Feminists for Clinton

We are women who support Hillary Clinton for the presidency of the United States. We do so because we believe that she will be the best president for the entire country. And as feminists, we also believe that Clinton is the best choice for attending to issues of special importance to women.

We write to you now because it's time for feminists to say that Senator Obama has no monopoly on inspiration. We are among the millions of women and men who have been moved to action by her. Six months ago, some of us were committed to her candidacy, some of us weren't, but by now we all find ourselves passionately supporting her. Brains, grace under pressure, ideas, and the skill to make them real: we call that inspiring. The restoration of good government after eight years of devastation, a decent foreign policy with ties to world leaders repaired, withdrawal from Iraq and universal health care: we call that exciting. And the record to prove that she can and will stand up to the swift-boating that will come any Democratic nominee's way: we call that absolutely necessary.

Clinton's enormous contributions as Senator, public servant, spokesperson for better family policies and the needs of hard-pressed women and children are widely known and recognized -- even by her opponent. Her powerful, inspiring advocacy of the human rights of women at the Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing in 1995 was heralded around the world as a stunning departure from the normal anodyne role of First Lady. Corporate special interests managed to defeat the health care program she advocated in 1994, and her own leadership opened the plan to attack. But she kept on fighting, acknowledging her mistakes, and in ensuing years she succeeded in winning expanded coverage for children. Now she has crafted the only sensible and truly universal health care proposal before the voters.

On the Iraq war, many of us believe she made a major mistake in voting for Joint Resolution 114 in 2002 -- along with the 28 other Democratic senators, including John Edwards and John Kerry. But we also note that her current opponent, when asked about that resolution in 2004, responded that he did not know how he would have voted had he been in Congress then. We do not know either. But we do know that at the time, his opposition to the war carried no risks and indeed, promised to pay big dividends in his liberal Democratic district.

Now, the two candidates have virtually the same plan for withdrawal from Iraq. And on the critical, broader issues of foreign policy, we believe that Senator Clinton is far more consistent, knowledgeable, modest, and realistic -- stressing intense diplomacy on all questions and repairing our ties with world leaders.

We are keenly aware that much is at stake -- not just on national and international security, but on the economy, universal health care, the environment, and more. Our country needs a president who knows the members and workings of Congress, and has a proven record on Capitol Hill of persuading sympathizers, bringing along fence-sitters, and disarming opponents. There is an irony in her opponent's claim to be able to draw in Republicans, while dismissing her proven record of working with them as a legislator. We need a president who understands how to make changes real, from small things like the predatory student loan industry to large things like the Middle East. Hillary Clinton has the experience, knowledge and wisdom to deal with this wide range of issues.

Our country also needs a president who has a thorough mastery of "details" --yes, details -- after eight years of Bush and Cheney. The job of restoring good government is overwhelming, and will require more than "inspiration" to accomplish it. We believe that the Federal Emergency Management Agency, the Justice Department, the Food and Drug Administration, the Centers for Disease Control, the Environmental Protection Agency, and many more can be restored to full and effective functioning only by a president who understands their scope, regulations, personnel, problems and history. Knowing these "details" and acting on them are essential to begin the healing and recuperation of the country.

How many of us have heard brilliant and resourceful women in the workplace dismissed or devalued for "detail-orientation" in contrast to a man's supposed "big picture" scope? How many of us have seen what, in a man, would be called "peerless mastery," get called, in a woman's case, "narrowness"? How many women have we known -- truly gifted workers, professionals, and administrators -- who have been criticized for their reserve and down-to-earth way of speaking? Whose commanding style, seriousness, and get-to-work style are criticized as "cold" and insufficiently "likable"? These prejudices have been scandalously present in this campaign.

With all this in mind, we believe that Hillary Clinton is the best candidate for president, because she is the surest to remove the wreckage and secure the future. Politics is not magic. Hillary Clinton as president promises what government at its best can truly offer: wise decision-making and lasting change.

