I'm fairly certain I have read this New York Times article on Barack Obama's mother, the late Stanley Ann Dunham Soetoro, no less than five times.
I'm the first to admit my own path in motherhood is rocky. Rocky isn't the right word... it's been more like pebbles here and there, some big ass rocks, and every once in awhile the giant boulder that chases me ala Indiana Jones. Then I read something like this, and I'm stopped dead in my tracks.
'...She gave us a very broad understanding of the world,' her daughter said. 'She hated bigotry. She was very determined to be remembered for a life of service and thought that service was really the true measure of a life.' Many of her friends see her legacy in Mr. Obama -- in his self-assurance and drive, his boundary bridging, even his apparent comfort with strong women. Some say she changed them, too.'I feel she taught me how to live,' said Ms. Nayar, who was in her 20s when she met Ms. Soetoro at Women's World Banking. 'She was not particularly concerned about what society would say about working women, single women, women marrying outside their culture, women who were fearless and who dreamed big..'
'...She was a very, very big thinker,' said Nancy Barry, a former president of Women's World Banking, an international network of microfinance providers, where Ms. Soetoro worked in New York City in the early 1990s. 'I think she was not at all personally ambitious, I think she cared about the core issues, and I think she was not afraid to speak truth to power.'"
It is no secret I am impressed with Barack Obama, but I'm even more impressed with his mother. The insight into Ms. Soetoro's life has given me that final piece of the puzzle, explaining the affection and admiration I have for this presidential candidate.
As a version of that idealist young woman, living in a very segregated hometown, I was branded time and time again.
Hippie
Feminist
Radical
Loudmouth
Bitch
Whore
Slut
N***** Lover
Geek
Traitor
None of them were meant to be compliments. All of them confused me greatly. My views were always very global and always very strong. I yearned to enact change and I found writing to be my one source of power.
The story of Ms. Soetoro, traveling to Indonesia, befriending the locals to aid... to be more and do more and to help more WHILE raising children and striving to be the best mother possible... ugh, it's twisting my heart in knots.
I want to do that. I want to be that. I want to find the energy and drive to wake up at 4am and tutor my children before a day of work.
Yet I don't.
Watching what has been happening in this country, seeing the change in attitude, in belief, in (dare I say it) hope-makes me want to be better at this Mom thing. It's so stupid to say, because I say it all the time, but I really want to try harder at this MOM role.
If I can instill that in my daughter, my son-the ideas and the emotion and the core being that makes them a leader...I must.
I must, yet tomorrow I will half pay attention to them while they ask to play hide and seek for the 5th time and want yet another cookie.
I must, yet tomorrow I will yearn to read blogs and chat online with friends while I bathe their little bodies and put away their tiny laundry.
I must, yet I'll moan and complain as they wake me early for cereal and cartoons.
Stanley Ann Dunham Soetoro is a reminder to me why I need to do more than 'must.' Why I need to remember who I am, where I came from, and why it's important to be branded by idiots.
Why it is imperative I speak my mind, push my ideas, and ignore the doubt in my head.
It's very strange having grown up firmly believing I would be the first female president, to happily content in raising the next leader of the free world. That something intangible that takes you from cocky to selfless in a heartbeat.
5-years worth of heartbeats celebrated on the 24th, another 3-years of his sister's on the 30th and this
Hippie
Feminist
Radical
Loudmouth
Bitch
Whore
Slut
N***** Lover
Geek
Traitor
is going to take inspiration and motivation away from the story of a Kansas girl and her son.
Erin Kotecki Vest writes about motherhood at QueenofSpainblog and covers Election '08 for BlogHer.com
at least hillary knows that americans are imperialists and that is why she wins the big states and votes for war.
nader is not a war monger nor dennis and how well do they do with the american voters?
americans in their hearts are imperialists and dont have a clue they are and many are war mongers. remember bush as a 30% approval rating. that is 30% war mongers in existnece out there in american land.
the whole of fox noise message is war mongering and the industrial military complex then we have the evangels who want to kill muslims. and the south now there is the hub of war mongering. those folks join the army just to kill people.
blackwaters home base is where? even lie er mann from conn is a war monger. I mean from a demo state they elected a war monger. he had his way he would bomb iran tomorrow.
he would make a good vp for mc war or is it mc pain or mc same. no surrender from mc war no sir no matter how many americans die. he wants a win after he helped lose nam.
we call our soldiers heros even when they fight in illegal wars. now folks that is imperialism at its best.
That's how it happens, and it always happens similarly to this. There is a movement afoot, and you can join in and help us make progress, or you can call people chimps. Your choice.
That's what's been most important about Obama's ability to mobilize young, new and independent voters.
And that's the only way Americans will get a government that truly represents them...by getting involved.
I have recently been wishing that she was still alive to both enjoy and participate in her son's bid for the Presidency of the U.S. I've been feeling that hearing her voice now would be an important addition to telling the truth about the man, Barack Obama. Since she is no longer with us, I think it will take all of us women who admire her and strive to continue in her footsteps, to call on her spirit, and stand up in her stead. How better to represent the best of what a feminist in this day and age is called upon to do?
Carol
I'm one of those single mom's of a daughter who is a feminist, just like you and your Mom. Your story parallels mine :). I could not agree more with your sentiments regarding Clinton and Ferraro and I feel insulting by the feminine guilt placed on us women who use our minds and not our sex, to determine our vote. To be Barack IS the feminist vote, thanks to the wonderful upbringing of his mother, motherhood personified, his strong wife, and two lovely daughters. Barack is comfortable in his skin, surrounded by strong women. It couldn't be better.
Jack Kennedy's Presidency all but silenced anti-Catholicism. It's hard to argue that a group is inferior when among their ranks was the best president of the past fifty years. I hope that the same thing, to a degree, happens to much of the racism in our country.
The United States, at no other time that I can remember in my life, needs someone with a world view, a big-thinking idealist who inspires the whole country - not just the standard 'base' of their chosen party - to lead. For the last 8 years it was evident our president was only governing his ever shrinking percentage of supporters while letting the rest of us languish. I don't want another divisive president who uses fear politics to influence Americans to their way of thinking. I want someone who will be open, who will listen, who will look at the big picture and consider the country as a whole. I've had enough of partisanship. So have the people.