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Anna at DakotaWomen has been giving us South Dakota blog guys a hard time for favoring Obama over Clinton. I'm trying really hard to avoid any latent sexism in my pro-Obama/anti-Clinton posts (and believe me, Mrs. Madville Times is watching). That's why I thought it was worth noting that 1,500 "Feminists for Peace" have declared their support for Obama.
That's why I think the following video from Lorna Brett Howard, former president of the Chicago National Organization for Women, is worth noting, especially for South Dakotans interested in protecting South Dakota women's rights:
The only U.S. Senator to help fight South Dakota's 2006 abortion ban. The only U.S. Senator.
I know that may lose Obama some South Dakota votes (though I don't think he's going to win the Hunt-Unruh-Howie crowd anyway). But for those of us interested in protecting the basic rights of South Dakota women as equal citizens, it's one more reason to vote for Obama in June and November.
The Predictability of the Sioux Falls City Council is painful to watch
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Former City Councilor Big T wrote an excellent letter to the editor about
how the citizens need to vote on the new parks’ expenditures. I would
agree, $77 ...
13 hours ago
Although Anna has been doing the bulk of the primary-related blogging at DakotaWomen, we're a pretty mixed bag. A few die-hard Hillary supporters and several Obama fans as well.
ReplyDeleteHi, Kelsey! I love a mixed bag... as long as we can get together long enough to make the right choice (there's that word again) in November!
ReplyDeleteAnd for those of us who are interested in protecting the basic rights of all citizens, even the unborn, this is one more reason NOT to vote for Obama.
ReplyDeleteFace it, we on both sides of this issue will not know the truth about this issue until it's too late to pass on that information. But I would much rather hedge my bets and err on the side of protecting all life than not.
I haven't really counted, but I suspect Obama supporters outnumber Hillary fans at DW.
ReplyDeleteI would like to think the right choice in November will be obvious to us left wing blogger types.
Incidentally, are you suggesting here that Clinton supported the abortion ban, or that she's somehow less pro-choice? "He wrote a letter, and he raised money." Thanks. In the meantime, Hillary Clinton has been fighting for women's rights for nearly all of her adult life.
ReplyDeleteI spent probably at least 1,000x more of my time and energy fighting South Dakota's abortion ban than most people (including Barack Obama, and Hillary Clinton, and most non-Dakota Women bloggers in SD, and whoever is in that video) and I don't think that makes me a better feminist, nor does it qualify me to be president.
Really, this is not somewhere you should go with people who were as involved in that campaign as I was.
Not at all, Anna. I know that even the vigorous and courageous blogging you and your colleagues have done is only the tip of the iceberg of your involvement in fighting for women's rights here on the prairie. I'm just noting that on this particular South Dakota issue, Obama did something. On this particular South Dakota issue, did Clinton do anything?
ReplyDeleteI was at the campaign office almost every day for the last two months of the campaign, often including weekends. I gathered petition signatures every weekend in the spring. I never remember anyone saying "OMG, Barack Obama gave us money and wrote a letter!"
ReplyDeleteI guess I'm having a hard time seeing why this is relevant. If you want to talk about the candidate's positions on women's issues, let's do that. If you want to talk about who has put in the work to improve women's status in society, let's do that. If you want to make some gotcha point about Barack Obama donating to the Campaign for Healthy Families, whatever, but I hope there's more you can say about what he's done for women. Writing letters and donating money only goes so far. Hillary Clinton, on the other hand, has spent her entire political and professional career working for women.
I'm late to the party here, but I'll chime in anyway. I don't doubt that both Obama and Clinton are strong women's rights supporters and that, throughout her career, Clinton has no doubt stood up for reproductive rights many times. That's great. But I think an unwillingness to speak up louder about the SD abortion ban is indicative of her larger strategy where she avoids taking positions that could be politically harmful at a later time. Iraq, bankruptcy, torture--he has often taken votes that do not inspire confidence from progressives because those positions may not be popular in the general election. Since she entered the Senate, she has positioned herself as a moderate (whether she really feels that way or not) and now is reaping the fruit of running a general style campaign during a primary.
ReplyDeleteAlso, I'm not sure this post is entirely accurate, with Obama being the only Senator to speak up about the ban. I know that Johnson, for one, recorded a robo-call about it and spoke publically against it.
...as has Barack Obama, anon.
ReplyDelete