Ellen Carol DuBois, Professor of History, University of California, Los Angeles

Christine Stansell, Distinguished Service Professor, University of Chicago

Gloria Steinem, writer, New York City

Michele Wallace , Professor of English, Women's Studies and Film Studies, City College of New York and CUNY Graduate Center

Faith Ringgold, artist and Professor Emeritus of Art, UC San Diego

Robin Morgan, writer, New York City

Janet Holmgren, President, Mills College

Deborah Nelson, Director, Center for Gender Studies, University of Chicago

Jennifer Baumgardner, writer, New York City

Peg Yorkin,, Chair, Feminist Majority Foundation, Beverly Hills, CA

Heidi Hartmann, President, Institute for Women's Policy Research, Washington, DC

Catherine Stimpson, Professor, New York University

Judith B. Walzer, former Provost and Professor of Literature, The New School, New York City

Margot Canaday, Society of Fellows, Princeton University

Ellen Chesler, Director, Eleanor Roosevelt Initiative at Roosevelt House Public Policy Institute, Hunter College, CUNY

Blanche Wiesen Cook, Professor of History, John Jay College and Graduate Center/CUNY, New York City

Sonya Michel, Professor of History, University of Maryland, College Park

Alice Echols, Associate Professor. University of Southern California, Department of English

Vivian Gornick, writer, New York City

Wendy W. Williams, Professor of Law, Georgetown University Law Center

Carol Berkin, Presidential Professor of History, Baruch College & The Graduate Center, CUNY

Morgan Lawley, film director, Los Angeles

Clare Coss, playwright, NYC

Jean Baker, Professor of History, Goucher College

Batya Weinbaum, Writer, Empire State College, Saratoga Springs, NY

Ellen McCormack, Assistant Corporation Counsel, City of Chicago

Deirdre Bair, biographer, NYC

Esther Rothblum, Professor of Women's Studies, San Diego State University

Amy Richards, writer, New York City

Ann Snitow, Eugene Lang College

Megan Marshall, biographer, Boston, MA

Irene Tinker, Professor Emerita, University of California Berkeley

Kristen Timothy Lankester, former United Nations Deputy Director for Women's Rights

Florence Howe, Publisher, Feminist Press at CUNY, NYC

Cynthia Harrison, Associate Professor of History, Women's Studies, and Public

Policy, The George Washington University

Gloria Feldt, writer

Laura Karpman, Film composer , UCLA, Los Angeles

Anne K. Mellor, Distinguished Professor of English, University of California, Los Angeles

Beth Baron, Professor of History, City College and Graduate Center, City University of New York

Marilyn Boxer, Professor of History, San Francisco State University

Ellen McCormack, Assistant Corporation Counsel, City of Chicago

Marjorie J. Spruill, Professor of History, The University of South Carolina

Louise W. Knight, biographer, Evanston, IL

Karen Offen, historian, Stanford, CA

Claire Moses, University of Maryland

Marla Stone, Professor of History, Occidental College

Carrie Menkel-Meadow, A.B. Chettle Jr. Professor of Law, Dispute Resolution and

Civil Procedure, Georgetown University Law Center

Judy Lerner, International Committee of Peace Action at the United Nations

Carmen Delgado Votaw, President, Pan American Liaison Committee of Women's Organizations, Bethesda, MD

Rochelle G. Ruthchild, Professor Emerita, The Union Institute and University,

Cincinatti, OH

Chin Jou, graduate student, Princeton University

Abby Arnold, Santa Monica, CA

Roberta McCutcheon, Chair, History Department, Trevor Day School, New York City

Helen Tilley, Assistant Professor, History Department and African Studies, Princeton

University

Linda Frank, Graduate Student, UCLA

Barbara Gershen, Program Manager, Program in the Study of Women and Gender, Princeton University

