderate then Bush. So no matter who wins, we should all be celebrating. I mean, what if McCain wins? Does congress have to come out and unify America? Sorry couldn’t help myself. It’s just that because someone voted for Hilary does not mean they will automatically vote for Obama, and that’s not a bad thing. I just think we will all be better off when Bush is out of office. Again the day he is out of office it should be declared a national holiday!

Back during the California primary, there were a couple of issues that tipped me into Clinton's camp. One was the fact that she doesn't bring religion into her politics. That matters quite a bit to me. Her track record for standing strong on women's issues in the Senate was the other factor. At that point, Obama didn't have his positions on women's issues defined on his website and hadn't spoken about it much. I feel much more confident turning my support to him now that he has clearly stated his views on many topics that concern or involve women. I also appreciated his remarks about the need to *discuss* the role of religion in American life, as well as "the need for religious people to translate their concerns into universal, rather than religion-specific, values during public debate." As a non-religious person, I am sometimes troubled by the growing religiosity in the US and in politics.

I expect I will campaign on a personal level (stickers & buttons, etc). Since I am part of a campus community right now (grad school) I will also look into campaigning activities on campus.

Atheist, I do know how to spell and type. The heat is melting my brain.

I am a very strong Hilary Clinton supporter, and I haven't, thus far, been as impressed with Obama as other people have. However, there is there is no way I'm going to sit by during this primary season. If not Clinton, then I support Obama 100%. As democrats we need to ban together and stop McCain from taking one more step towards the white house.

Moxie and Wandergrrl, here here on the religion thing. Religion was a BIG reason why I was supporting Clinton - though she is apparently very spiritual, she rarely brings it into her political image, which I appreciate. I witnessed both Clinton's and Obama's speeches at the Planned Parenthood Action Fund conference last year, and they both made great comments touting the importance of reproductive rights and health, but Obama's speech was so steeped in religious language I was almost offended. I understand that he, as a person of color (with the middle name "Hussein") probably is trying to cover his ass from the inevitable Christian/idiot/racist backlash, but I just plain don't want to hear religious reasoning for defending reproductive rights (or anything, really).

Not to contribute to the "oppression Olympics," but I find it fascinating that with all this talk about how "revolutionary" this election is in terms of race and gender, we're still light years behind on giving a voice to secular Americans - and nobody seems to notice. It's so sad that an Atheist president is really a pipe dream for us.

I have been an Obama supporter from the beginning (well, unless you count Kucinich - but that was always a pipe dream), for me and others like me it seems to be time to take the chip off our left shoulders and place it on the right one.

In other words, stop seeing Clinton and her camp as the opposition and start seeing McCain and his rat infested camp as such.

I attended HRC's concession speech this weekend and was delighted at the Obama supporters who nevertheless came out to cheer for her (seriously- they were beautiful people) and horrified at the Hillary supporters who said they would never vote for Obama. I think some of this will wear off- but while I understand their anger (after all it's some of my anger too) it was really disturbing to hear that women who felt abandoned by young feminists would actually stand by passively while a pro life candidate wins?? There are more positive ways for us to handle this.

I voted for Hillary, and while I was disappointed by a million things in the primary (the occasionally racist undertones of her campaign, but also the way the media treated her like total s***, nobody came out looking too great, I could go on and on) I am 100% committed to Obama and will campaign like h*** for him with no reservations.

One of the things that some people seem to find so invigorating about Obama is that he will allegedly be less bound by political constraints and more open to suggestions from outsiders. So I say give him all our support but at the same time make it clear that we have demands. Being starry eyed in love with a candidate cedes that candidate a lot of power, and I think all voters, not just women, need to take some power back from politicians. They've been playing fast and loose for a long time, when their jobs should really rely on their willingness to do the will of the people! I think someone else here mentioned restoring civil liberties- I think that is important too. Dismantling the more craptastic elements of the Patriot Act etc would be a good first move in my opinion.

smartorange, forgive me if i fail to break out the champagne on election night if mccain wins. while mccain had several significant breaks from the bush administration in the past, take a look at his voting record since oh, 2003. mccain may be better than bush, but that's small praise. he is anything but a moderate and has enjoyed a reputation as such and as a "maverick" which is at this point completely undeserved. i can't wrap my head around anyone who supported clinton because of actual policy thinking mccain is an acceptable second choice. i just can't.

anyway, i'm just glad we had relatively amazing candidates to choose from in the democratic party this election. i have nothing but respect for hillary's supporters since even though i ultimately decided to vote for obama, i liked both candidates. we are all on the same team, really.

I wasn't really gung ho for either candidate, really...or rather, was equally enthusiastic for both. I ended up voting for Obama in the primary, but didn't feel as strongly about him as other people did.

I host a Drinking Liberally chapter, and every meeting, it seemed there would be some Clinton-bashing going on. And the whole time, I would defend the feminist point of view. I would call these otherwise reasonable men (mostly) on their use of sexist language and attitudes.

