Following Through On A Mutiny: The Influence Of A Passionate Few
Posted on June 3, 2008 at 7:17 pmOne of the most vociferous and prolific pro-Hillary Clinton bloggers in the state is now advocating feminists depart from the Democratic Party. Aunt B., for one, is livid:
But the fact is that, when Egalia posted something about the plight of women in this state, it got wide-spread attention. And for the past little while, she hasn’t been posting on any other women’s issue, other than the election of Clinton. And on the one hand, fine. That’s her business.
But on the other hand, we’ve needed her. Campfield didn’t suddenly become less a problem. Hobbs hasn’t turned Tennessee into some place full of sweetness and light. Babies are still dying in Memphis like it’s a third-world country.
We needed her to give voice to those issues, because she gets heard, but she was singularly focused on the Clinton campaign.
Okay, fine.
I thought, “Well, okay, for her this is a big deal, a lifetime opportunity, the culmination of a lot of work that she and second-wavers like her want to see through.”
And I hoped she would come back to the work we women in Tennessee have benefited from her doing.
Well, I wouldn’t lose too much sleep over this. The power and pull of the two party system on folks is a powerful force.
Sure, a few activist feminists may go ahead and cast a protest vote for Cynthia McKinney to show their disgust with the party (and avoid the charge of racism while doing it, I might add) but despite the influence of these highly-educated feminist white women, most Democratic women will vote for Obama. They are no different than anyone else. The world has them convinced there are only two choices and that is what they will choose between — and they won’t choose McCain.
Conservatives, BTW, were just as upset about McCain. They got over it, they always do. So too will the feminists.
And even if they don’t. they will find themselves alone because as much influence as some would like to think they have, they are, in the end, just a few passionate ideologues and we all know that a passionate few cannot mobilize the masses….right?
Comments
5 Responses to “Following Through On A Mutiny: The Influence Of A Passionate Few”
Hold your horses, homeskillet. I’m a highly educated middle-class white woman and like nearly every other highly educated white woman Democrat I know, I’m fine with either of the major Democratic candidates, but prefer Obama. It’s my white working-class and less well-educated female friends and neighbors that are strong Clinton supporters and openly discuss bolting the party because of their perceptions of the crappy way she’s been treated.
I think if you check the primary voting patterns, moreover, you’ll see that Obama consistently pulls away with the highly educated Democrats, whereas Clinton does better with people who have less than two years of college and terminal high school degrees.
“They got over it, they always do. So too will the feminists.”
First of all, not all women who self-identify as feminists are Clinton supporters. Second, I hope “they” don’t get over it. Let them go and stand by their principles and cast their vote for “anyone but Obama.” After all, they have that right because that’s what the birthmothers of the feminist movement fought for. Which makes the vitriol that “feminist” Clinton and Obama supporters are spewing at each other all the more ironic. It is shameful.
That you are supporting Clinton or Obama belies your proclaimed intelligence and/or education. You can be an educated idiot. I have pretty good feminist credentials, by the by.
“I have pretty good feminist credentials, by the by.”
No doubt. But it’s your human ones I’m not so sure of.
But it’s your human ones I’m not so sure of.
My cats think I am one of them.