Vivian Endicott Barnett, New York City

Barbara Gault, Silver Spring, MD

Jean Shinoda Bolen, M.D., Clinical professor of psychiatry, UC/San Francisco

Beverly Wildung Harrison, NYC

Anne Goodwyn Jones, Whichard Distinguished Professor in the Humanities, East

Carolina University

Dr. Marcia Synnott, Professor of History Emerita, University of South Carolina

Dr. Judith S. Weis, Dept. of Biological Sciences, Rutgers University

Maribel Morey, JD, graduate student, Princeton University

Cynthia Boiter, Lecturer in Women's Studies, University of South Carolina

Nancy P. Moore, South Carolina

Alida Black, Editor, Eleanor Roosevelt Papers, George Washington University

Artemis March, Director, The Quantum Lens, Cambridge, MA

Sandra F. VanBurkleo, Assoc. Prof. of History; Adjunct Prof. of Law, Wayne State

University

Linda Stein, New York City

Lauren Sklaroff, Assistant Professor of History, University of South Carolina

Greta Krippner, Assistant Professor of Sociology at the University of Michigan

Heather Arnet, Pittsburgh, PA

Mary Shorba, Chaplain, Phoenix Hospice, Mendocino County, CA

Linda Jupiter, Jupiter Productions, Fort Bragg, CA

Jean Twitty, Republican officeholder, Springfield, MO

Suzanne Roberts, Columbia, South Carolina

Susan Deller Ross, Professor of Law, Georgetown University

Carter Heyward, Cambridge, MA

Susanne Smith, Principal of Student Services, Spackenkill Union Free School District, Poughkeepsie, NY

Pamela Ellen Ferguson, Austin, TX

Lois Rudnick, Chair, American Studies Dept., University of Massachusetts/ Boston

Cynthia Burack, Associate Professor of Women's Studies, The Ohio State University

Chocolate Waters, New York City

Glenna Mathews, Visiting Scholar, Starr King School for the Ministry, Berkeley, CA

Laurie Swindler, Normal, IL

Jayne Baron Sherman, New York City

Marianne C. Fahs, Professor of Urban Public Health, Hunter College, City University of New York.

Fran Diamond, California League of Conservation Voters, Los Angeles

Linda Lucks, President, Board of Neighborhood Commissioners, Los Angeles

Sally Miller Gearhart, writer, San Francisco

Tobe Levin, University of Maryland in Europe, Frankfurt, Germany

Sheriden Thomas, Tufts University, Medford, MA

Kathryn Yandell, Professor Emerita, Texas Lutheran University, Seguin, TX

Holly Elliott, Washington D.C.

Jane Gurko, Professor of English, San Francisco State University

Marlene Springer, President Emerita, College of Staten Island

Dr. Susan Corso, Somerville, MA,

Margaret Sears, Essex, MA.

Manette van Hamel, Woodstock NY

M. J. Bridge, , Alexandria, VA

Claire Reed, New York City

Kate Black, Willits, California

Keithe Bisnett, Cathedral City, CA

Naomi Williams, Encinitas, CA

Rose Mary Mitchell, San Francisco

Zoe Ann Nicholson, President, Pacific Shore, CA NOW

Jenny Warburg, Durham, NC

Anita Taylor, Professor Emerita, George Mason University, Fairfax VA

Jan Levy, New York City

Donna Deitch, Desert Heart Productions. Venice, CA

Beth Holmgren, Professor, Duke University

Daysi Morey,, Miami, FLA

duVergne R. Gaines, Los Angeles

Mary Lee Warner, Radio Kansas Public Radio, Lawrence, Kansas

Margaret Moore, Director, National Center for Women and Policing, Feminist Majority Foundation, Los Angeles

Michele Kort, Journalist, Los Angeles

Sandra Saathoff, Medical Lake, WA

Linda Fowler, Asheville, NC

Dorothy Haecker, San Antonio, Texas

Melissa Sue Kort, Professor of English, Santa Rosa Junior College, Santa Rosa CA

Valerie Fields, Member, Los Angeles Unified School District Board of Education

Linda Hunt Beckman, Professor of English, Emeritus, Ohio University, Athens, OH

Kate Ullman, Palm Desert, CA

Margaret Blanchard, Professor Emerita, Graduate Studies, Vermont College of Union

Institute & University

Lesley Stein, Bradenton, FL

Susan Rennie, Emerita Professor, Vermont College of the Union Institute, Montpelier

