A Point of Clarification
Recently I was part of a group of women who filmed public service announcements for an organization called Women's Voices. Women Vote. The goal of the PSA campaign is to encourage high voter turn-out amongst women, especially single women, 20 million of whom have been known to stay home on Election Day. It is an issue about which I am deeply passionate. However, there have been reports about WVWV which questioned the intention behind my PSA and which candidate I am endorsing for president. For the record, I am proudly supporting Senator Barack Obama.
The news reports came about because there was evidence that an individual or a small group of individuals affiliated with WVWV may have issued misleading robo-calls in North Carolina designed to suppress voter turnout in African American neighborhoods. I find these activities appalling and hope WVWV will immediately disassociate themselves from such individuals and denounce such actions.
I am not affiliated with WVWV in any way other than participating in this PSA campaign, and I debated whether to ask WVWV to pull my PSA from their website. In the end, I realized the message of the PSA is more important than the actions of some its members. Every woman, 18 or older, should exercise their right to vote for the candidate and the issues they believe in. As women, we are a powerful voting bloc. But that does not mean we will automatically align with female candidates.
My spot was set in a replica of the Oval Office and entitled "Who Do You Want in Here?" This was meant as a legitimate question, not to serve as an endorsement for a particular candidate. The PSA was meant to inspire women to vote regardless of their party or their position. The PSA, like me, is not pro-Clinton, but rather pro-women. And yes, you can be both.
Loading comments…
Want to reply to a comment? Hint: Click "Reply" at the bottom of the comment; after being approved your comment will appear directly underneath the comment you replied to
What about Obamas policy of TALKING WITH those with whom we [the USA] have differences? Did he talk with his own pastor? NO. Obama can't even negotiate peace with his pastor! So much for that theory.
He will have much harder things to deal with in the White House than this rift...and it will have an effect on the future of all of us.
I believe that Obama reveres the right to Free Speech. Unlike the other candidates. The Rev. can say anything he wants. Mr Obama has said he doesn't agree. 'Nuff said. Free Speech. Not suppression.
amen
Dots, there is another way of looking at this. Don't start with the premise that you oppose Obama and reverse engineer your reasoning. People who are upset about Rev. Wright are fearful of angry Black men and are afraid of electing anyone with African blood because of the centuries of resentments accrued. Obama does not possess those resentments, though he sees both sides of the issue due to his peculiar circumstances. I don't know what you mean about negotiating peace with his own pastor, as there has been no violence.
When did they go to war? How many deaths can you contribute to this lack of "peace" between the two?
As President he will have much more important things to deal and I look forward to him doing so.
Even the most accomplished negotiatior encounters those who refuse to make any concession, refuse to accept any oversight, refuse to stop whatever harm they are doing, or who are incapable of viewing things from another viewpoint.
The fact that Obama rejected and abhorred his pastor's statements has no reflection upon his negotiation capability; but it IS a demonstration of his character and a leader's necessary willingness to sacrifice his personal relationships and far more in order to work for the good of the nation he serves. It is not necessary to agree always with those with whom you negotiate (if you did, such discussion would hardly be necessary, would it?), nor is it possible (or a good idea to attempt) to restrict their airing of their opinions.
What is necessary for a negotiator, and for a successful president, is: an understanding of those with whom he negotiates; a willingness to compromise in those areas that do not demand standing firm, but to stand firm when that is necessary; to discuss how their differences can survive in the same world without destroying one another or themselves, and come to agreement despite these differences and in respect of them; to engage one another with a willingness to accept the other culture (or person) but not ignore its faults when they are egregious.
All of which Obama accomplishes superbly.
I don't have the impression that he even bothered to phone the man, let alone talk to him in person. Okay, i mean, it was all on short notice... he only knew the "uncle" for 20 years... That press conference was washing dirty laundry in public and that was amazingly bad style.
Yes, I agree that it IS a demostration of his character. He is willing to do anything to win, even if he has to throw his "mentor" and "soundboard" under the bus, in order to save his skin. a few weeks ago, he could not renounce the man and now he is outraged?
What happened?
Pennsylvania happened, falling polls happened, Clinton closing the gap happened.
I guess, if it earns him the nomination, he would even divorce his wife. Would lose him the election in November, but, hey, you can't have everything
Fantastic post. I certainly didn't believe that you would be complicit in voter suppresion, but it's nice to have the clarification.
Must tell you how much I enjoy your show. Love the characters, love the premise, love the humor.