We had a meeting the day after the last primaries, and my co-host (a much more enthusiastic Obama supporter) sent out an email reminder about the meeting that contained some unfortunate phrasing that led to one person leaving the mailing list. I've since had a dialog with her, and she said she'll come back eventually.

At the meeting the next day, we were talking about the mailing list snafu, and people were talking about how "over sensitive" Clinton supporters were, and really got negative. I pointed out to them how very important it is to reach out to every Clinton supporter, and let them know that there is a place for them, that we want and need them at the table, that it is time for unification, for people to set aside our differences. And, I think a lot of that welcoming energy HAS to come from Obama supporters.

I'm still struggling with how to make this happen on a larger scale.

For those of you who are keen for a secular, feminist candidate, why not support Cheryl Lindsay Seelhoff for President? http://cheryllindseyseelhoffforpresident.wordpress.com/

If I lived in the USA I'd vote for her - she would really make the world a better place.

For those of you talking about religion, I would have to disagree that Hillary is the more "secular" between Obama and Hillary.

As an atheist who is ethnically Jewish, I was disappointed and nearly offended by some comments made by Hillary during this campaign. For any of you who watched the two of them on the "compassion forum," Hillary's comments were covered and coated in religious tones. She even said she felt the presence of the holy spirit with her all the time. It was completely disingenuous and pandering.
Not to mention how she suddenly started wearing a cross in response to people saying she didn't show her religion enough.

Lorriet, I am really happy to hear that you are being sensitive to the fact that we're sensitive. :)

I also feel like Hillary supporters need to show some leadership here too. I voted for Hillary, but certainly wasn't "die hard" and I liked (and continue to like) Obama a lot too. I felt that put me in a good position to help some people transition mentally, and one of the main reasons I attended HRC's concession speech was because I wanted to see how people were handling it. One argument that I think is pretty persuasive to Hillary supporters is that she herself made a wonderful case for supporting Obama, and that if we respect her as a politician and as a candidate we should honor her wishes. If she can accept that a Democrat and specifically Obama in the White House would be the best thing for Americans, more than half of whom are women, we should be able to accept that too. Person to person, I feel like I can get this across. I am not sure how to do it on a larger scale either. Good luck to us all.

I agree with the atheist comments. In Chris Hitchen's book, The End of Faith, he states that the only requirement we really have for our president is that he or she believe in God. Does anyone know if there are even atheist politicians? I think we're vastly underrepresented.

I started supporting Obama after Kucinich left the race. It's now time for Clinton supporters to do the same thing. A lot of us have been hearing this nonsense about voting for McCain if Clinton doesn't get the nomination, but I'm optimistic that that type of sentiment will die down as the media spotlight shines on McCain. I'm listening to Clinton's exit speech right now, and as I typed that sentence, she said that she wants her voters to be as supportive of Obama as they were of her, and a lot of people booed. But I still think Clinton supporters will make sure that Obama will win. They would be much more pissed if McCain won than they were when Obama got the nomination.

more.joy.less.shame, I don't think that Hillary is any less religious than Obama. In fact, I read this disturbing article in Mother Jones about her attending this uber-creepy prayer group with a lot of D.C. bigwigs. But it's still not as disturbing as Obama's association with church with a pastor that actually believes AIDS conspiracy theories.
I dislike Clinton's and Obama's religious views, but I'm definitely prepared to throw my support behind Obama.
sarey belle, I mentioned the civil liberties issue. I also hope he dismantles No Child Left Behind and focuses making America top in science and technology.
Cheryl Lindsay Seelhoff seems cool, but I hate the idea of splitting my vote when we really need to stop a right-wing lunatic from getting into office.

I found it therapeutic to donate to the Feminist Majority Foundation to help get women elected in upcoming congressional and senate races, and I think that's where I'm going to focus and channel my energy, on getting more women elected to all levels of government. Obviously I want a woman in the white house, but we can't forget how woefully underrepresented we still are in both houses of Congress as well, so we need to work to get a lot more women in there! I think it's the only way real progress will come about for us...

to Danakitty:
I discussed the same book in one of my classes; where it is said that the US would elect a women, a black, anyone but an atheist.
Also, there are no "out of the closet" atheists in congress.

"I’m not suggesting as some have that Clinton supporters 'get over it.' It's pretty crappy to expect that when people feel so passionately."

It's not an emotion-based matter of "oh, my favored candidate didn't win and I'm depressed, boo hoo". I object to Obama's own use of misogyny in his campaign and his tolerance of it among his supporters; his attitude signals that he does not respect women. Until he apologizes for his conduct and makes an effort to change and make amends for his campaign's past actions, I'm not interested in the change he's bringing, and I have no place on his bus except under it.