Kathleen Herrington, Montpelier, VT

Judy Murphy, State Coordinator, Vermont NOW

Ruth Cooper Reidbord, American Institute of Certified Planners, Pittsburgh, PA

Linda Boyd Kavars, Editor, Inside/Out, New Paltz, NY

Kristin L. Bishop, Chair, Women's Political Action Network, Riverside County, CA

Karen Storey, President, SuccessStory, Inc., Palm Springs, CA

Sally Apfelbaum, New York City

Anne Cognetto, Hudson Valley, NY

Lauren Levy, Catskill, NY

Elizabeth W. Oakman, Columbia, SC

Patricia Wilson, Ossining, NY

Rona Fields, Washington, D.C.

Barbara Ottaviani, Hunter College, New York City

Jane Dreher Emerson, Columbia, SC

Veena Talwar Oldenburg, Professor of History, Baruch College and Graduate Center/CUNY, New York City

Deanne Upson, Washington, D.C.

Elizabeth Quinn, Assistant Professor of Psychology, Marist College, Poughkeepsie, NY

Nancy Moore, Folly Beach, SC

Stephanie Rex, Slippery Rock, PA

Joyce Berkman, University of Massachusetts/ Amherst

Lisa M. Brennan, Stratford, CT

Victoria M. Capozzi Stratford, CT

Jan Whitman, Director, Food Bank of the Hudson Valley, Cornwall-on-Hudson, NY

Heidi Li Feldman, Professor of Law, Associate Professor of Philosophy, Georgetown

University

Katheleen Loughlin, Professor of History, Metropolitan State University, St. Paul, MN

Mollie Camp Davis, Professor Emerita, Queens University, Charlotte, NC

Lupe Anguiano, Director, Stewards of the Earth, Oxnard, CA

Marie Deyoe, Schenectady,

Lucia Petrulli, Belmont, MA

Vivian A S Power, Mendocino College, Ukiah, CA

Corin R. Swift, Cape Elizabeth, Maine.

Syd Whalley, Executive Director, Western Center of Law and Poverty, Vallejo, CA

Shauna Lani James, Government Department, Harvard University

Sharon Isbin, The Julliard School, NYC

Ana I. Schwartz, Assistant Professor of Psychology, University of Texas/ El Paso

Sandra R. Levitsky, Department of Sociology, University

of Michigan

Sally Schindel Cone, Greensboro, NC

Rachel Lulov Segall, New York City

Patty Mooney, Crystal Pyramid Productions, San Diego CA

Mary Warshaw, Beaufort, SC

M. Junior Bridge, Alexandria, VA

Nina Sundell, NYC

Nieves M. Zaldivar, M.D., Delmarva Foundation, Washington, DC

Pat Cohen, Farmingdale State College, Farmingdale, NY

Liz Snow, NYC

Marion Browning-Baker, Portsmouth, VA

Margaret McKean, Associate Professor of Political Science, Duke University

Adele W. Miccio, Associate Professor, Department of Communication Sciences and

Disorders, The Pennsylvania State University

Angie Sadeghi M.D. Keck School of Medicine, University of Southern California, Los

Angeles

Barbara Helmick, Washington DC

Barbara Bonfigli, Santa Fe, New Mexico

Bethany C. Tronsky, New York City

Carole Emberton, Assistant Professor of History, SUNY-Buffalo

Carrie Bills,Green Mango Real Estate, Austin, Texas

Charlene Ellis, East Dummerston, Vermont

Christine Steiner, Los Angeles, CA

Ellen Gavin, Brava/Theater Center, San Francisco

Esther Rothblum, Ph.D., Professor of Women's Studies, San Diego State University

Gail Rogers, Los Angeles Center for Enriched Studies

Janet Sunter, Molecular Virology, University of Texas at San Antonio

Susan Swinney, Colchester, Connecticut

Mia Mildred Yang, Colchester, Connecticut

Judith Kroll, Distinguished Professor of Psychology, Linguistics, and Women's Studies

Pennsylvania State University

Julie Young, Santa Barbara, CA

Kathy Weber, Artistic Environments, Santa Monica CA

Rabbi Leila Gal Berner, Dept. of Religion, George Washington University, Washington

D.C.