Bravo Julia--- you are the voice of reason and hope...
Julia, how can you excuse an organization that uses Jim Crowe style tactics?
This organization has created chaos in at least a dozen states. They also had Lamont call voters in Ohio. Is that ok with you?
You should go to Facing South's website so that you can keep up with the developments as the investigation expands.
WVWV has caused more harm than good.
Leave voter registration to people who will obey the law and who know what they are doing, quit propping up a rogue organization that harms voters.
If you want to lend your voice to an organization, lend it to those who act ethically.
WVWV has created chaos twice in my state this year.
The robo calls were despicable.
I'm an evoting activist and voter advocate in my state.
Criminal charges should be filed.
Thank you for your post and clarification on where you stand. Especially in light of the fact that those robocalls were intentionally mis-leading and illegal. As for HRC, I am deeply ashamed of her tactics and those of the organization. As women, you would think we could rise above the "male" tactics, but clearly this is not the case..by hook or crook women are turning their face against the blatant lies, cheating, and pandering of the HRC campaign. I applaud the women who are standing up against these stale politics, and who are saying, "no more, not this time". Our time will come, we will have a women preisdent. A woman who will run a campaign with integrity, honesty and without the excess baggage that Mrs. Clinton is dragging around.
Do not refer to foul play as "male" tactics, even in quotes.
That's like saying sexism where the victim is male is "reverse sexism", when it is sexism pure and simple.
Your reference to dirty tactics as fundamentally male is, indeed, sexist in the extreme.
Obviously I can't speak for the OP, but I think that was just a reference to how scientific study suggests men are more fight-oriented and women are more discussion
A lot of women hold up this physiological difference as a reason for women having the potential to be superior leaders. But of course, every individual has differing degrees. In the real world, the women who attain leadership positions are usually more masculine, as in possessed of such aggressive traits as are generally more pronounced in men, so they seriously lack the characteristics women think can make them better leaders.
Women working togeather??????
OH NOOOOO!
Men have been working so hard to keep you jealouse of each other, damning each other as competition, and training you to stay in your place.
Where did we fail?
I bet it was allowing you to drive and get out of the house or maybe birth control so your not taht bust at home with 12 kids.
Darn now you get organized and even the young voters will support who ever you choose for office. After all Momma knows best.
Thanks for sharing.
I am pro Black and Pro Clinton.
Yes, we can be both!
No, you can't. If, at this point, you are pro-Clinton, you are "anti-blac
I love the Obama-crats have adopted the smear and fear tactics of the Right. It shows their true colors.
What happened to Obama's New Politics of Unity and Change?
Right after the Alabama primary, I had lunch with a Black woman I used to work with. I voted for Obama and she voted for Clinton. Amusing.
IF you are Black, that does not mean, you should be Pro Obama!
Go vote and vote for Clinton!
It's fine to be black and to support someone other than a black candidate.
Nevertheless, I would question any thinking person supporting Hillary Clinton.
Hi, Julia,
Thanks for your clarification. Like you, I am a proud supporter of Barack Obama. I also happen to be a feminist, 50-something career woman living in PA. (btw, I'm also the sister of Casey Fox, of the Rockme band your husband is in......) Thanks again.
Way to go! Please watch Fahrenheit 9/11 again if you haven't go to your local blockbuster. Our memory needs a little refreshing to avoid past mistakes. This election is far too crucial for us to reward those who gave the authorization for this travesty of a war
Yes I am a woman and yes I would like to see a woman president, but not this (hillary) woman, so my choice from the very begining is Barack Obama and I am very proud of it. If for what ever reason he won't get the nomination, I'll stay home in November - I can only vote for the best or for nobody.
I refuse to vote "against".
Me too. I cannot understand why so many women would put our country at risk by supporting THIS woman, just because she is a woman!!! Have they no brains? Can't they understand what she is doing to get in office, and what she has done while in power? (pretty much nothing but PANDER?) Have they no eyes to see how insincere she is , and how much she is lying and cheating her way to the White House? Have they no ears, to hear the dumb pandering she is doing, ANYTHING , to any one, just to buy her a few votes!!! SHE HAS NO INTEGRITY!!!! THEREFORE, SHE WILL NOT GET MY 68, YEAR OLD, WHITE FEMALE VOTE!!!
I don't think you understand my post, or maybe I wasn't clear enough, what I meant is
I'LL NEVER EVER WILL VOTE FOR HILLARY !!!!!!!! NOT IN A HUNDRED YEARS AND NOT EVEN IF SHE IS THE ONLY CANDIDATE !!!!
