There is lots of exciting coverage of how women voters played a huge role in this week's election. We went for the Democratic president-elect by 12 percentage points.
It's exciting for so many reasons. First and foremost, of course, is that we were able to assert ourselves as an indispensable demographic--once again. Young women, and single women, in particular, established their reputation for participation. Future candidates will know they have to appeal to our interests and values if they want to get elected.
But, in my opinion, it's also exciting for a more abstract reason. We were faced with a really difficult primary season--where the feminist community was essentially torn apart--and we emerged unified and mobilized. I'm so grateful to the Hillary Clinton supporters who were able to heal and get behind Barack Obama. And I'm infinitely grateful for the women voters who were able to look at Sarah Palin with the sobriety and critical perspective necessary to see through the "hockey mom" folksiness. She didn't deserve our vote, and for the most part, she didn't get it.
A few of the other gems:
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Did anyone hear this! So angry and blames women for ugh! http://jp.youtube.com/watch?v=kzpCD5AcpjU
Is that Joe the Plumber?
This guy should be Palin's running mate in 2012.
Haha. If there's one thing I don't mind women being blamed for, it's the election of Obama!
Yup, thanks ladies!
This is absolutely great and I love this post (that last statistic was particularly awesome!), but dude, it's President-elect Obama! You can say that now!
awesome! Courtney, where did you get that statistic about Texas women? I will be telling people about it all day and I'm sure they'll be skeptical...
And let's not forget the hilarious PUMA people for tricking McCain into picking you-know-who.
As a Texan myself, I was so proud of my state... for a state that has long been heralded as a die hard conservative and Republican stronghold, CNN refused to call us for almost an hour after our polls closed. We closed out at 55% McCain and 44% Obama. Also, according to CNN it was 47% women who went for Obama in Texas.
I will say this though. My feminist friend and I were at odds in the primaries (she for Clinton and myself for Obama).
Yesterday she emailed me lamenting that while she was glad McCain lost she still felt cheated that it was Obama on stage and not Hilary. Which I thought was kind of presumptious because there's no way we can "know" that Clinton would have won in the general election.
I understand the disappointment when your candidate doesn't win (HELLO--years 2000-2006) but at the end of the day, you have to move forward with what is positive and what we have to work with.
Anyone have any thoughts as to how I discuss this cordially with this friend? She fails to see that this election was historic in another way. She's still bitter about Clinton?
I supported Clinton in the primary because of the priority I place on universal health care, which Clinton has advocated for decades. I followed her career since I was 13 when my mom pointed out misogyny in the papers. I had faith in her commitment to health and the force with which she could fight for it; I think she's brilliant and principled and has been a true public servant since college. Early on, I was not alone in thinking she had the best chance, best network, best everything for a fight against the Republicans.
I always saw the Democratic contest as a win-win though, and Obama's nomination acceptance speech won me over, if I ever needed winning. I donated, I blogged, I wept at his victory. I'm pinching myself. I had underestimated the unique strength of his character and his ability to inspire America and the world, which is arguably what we need most. The boon to the Democratic electorate is vast. I think Clinton and Obama are indeed ideologically very similar, but Obama fought a world-changing election in a world-changing way. He was the only one who could turn the page from fear to hope, as cheesy as it sounds. And he is brilliant.
Obama's victory is the best thing that could have happened. He's my Lincoln, my FDR, my Kennedy. I don't want to rub anyone the wrong way, but I want to say this, not in a divisive way, but in how I see teamwork and credit all around: I wonder if we'd celebrating today if Obama hadn't proven he could beat the Clintons at their toughest, their most ruthless. The primary kept the spotlight firmly on Obama's cool excellence for months on end, and as a Thursday Thank You, Hillary: you were the crucible.
My advice would be to first read Clinton's Wikipedia page; it should make any feminist weak in the knees, and you will freshly know your friend's side. To your friend, if you can agree with me, I would say that this might have been impossible without Clinton. Obama supporters pressed for her to concede for months, but they were wrong. Elements of her campaign troubled me, but it was she alone who was able to showcase Obama to us for over a year, who calloused his weaknesses to ready him for the national election.
And friends, we won.
I am so very tiered of people calling Texas solidly republican. It is ridiculous. 48 percent of the stare voted Dem this year. That is with almost no money spent here. Few Texans saw adds, we had one primary visit mostly because we are a Clinton stronghold. Every local news station is not only republican, but completely unreliable to boot. Most people down here do not truly know the difference between the republicans and Democrats. I know a firmly moderate liberal family who think they are Republicans. Why do they think they are Republicans? Because Texas, and its votes are written off as already lost. That is the fault of the Democrats, between Obama's sexism, the marginalization of Michele, and the lack of any Dem attention down here, /I/ almost did not vote for him. before you write us off, where would you put any other state where the split was about 5% with only one party campaigning half-heartedly, and the other all but ignoring us.
