Feminist Leaders Oppose Hillary, Endorse Obama

More than 100 New York feminist leaders released a joint statement Sunday afternoon criticizing Hillary Clinton and supporting Obama for president - evidence that Clinton's support among women activists has declined significantly in the days before the super-Tuesday primary.

Clinton's support for the war in Iraq was the leading reason she lost the support of the group, which calls itself "New York Feminists for Peace and Barack Obama!" "We urgently need a presidential candidate whose first priority is to address domestic needs," the group added.

Those endorsing Obama include longtime peace activist Cora Weiss; Katha Pollitt, columnist for The Nation; Pulitzer-prize winning New York Times writer Margo Jefferson; award-winning women's rights historians Alice Kessler Harris and Linda Gordon; Barbara Weinstein, president of the American Historical Association, and Ellen P. Chapnick, Dean for Social Justice Initiatives at Columbia Law School. Susan Sarandon and Francis Fox Piven signed on Monday.

"Choosing to support Senator Obama was not an easy decision for us," the group stated, "because electing a woman president would be a cause for celebration in itself." They "deplored" the "sexist attacks against Senator Clinton that have circulated in the media." But, they stated, they nevertheless supported Obama because his election "would be another historic achievement" and because "his support for gender equality has been unwavering."

The group based their opposition to Clinton on "her seven-year record as senator." Despite her recent pledges to remove troops from Iraq, the group stated, Clinton's "record of embracing military solutions and the foreign policy advisers she has selected make us doubt that she will end this calamitous war."

The group supported Obama not only for his positions on the war and gender equality, but also because of "the dramatic engagement of young people" with his campaign.

This group joins other prominent feminist leaders who have turned against Hillary and endorsed Obama, including Kate Michelman, president for 20 years of NARAL Pro-Choice America, the country's leading reproductive rights group, and Ellen Bravo, former director of 9to5, the National Association of Working Women.

Comments

[GCS]

The republicans are just lying in the weeds waiting for Obama. These women deserve no response from me. Should the media,kennedy,oprah and the obama fans win the nomination it's over for us girls and dem's. These gal's have gotten in bed with a stranger. Obama will fizzel. Race is also a big issue and the Rep. won't be forced to play with both hands tied behind their backs as Hillary has. A vote for him is a vote for the elephants and they will stomp right over him. Believe it or not MOST AMERICANS do not have OBAMA MANIA. There is something just not right about him no matter how many white women he kisses on stage. He has no vitility, he looks like a feather weight, a drinker or he may be just depressed, but something is wrong. Also his buddy of 17 Yrs. sitting in jail up on 24 federal counts that lokks like it may be far worse than whitewater. I intend to vote against him.

[terris]

It's sad how much faith Americans put in the President. The powerful in America do not hold public office - they tell the elected what to do and when.

So it doesn't matter whether feminists or anyone else supports Clinton or Obama. The real war is the class war.

[marcialosangeles]

good for them--they can join up with all the white males who also seem to like Barack, who by the way, has his own voting flaws. But let's face it, it is pretty hard to find a candidate that one agrees with 100%--but perhaps these feminists have the time to wait another several election cycles for that perfect candidate. I don't have that time myself. And I am really happy with Hillary. And she seems able to give a speech without a teleprompter--tho I will suggest she start using one, as speechmaking seems to be his primary skill, and that teleprompter seems to help. A lot.

[marcialosangeles]

I remain unimpressed that so-called feminists would try to articulate the reasons they have decided to support Obama instead of Hillary.
If they want to do it quietly and individually, so be it. But to make a public issue of it, based on the fact that they are feminists, they lose me. I have been working for the election of pro-choice Dem women for 30 years. Hillary is our first credible candiate for the lofty office of President. I support her 150%, not because she is a woman, but (as another writer said), because I am.

[mageduley]

Other feminists like myself were outraged at her using our women's rights movement to score cheap political points in IA, NH and now CA. She has a habit that is very Karl Rove of sending out untruthful emails the day before a primary vote, telling people Obama is against a women's right to choose. The former president of NOW, a high ranking Hillary supporter saw first hand these vicious attacks against a great leader of women's rights in the senate. She worked for Hillarys campaign in IA and NH, but quite in outrage. See what she has to say in her own voice:
http://ie.youtube.com/watch?v=OVuMYKs8iJs

Any Woman who believes in equal rights should never let our movement be used in this manner. It insults us and degrades us. Just another reason to show that Hillary does not believe in any movement at all, and will throw any group under the bus to win.