DON'T TRUST THIS WOMAN AND NEVER WILL !!!!!!
As another women who now supports Obama after my true preferences have withdrawn from the race, I urge you to reconsider. If you lean democratic, please show up to vote AGAINST giving McCain the ability to appoint Supreme Court Justices and federal judges. That could change the legal landscape for years, given that these are lifetime appointments. Among my many problems with Clinton, I am confident that she will not be appointing strict constructionists or unitary executive fans. I am not confident that even a Democratic
Mrs. Greebers with all the respect, I can't vote "against" it's something I don't belive in, and I can't vote for someone I don't like. At this point my dislike of Hillary is quite equal to the one of McCain. If I vote for Hillary, I won't be able to look at myself in a mirror - quite impossible for a woman.
Thank you. After the 2004 general election and the sad way the Democrats handled it, I vowed never again to vote against - only for.
I have always voted...ev
This year it will be a definite vote for Obama. Someone to vote for!! Amen
60+ white female here....Ob
Vote for Hope...Oba
Vote for the person, not the sex.
Vote for the person, not the color.
Vote for the person....
Obama, yes we can!
great post. thank you.
In point of fact, women have always struggled to do the right thing - in the background. We have always been support troops for the "front", always discounted for our motives, always stuck with cleaning up the mess afterwards. And we've been pretty quiet all this time too.
Guess what? NOT THIS TIME, NOT FOR THIS GAL! Being a woman has always meant being practical, too. So, I'm going for the PRACTICAL CANDIDATE - THE COMMON SENSE CANDIDATE. I'm standing up for someone who's honest, trustworthy, not afraid to say the wrong thing, not afraid to apologize, and someone who can think outside the box. Someone who doesn't have to make up stories to appeal to my sentiment and my vote. Someone who tries to reach consensus and really listens. And no matter what others say or think about my gender - I DON'T HAVE TO VOTE FOR MY GENDER. My gender isn't going to define me or my choice. I can vote with my brains and heart - and wholeheartedly VOTE OBAMA. That's what this woman is all about.
jellinda, great post and, as a 54 year old woman, I agree whole heartedly!!!
Obama/Boxer or Sebelius '08
Jellinda,
This is one of the best posts I have read. You sum it up perfectly.
Jellinda..
"The PSA, like me, is not pro-Clinton, but rather pro-women. And yes, you can be both."
Ahhhhhh somebody said it and said it so well.
Thank you.
You can also be pro-women AND pro Obama
That's ME, to the hilt!!!!
um,.. that's the same thing to me. I AM PRO-WOMEN PRO-OBAMA AND NOT pro-clinton. not sure what you are talking about... anyone? beuler? anyone?
your "also" makes no sense... read her article... she is PRO OBAMA AND PRO WOMEN... that IS the point. >>>you can be both NOT PRO-CLINTON and be PRO-WOMEN.
get it?
Matt Drudge and Politico still have a link to the Youtube clip in which Hillary's campaign calls African-Americans the n-word. We've got to get this on the weekend news shows. Call in as many talk shows as you can. The Hillbots are trying to silence the truth but they can't prevent investigative journalists and gay truthseekers like Matthew Drudge and John Aravosis.
You frighten me a little. That pathetic clip has proved to be a hoax, so let's move on.
Julia's right - I might go so far as to say you can be pro-woman, a baby boomer, a white blue collar worker, and still be for Obama!
Sorry, but the taping has been proven to be a fraud. Even the director of the film has commented on the youtube video saying that he never said the N- word. Don't believe everything you hear or read at first glance, especially during this crazy time in politics we call the "silly season".
Obama '08
I am very interested is seeing this YouTube vid but you didn't post the link!
And don't forget the page proving that the AIDs virus was created to kill blacks. If it's on the Net, it MUST be true.
Not only is the clip a fraud, but it is from the 1992 campaign of BILL CLINTON, not Hillary. The words were doctored from something like "How would you like to be in the White House" to the "White n-word" comment.
You just made an important point MrsDreebers. Bill and Hillary are both runing for president.
Check video from the campaign trail. So lets be fair here. By the way, George, Carville and Kantor are staunch Hillary supporters. Remember the guilt-by-a
This election has been a revelation to me. As an American (albeit a European expat one), I would have thought that American voters were more afflicted by racism than misogyny. Racism is a fairly recent concept. Misogyny has been the norm for millennia. Maybe American voters will need a millennium or so to get over it. Sad to see sisters-do
Your post makes no sense whatsoever.