I'm a Hillary supporter and am quite bummed out that she's not being chosen as the nominee. Honestly, between McCain and Obama, I'd rather have a President Obama, but I can't see myself voting for him. I'm also very disillusioned with the DNC right now - not that I thought the DNC was that great before.
As soon as Hillary concedes her delegates and Obama is officially nominated, I'm switching my voter registration to independent, and I'll write Hillary in in November.
Before the "you'll just help McCain get elected" people step in to scold me, I know where I am in the electoral college and Obama will get my Prius-driving, latte-sipping district by a good 80% margin without my help.
Besides, if the Dems cared about getting women's votes, they should have considered the consequences when Obama surrogates were out there comparing Hillary to a travel agent.

tangotulip:

I found it therapeutic to donate to the Feminist Majority Foundation to help get women elected in upcoming congressional and senate races, and I think that's where I'm going to focus and channel my energy, on getting more women elected to all levels of government. Obviously I want a woman in the white house, but we can't forget how woefully underrepresented we still are in both houses of Congress as well, so we need to work to get a lot more women in there! I think it's the only way real progress will come about for us...

Right the hell on. I'll do what I can on that front too.

I found Feministing today and have been perusing the articles for hours. I registered to tell all of you how impressed I am by this community! Both the bloggers and commenters write so intelligently, thoughtfully, and respectfully. I've always considered myself a timid feminist but have (perhaps ignorantly) worried that modern feminism was too extreme (shades of misandry, rather than straight desire for equality sometimes?) to match my beliefs. Uh, if the top 10 posts and associated comments are representative (or even mostly representative) of the movement, then my perception was way off. I have been too impressed! I have never felt so positively about any internet community.

Some background on me and how I got here: I have always liked both the Clintons, but have been an Obama supporter since well before he announced his run. Some of the campaign tactics of the Clinton camp repulsed me a little, but I certainly do not believe them to be racist and still have a very positive view of both Hillary and Bill.

For the past week or two I've been masochistically roaming around pro-Clinton blogs soaking in the vitriol and anti-Obama sentiment (such as this one:
http://www.hillaryclintonforum.net/discussion/showthread.php?t=14964
). It's really shaken my faith in humanity a little. It just hurts to see so much hatred. I came here wondering if, as a feminist website, I would get to see the "God created Obama from 2 parts sexism, 1 part evil" vibe that has raised its head elsewhere (which makes no sense to me from a logical standpoint since Obama has such good stances on gender issues vs McCain and has steered pretty clear of the MSM sexism).

And I was so impressed with what I did find! Both this thread and the "Clinton to withdraw and endorse Obama thread" were fantastic! This one for it's positivity (I can't tell you how refreshing it is to actually hear pro-Hillary comments from pro-Hillary people instead of Obama-will-ruin-the-country comments) and the other for its tackling of some very tough, emotional issues in what was an overwhelmingly thoughtful and respectful manner.

Of course I continued to read non-Obama/Clinton posts and continued to be impressed, but thought I'd come back to the first one I read to share my reaction.

While the Democratic Party makes peace with female Hilary supporters, I'm hoping [url=http://zakstar.wordpress.com/2008/06/09/blue-balls-backfire/]ads like the one I just blogged[/url] about aren't going to be popping up more. . . can we say counterproductive?

I agree with the atheist comments. In Chris Hitchen's book, The End of Faith, he states that the only requirement we really have for our president is that he or she believe in God. Does anyone know if there are even atheist politicians? I think we're vastly underrepresented.
I haven't read that book, I'll have to check it out. It was a combination of God Is Not Great and The God Delusion that made me an atheist.
I don't think there are any atheist politicians. Wouldn't it be great to have something like an Emily's List for secular, agnostic, and atheist progressive candidates?

I agree with every word of this. I practically cried when Hillary conceded because I would have loved to see a woman in office, but as I've been stating all over the blogosphere, the issues that are most important will still be there, and not voting or voting for the other side simply because you're pissed at Obama for something that happened in the Hillary/Obama fight is just flat out stupid. You need to look a the issues, look what he stands for, and look at what he's going to do in office, because the moment you take a good look at the other side (McCain) I get really scared just thinking about it.

I agree with every word of this. I practically cried when Hillary conceded because I would have loved to see a woman in office, but as I've been stating all over the blogosphere, the issues that are most important will still be there, and not voting or voting for the other side simply because you're pissed at Obama for something that happened in the Hillary/Obama fight is just flat out stupid. You need to look a the issues, look what he stands for, and look at what he's going to do in office, because the moment you take a good look at the other side (McCain) I get really scared just thinking about it.

I agree with every word of this. I practically cried when Hillary conceded because I would have loved to see a woman in office, but as I've been stating all over the blogosphere, the issues that are most important will still be there, and not voting or voting for the other side simply because you're pissed at Obama for something that happened in the Hillary/Obama fight is just flat out stupid. You need to look a the issues, look what he stands for, and look at what he's going to do in office, because the moment you take a good look at the other side (McCain) I get really scared just thinking about it.