[mclarke15]

It's time for Obama to make the right choice: to choose patience over impudence; to choose humility over ambition. After eight years as vice president, he'll have complete and unequivocal support for his Presidential campaign. Because he'll have gained global experience and wisdom by the fistful. This is not 1960. The world is a subtle and dangerous place. We don't need another rookie with rousing rhetoric. We need wisdom and the experience to navigate the nuances - to hear the real questions being asked by and of this country, not just the contradictions within public comments. Clinton/Obama '08 mobilizes women and minorities. It mobilizes the establishment and the next generation. It unites the experience of the past with enthusiasm for the future. It is the only ticket that beats the Republicans.

[OhgReaTone]

This election is not about demographics. The people are rising above their selfish demographic to vote for hope for the country. This is an American Revolution.
Ohg
http://thefiresidepost.com/2008/02/05/this-american-revolution-2008/

[koolwoman]

I know very few people who could take the kind of beating that Hillary has had to take. I knew it would be hard but I guess I didn't think that democrats would turn agtainst her. The next president will inherit all of George Bush's mistakes and deliberate attempts to dismantle all social programs. So Hillary is doing this because she loves our country, and not because she wants to boost her ego. She has no need for that. She is an accomplished woman. In my mind she is a true patriot, and she has my admiration and my gratitude. This country desparitely needs Hillary.. I hope we all appreciate what she is trying to do for us.

[MartinEdwinAndersen]

HAVE A GREAT ELECTION DAY ...

http://my.barackobama.com/page/invite/yeswecanvideo

Si, se puede!!!

[BrooklynLager]

Francis Fox Piven.

Funny. I debated her at a conference in New York last year - she's always "more left-wing than thou". It wasn't a major debate - she was delivering an address and her thesis seemed to be that academia leads the way in all social movements. I thought that was absurd, told her so, and we went at it for 20 minutes.

Her eyes gleam every time she says words like "conflict" "insurrection" "struggle", etc. But about the article, yeah, this isn't really news. Hillary Clinton is the darling of the Gloria Steinem wing of the feminist movement, that is, the white bourgeoisie.

[rdrgrl]

but Obama's Iraq voting record the 3 years he has been in the senate is the EXACT same as Hillary's. So people think he is miraculously going to get us out of Iraq, well then why has he not voted differently. Can't you say you opposed war from the start, then vote to sustain it. Let's be honest the only one who can actually say they are 100% against this war, was Dennis Kucinich. He was against it from the beginning, and anytime a vote has come his way, he has voted against Iraq. Be honest with yourself, Obama is just another politician just like the rest. I hope I am wrong, but in all honestly I feel like you guys are going to be disappointed. The youth movement, while great, is going to learn a hard political lesson and reality.

[DHFabian]

Hillary Clinton did work long and hard to advocate for tranfering public funds from aid to impoverished families over to cover the costs of our annual "tax relief" for the wealthy/co­rporations­. This didn't entirely do the trick: more public dollars go into covering "tax relief" and "incentives" for the rich than has ever gone into welfare aid for our poor. But it's the thought that counts.
She also understood the value of workfare labor(min. wage or less/no benefits/no workers' rights) to reward corporations who have not yet moved our jobs to foreign nations. Keep 'em poor and desperate, and they won't go whining about things like fair wages, worker safety, etc. Based on her record, we can see that Hillary Clinton has consistently supported
the interests of the "deserving rich" who, after all, are the ones who really matter...

[JoeMDundee]

All you need to really ask yourself is this. Does Hillary make good decisions?

1) She made a decision to subordinate her dignity to stay married to a gifted politician, yet unfaithful spouse.

2) She made a decision to be a director for one of the most exploitive of all corporations ever, Walmart.

3) She made a decision to set health care reform back by years through her bullheadedness. Her plans were so over-reaching that it caused the Democrats lost control of Congress for 12 years.

4) She voted to give George Bush authority to go to war without ever reviewing the NIE or really any of the doctored intelligence. Thousands and thousands of people have died, been maimed and lost everything due to this war. She made a political decision. Shouldn´t she have to pay for that?

[OhgReaTone]

This is not about demographics. The media pundits cannot seem to understand that this is an American Revolution. We are experiencing a uniquely American election process - where free thinking people don't have to follow traditional thought processes.

[AlphaDoc]

It saddens me to see so many posters dismissing feminists who support Barack Obama as "nobodies" simply because they themselves aren't familiar with the names. It is equally sad that said posters have chosen to view opinion as "smear" and choice as "attack," rather than allowing others the freedom to express opinions that differ from their own and accepting those opinions as well considered. I am especially saddened by the women who are doing this. Do you honestly believe that the term "pro-choice" only refers to reproductive rights?