Kirsten Grimsad, Professor, Antioch University Los Angeles

Gay Cheney, Browns Summit, NC

Kathleen Daugherty, Newport Beach, CA

Jo Oppenheimer, NYC

Wendy L. Kahn, Washington, D.C.

Paola Dussias, Department of Spanish, Italian, Pennsylvania State University

Mitt Seeley, Topanga CA

Judith G. Miller, French Department, New York University

Elisa Gonzalez, San Antonio, TX.

Stephanie A. Shields, Professor of Psychology & Women's Studies, The Pennsylvania State University

Donna Fairfield, Greensboro, N.C.

Juanita Castro, Miami, FLA

Jane Kinney-Denning , Pace University, NYC

Barbara Posner Beltrami, Setauket, NY

Jan Doerler, Vermont Woman newspaper, South Burlington, VT

Ashley Bogosian, NYC

Carolyn J. Brown, University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill

Daphne Uviller, writer, NYC

Gretchen Gross, Department of Human Development and Family Studies, University of Vermont

Manuela Soares, Pace University, NYC

Daniela Gioseffi, writer, NYC

Kay F. Turner, Performance Studies, Tisch School/ NYU, NYC

Miriam Grace Monfredo, writer , Rochester, NY

Eileen Kessler, OmniStudio, Inc., Washington DC

Judith Johnson, Professor Emerita, English and Women's Studies , SUNY/Albany

Beverly Salerno, North Caldwell, NJ

Deborah Siegel, Woodhull Institute, Ancramdale, NY

Kathleen J. Hancock, University of Texas, San Antonio

Eileen Andrade, University of California /Berkeley

Carolyn T. Green, Executive Director, Piedmont Senior Care, Greensboro NC

Elaine D. Ingulli, Professor of Business Law & Women's Studies, Richard Stockton College of New Jersey

Marilyn E. Vito, Richard Stockton College of New Jersey

Dorothy Goldeen, President, Dorothy Goldeen Art Advisory.

Pam Turkett, Piedmont Senior Care, Greensboro NC

Frances Sjoberg, Literary Director, University of Arizona Poetry Center, Tucson, AZ

Mary Anne Ferguson, Professor Emerita, English and Women's Studies, University

of Massachusetts/Boston

Geri Critchley, Washington, DC

Lisa Mullenneaux, Penington Press, NYC

Jil Clark, Boston, MA, Albany, NY

Lily Rivlin, NYC

Carol Leung, Texas Teachers Retirement System

Judith Lorber, Professor Emerita, Graduate Center and Brooklyn College, CUNY, NYC

Dorothy O. Helly, The City University of New York

Jillian Denby, artist, NYC

Stacy J. Mara, Little Chute, WI

Adrienne Marcus, Lexington Center for Recovery, Hudson Valley, NY

Karla Tonella, Obermann Center for Advanced Studies, The University of Iowa

Jane Augustine, writer, NYC

Barbara Marks,, Professor Emeritus, UCLA School of Theater, Film, Television &

Jacqueline R. Kinney, Attorney, California Legislature

Deniz Ozan-George, Refugee Services Coordinator, MA Office for Refugees and Immigrants, Boston, MA

Maria Meilan, NYC

Elisabeth Prugl, Associate Professor, Department of International Relations, Florida International

University, Miami

Terry Weaver, Greensboro, NC

Diana Festa, NYC

Pat Ashbrook, Flagstaff, AZ

Comments

[StephenAG]

Excellent post, Christine! When I examine Senator Clinton's record and accomplishments, not only am I inspired but I also see the best person for the job of POTUS. Thanks for sharing.

[S1m0n]

"But we also note that her current opponent, when asked about that resolution in 2004, responded that he did not know how he would have voted had he been in Congress then."

The case for Hillary would be a whole lot more impressive if it could be made without lies.

[JimR]

He said that so John Kerry wouldn't look bad.