I completely understand. I live in Mississippi, and we've been completely written off for longer than I've been alive. I always used to joke that I would vote for the first politician that bothered to actually come down here and talk to us. That was Hillary Clinton. And she did get my primary vote, coincidentally.
But this year, our vote was close. It was close to 48/52. It went to McCain, of course, but, come on! There's only a 4 point spread there. We could be won over if the Dems came and campaigned. And I would like to see this become a battleground state, I want to actually hear from them, I want them to try to convince me, instead of just assuming we'll all vote for the Republican.
I am glad/saddened other state's cits. understand my point. Sad you have to deal with the concept of 'Liberal" being owned by the coasts and sad that the dems show no interest in your area. But I am glad that someone else is able to understand what I am saying first hand. I live in one of the most liberal counties in the state (we keep swapping with Austin), and yet people in the county are constantly surprised because they fill so left behind by the party.
I was embarrassed(and maybe a little proud) as I studied abroad this summer and every time I told someone that I was from Texas, I had to explain that I was a Democrat, and that yes, we have those in Texas.
The margin between Democrats and Republicans is shrinking in Texas, but as Sparkles pointed out, most of the cities voted Democrat and the rural areas voted Republican. I think it would be difficult for the Democratic party to put the money into campaigning a bunch of less populated rural areas. And, for this election, they certainly didn't need it.
I am also a Texan feminist, and there are quite a few things about this state's politics that bother me. I am happy to see that we're not as conservative as everyone thinks we are--all Texan metropolitan areas as well as South Texas went to Obama. The rural areas went to McCain.
My mom is one of those people who doesn't realize how liberal she is. She's staunchly pro-choice (and staunchly anti-abstinence only sex ed), pro-gay rights, pro funding for education, pro-more governmental regulation, etc. But she is a member of the Texas Republican Party and makes fun of "liberals" all the time. I think now she's started calling herself a Libertarian, but I'm not even sure she knows what a Libertarian is. She voted for Obama this time, though. Maybe she'll come around in time
Happy to see other Texas feminists here!
I was proud to see that Obama did so well in Texas on Tuesday night. It wasn't very close, but still much better than I expected. This is probably because I feel surrounded by conservative Republicans, although some may just be in denial.
Perhaps this will encourage other non-Republican candidates to send a little love our way?
I really feel that it is the fact that non-right slanted media is almost nonexistant in many of the most popular channels- local news, newspapers, and radio. I gave my mom my reasons for voting for Obama couched in terms she could not help but agree with-- the military, pro-choice politics, personal privacy, protection of children, and child health--and she could just not shake the negitive connotations of the term liberal. she demanded to know if y only news source was NPR as if NPR was horribly leftist, and when I pointed out that in reality her radio station is barely left of rush Limbaugh, and listed my sources (which were for the purposes of that conversation many, varied, and great)the term liberal was still too dubious for her. I cannot blame her though-- I felt guilty for voting for Kerry and thank God I could not vote in 2000, as I did not hear one good thing about gore due to listening to local news and CNN only.
How limiting for people not connected to the internet to only hear from one side in stereo.
I guess that is my long winded way of saying "I feel your pain"
:)
Yeah for being 1 of 12 million unmarried woman voters who voted!!! ;-)
So while Obama definitely caters more to women's issues and was the better candidate for more women, I still feel the fact he comes off as kind of cute and charming probably helped a little on the female front. (not unlike the way Palin *gag* consistantly rated higher among men...)
I'd also like to know where the Texas statistic came from. The exit polls I browsed through indicate that 47% of Texan women voted for Obama while Mccain got 52%. I'd be interested to see why there is such a large discrepancy between the two sources. Not to be too nit-picky but this is the second time today I've asked for some sort of source on feministing. I understand these aren't formal academic essays, but when you throw around numbers I think it's important to indicate where you get them from.
Aside from that, the sentiment of this post is right on. I was looking through the exit polls today and it became abundantly clear just HOW important women (particularly those who are young and unmarried) and people of color were in pushing Obama to victory. Thank you to everyone who did their civic duty and congratulations.
Courtney did link to her sources in the post.
http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/news/politics/national/stories/110508dnpolwomen.417cc2c.html