Why would you feel like a lemming by voting for Obama?
What does that have to do with the rest of your post?
Why do you assume anyone who does not support your candidate is a misogynist?
Did you ever consider that many of us supporting Obama might be stronger feminists that Ms. Clinton herself is?
Why are you supporting the corporatist candidate- the pro-war candidate- the right-wing of the Democratic party candidate and acting like you are somehow more politically enlightened merely because she is a woman?
I guess it's all about you and your "identity".
Whoo Hoo and Whee Dee Dee....tha
I'm supporting Hillary because I think she can beat McCain and Obama can't.
-------------
Wrong premise leads to wrong conclusions.
I would have loved to vote for the first woman President. But a pro-NeoCon woman? No thank you.
Hillary has been consistently pro-NeoCon, and continues to be so, as evidenced by her recent remarks on Iran.
I no longer trust that she would end the war in Iraq, regardless of what she says. She would find an excuse, such as fabricated evidence of Iran's involvement, to stay in Iraq.
I don't want a pro-NeoCon President. Enough of unnecessary war. Enough of killing. We need change.
You should be looking at the congressional races too. Republicans are being really quite and trying to sneak more support in to BLOCK BILLS like they are doing now!!!!!
Hume, it's all a part of the Goebbels propaganda attempts endlessly coming from the Clinton camp. Repeat lies enough, they will sink in and effect opinions. ie superdelegates.
Now they are bombarding the blogs en masse to emit their poisons.
It's not they feel like "lemmings" rather they think the readers are lemmings, that will be influenced by these techniques.
The spillover of all this superdelegate arm-twisting,is poisoning the public's opinion of the democratic nominee in the general election.
Obama is object of attacks in a four way race, Hillary, Bill, and McCain.
It needs to end. If the party wants a landslide in the fall.
Yes, I've heard one deluded Obamite after another proclaim that Hillary is a Neocon. However, deluded sources lead to deluded claims.
"I would have loved to vote for the first woman President.
Yeah, I'll bet you'd have sold the farm. Too bad Hillary's not a woman. (Hm. Wait a minute....
i am wondering how is it possible for a european to keep a straight face while lecturing americans on racism ????
A) Try reading the first three words of the second sentence "As an American..
B) Historically, Americans were responsible for the enslavement and slaughter of millions of Africans and genocide of the indigenous people of this country. Generations ago, we detained Americans of Japanese ancestry during WWII, even those who were born here, and enforced segregation by skin color. Currently, we build fences to keep Mexicans out of the half of Mexico we stole. Who couldn't keep a straight face while lecturing us on racism?
Very easy, there was no slavery in Europe that's for one thing, and another if any european doesn't like another race it could only be a biggot, but not a hipocrite as american.
You must not have been an American during the Clinton years then. While unjustified, Hillary built up an enormous pool of negative bias during the Clinton Presidency. That is why many conservative Republicans i.e. Limbaugh, Colter back Clinton. They don't agree with her positions, they know a potential Hillary Clinton presidency will rally their base to McCain. The Republican base doesn't really like McCain, but they HATE Hillary. It would take years of Right Wing Spinning to build up that level of animosity against Obama. That is why Obama is fundamentally stronger than Clinton in the fall. Sadly however, the Clinton campaign started the lie machine spinning so the Republicans just have to keep it going. IF the Democratic Candidate loses this fall, the blame should fall on the Clintons for their role in this matter.
There is misogyny is American, just like there is racism. But I fail to see how this campaign has shown any huge degree of misogyny. Not wanting Senator Clinton in office has nothing to do with misogyny. Not liking Senator Clinton has nothing to do with misogyny. Liking her because she is a woman is sexist. Voting for her because she is a woman is sexist.
Blacks voting for Obama because he's black is racism. Sorry, but that's the truth. If we're going to talk honestly about racism in this country, we're going to have to acknowledge the fact that it is pervasive throughout our society and not confined to one groups (whites.)
And if you can't grasp the reality that misogyny is very much a reality in Hillary Clinton's struggle to be heard, you've got your head in the sand.
Both of these issues deserve to be carefully considered and discussed because they are, I believe, equally important. They both deal with unspeakably ugly discrimination. One (misogyny) should not be subordinated to the other (racism) just because one supports a certain candidate. That is not "change" and it certainly does not foster "hope,"
You must be logged in to comment. Log in or connect with