[bayareavoter]

Amen to this post. More women should be for Hillary based on her achievements and qualifications. Obama is a scam artist who has fooled a lot of people.

Axelrod invented him just as he did Patrick in Massachusetts.

See this from the Boston Globe and then see if you still think he is for real

http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2007/04/16/patrick_obama_campaigns_share_language_of_hope/

[MollyS]

Patrick is a train wreck in Mass. That's why Obama got whomped there. They recognized the carnival and the schtick about "hope" with nothing do back it up with. Don't let this happen to America.

Tonight, all the Obama-Booers will be in the audience to stop anyone from questioning this man. It's a railroad, folks. Heaven help me, but if this empty suit gets the nomination I will be voting for the Old Man. The Old Man will be President because adults with life experience are not going to vote for this empty suit.

What we have here is a mass of sycophants made up of kids and college students who had time to caucus while their parents, who are paying for their education, were at work. Where I come from we call them NIKEs (No Income Kids With Education}. After college, they stay home and syphon money from their parents' retirement money so that they might appear more "upscale". These are the same kids who will take social security away from their parents later. Letting these impressionable people pick the next President is a frightening proposition. We are talking about the President of the United States here, not the next famous rock star. They are not capable of recognizing a con in the face of a good time. The drum of the repeated phrase, repeated phrase, repeated phrase is just too intoxicating. And Jesus Obama is a con ala Deval Patrick. But by golly, he's fun! And once the Republicans peel the onion, his followers will moe on to something else that's fun.

[Livetotell525]

"Brains, grace under pressure, ideas, and the skill to make them real: we call that inspiring.­"

Brava! Thank you, Ms. Stansell et al for your collective voices of reason, standing up for Sen. Hillary Clinton.

Sen. Clinton truly is inspiring. We are indeed fortunate and blessed to have a candidate of her caliber running for the Democratic nomination. That she happens to be a woman and is also making history, is just one more reason to be proud of her.

[Kieran]

When will women develop the self-respect to support one of their own in the White House?

There's always one more "inspiring" male figure who shows up and is greeted with adoring female groupies.

If not now, when?

Excellent letter. I'm with you.

[patrice37]

I am just so profoundly embarrassed when I read crap like this. I didn't fight for feminist causes in the 60's and 70's so that we could emerge 30 years later with a champion of victimhood and grievance. I thought we were fighting to be recognized as individuals, apart from husbands and fathers. Hillary Clinton is such a dreadful candidate for so many reasons that it's hard to know where to begin. But here's a start: She's running because she married the right guy.

[NYC]

I'm a feminist for Hillary!

[noorzhassan]

The Obamabots on this blog: I have absolutely no idea what this guy has ever done for any of his constituents, but what's that got to do with anything? He's inspirational and that's all that matters for me!

[papasalas]

you wish pal, you wish.

[eshalom]

Ms. Stansell,

Just a note to thank you and all those who signed their names to your article in support of Hillary Clinton. She's obviously the best qualified candidate for the presidency and when she takes office next January, I look forward to a new era of peace and prosperity for our nation at home and respect throughout the world.

[ozamerican]

"These prejudices have been scandalously present in this campaign."

Similarly scandalous have been the attempts by the Clintons to marginalize the black candidate.

Simiarly scandalous has been the destruction of women's lives and careers for alleging sexual harassment in the Clinton White House.

Similarly scandalous is the withholding of information necessary to assess the ethical judgement of this candidate (financial records, white house documents, etc.). Instead of more debates, why won't she just answer the questions that have already been posed to her? Where did the $5 million come from? Where's the documented record of her activities when she was co-president under the last two-for-one deal?

Equally scandalous is her vote authorising this war, and the fact that Obama wasn't there and might not know how he would have voted does not absolve Hillary Clinton of her direct complicity in the greatest disaster of the Bush administration. Obama spoke out against it at the time so at least there is evidence of where he stood on the issue at the time.

As for "details," please don't make this a feminist issue. Jimmy Carter was master of details, too, and look what happened to him. And Bill Clinton, the grand master of details, so twisted and triangulated politics that we ended up with Bush 2.0. A mastery of details means nothing in and of itself.

Inspiration, on the other hand, does, and while it is acknowledged that Hillary Clinton has inspired many women, but it's a rare leader who can inspire broadly, across generations, races, and political persuasions.

Please give the "talented young African-American," the "black kid," or--dare we say it--the "boy," a chance.

Who knows, maybe we'll end up with the first woman vice president? If he can inspire and she can fill in the details, wouldn't it be like the Bill-and-Hillary show all over again, but without the baggage?

[JanetBerns]

Thank you! Great post.

[fmattca]

This article will be buried by the pro-Obama media and papers and radioes. It will never go to TV or radio. It is too truthful. It will not be on Hannity Meet the Press MSNBC CNN just like Joe Wilson etc. The press rlects again.


Frank Mattison

[hankchapot]

There are some good points, some not so good about Hillary Clinton (thanks Progressive Review prorev.com)
* GOOD
* Supported putting heating fuel assistance for low income in stimulas bill

* BAD
* Didn't show up to vote against immunity for telecoms' illegal spying on Americans
* Has failed to release personal financial information
* Favors healthcare individual mandates that would help insurance companies and banks but not citizens
* Would require reporters' metaphors to be approved by her communications director. Check David Shuster for details
* Wrote critically in his books of the New Deal and the New Left while praising Bill Clinton
* Has most number of foreign lobbyist contributors
* Is even more popular with Pentagon contractors than McCain
* Is most popular with K Street lobbyists
* Is only First Lady to come under criminal investigation
* Is running the dirtiest campaign
* Has received most funds from oil industry
* Has received most funds from health industry
* Once almost got indicted
* Has the most number of business partners(3)who went to prison
* Got White House travel office head indicted on false grounds
* Made a bunch of money on a highly suspicious cattle futures trade
* Helped prepare legal papers for project later target in criminal probe
* Had most number of fundraisers involved in criminal activities
* Gave most number of evasive answers (250) to congressional inquiries
* Was involved in a resort land scam
* Submitted the largest false campaign finance report
* Supported Bernie Kerick to be head of Homeland Security
* Involved in rightwing religious group, the Fellowship
* Had most number of fundraisers with criminal problems
* Deliberately increased ethnic conflict in campaign
* Opposed cluster bomb ban in civilian areas

[eshalom]

About the Iraq War Resolution: I'm appalled and disgusted every time I receive an Obama mailer or hear him speak about this issue because he consistently misleads people by not explaining that he was not a US Senator at the time the resolution was passed. He has also admitted he did not know how he would have voted had he been in the US Senate at the time (although he later made the excuse that he only said that for political reasons in support of John Kerry).

Obama also fails to explain that he has voted to support the war ever since he joined the US Senate.

Barack Obama has been repeatedly deceitful about his participation in the Iraq War debate, and I cringe every time he or one of his followers tries to present him as the harbinger of the new politics.

[JimR]

He was a public official who spoke out against the war, explained why it would be a dumb war and accurately predicted the chaos that followed. Unfortunately, he was not in a position to vote against it at that time.

But Hillary Clinton was, and those are 3 things she failed to do.

[mabelle55]

Hmmm. Yet Hillary Clinton managed to vote for two amendments to a) establish a timeline for troop withdrawl and b) to urge President Bush to begin bringing troops home -- at a time when it wasn't at all "popular" (2006). Where, oh where, was Barack Obama? NOT VOTING -- as he has done on so many significant national security and defense issues!

This is why I cannot support Barack Obama's candidacy: his campaign and his supporters excuse or justify his votes when the "facts" don't agree with Obama's rhetoric!

Not real inspiring.­..

[wakupmagy]

Whoa ! Didn't she just give A SPEECH at the 4th World Conference on Women in 1995? I thought words don't count.
Please, please could someone illuminate what exactly Hillary Clinton has done for women or children in 8 years as First lady and in the Senate. Just a list. Would be much appreciated.

[gba]

An example taken from NYT on David Axelrod, Obama's spokesman:

It was January 1999, President Clinton’s impeachment trial was just beginning in the Senate and Hillary Clinton was scheduled to speak at the foundation’s fund-raiser in Chicago. Despite all the fuss back in Washington, Clinton kept the appointment. She spent hours that day in the epilepsy ward at Rush Presbyterian hospital, visiting children hooked up to machines by electrodes so that doctors might diagram their seizure activity and decide which portion of the brain to remove. At the hospital, a local reporter pressed her about the trial in Washington, asked her about that woman. At the organization’s reception at the Drake Hotel that evening, Clinton stood backstage looking over her remarks, figuring out where to insert anecdotes about the kids. “She couldn’t stop talking about what she had seen,” Susan Axelrod recalled. Later, at Hillary Clinton’s behest, the National Institutes of Health convened a conference on finding a cure for epilepsy. Susan Axelrod told me it was “one of the most important things anyone has done for epilepsy.” And this is how politics works: David Axelrod is now dedicated to derailing this woman’s career

www.nytimes.com/2007/04/01/magazine/01axelrod.t.html?pagewanted=1&_r=1

[NYC]

how about the State Children's Insurance Program. She helped pass legislation to ease adoption by foster parents. She reformed Arkansas educational system. Cameron Gulbransen Kids and Cars Safety Act, legislation sponsored by Senator Clinton and Congressman John Dingellto protect children from injury in and around motor vehicles. She was a critical part of getting the Family and Medical Leave act passed as First Lady. As NY Senator she and Patty Murphy were responsible for making sure Plan B was available over the counter

[bbln]

wakupmagy - are you clueless about how to do internet research: google brought this up:

Hillary Clinton was the only First Lady to keep an office in the West Wing among those of the president's senior staff. While her familiarity with the intricate political issues and decisions faced by the President, she openly discussed his work with him, yet stated that ultimately she was but one of several individuals he consulted before making a decision. They were known to disagree. Regarding his 1993 passage of welfare reform, the First Lady had reservations about federally supported childcare and Medicaid. When issues that she was working on were under discussion at the morning senior staff meetings, the First Lady often attended. Aides kept her informed of all pending legislation and oftentimes sought her reaction to issues as a way of gauging the President's potential response. Weighing in on his Cabinet appointments and knowing many of the individuals he named, she had working relationships with many of them. She persuaded Treasury Secretary Robert Rubin to convene a meeting of corporate CEOs for their advice on how companies could be persuaded to adopt better child care measures for working families. With Attorney General Janet Reno, the First Lady helped to create the Department of Justice's Violence Against Women office.

[bbln]

cont'd:
One of her closest Cabinet allies was Secretary of State Madeleine Albright. Following her international trips, Hillary Clinton wrote a report of her observations for Albright. A primary effort they shared was globally advocating gender equity in economics, employment, health care and education. During her trips to Africa (1997), Asia (1995), South America (1995, 1997) and the Central European former Soviet satellite nations (1997, 1998), Hillary Clinton emphasized "a civil society," of human rights as a road to democracy and capitalism. The First Lady was also one of the few international figures at the time who spoke out against the treatment of Afghani women by Islamist fundamentalist Taliban that had seized control of Afghanistan. One of the programs she helped create was Vital Voices, a U.S.-spons­ored initiative to promote the participation of international women in their nation's political process. One result of the group's meetings, in Northern Ireland, was drawing together women leaders of various political factions that supported the Good Friday peace agreement that brought peace to that nation long at civil war. Hillary Clinton was also an active supporter of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), often awarding its micro-loans to small enterprises begun by women in developing nations that aided the economic growth in their impoverished communities. Certainly one of her more important speeches as First Lady addressing the need for equal rights for women was international in scope and created controversy in the nation where it was made: the September 1995 United Nations Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing, China.

[SomewhereInTheMiddle]

Well said. It is time to unite and show women demand and will gain their due majority representation in the three branches of the government.
Go Hillary!! Looking forward to Jan. 2009 parade, Madam President :)