Is Obama Man Enough To Be a Feminist Too?

In the vitriol over primacy claims to victimhood between females and blacks, we see our two candidates draining the pustulous boil of the once-silent liberal majority. That in the end, is going to be a good thing. It might not get either of them elected against the rich white guy with the snappin' salute.

Then again, it just might.

The kids recently pulled my junior high school yearbooks off the book shelf. Ellis Junior High, 1974, was the kind of mixed-race, mixed-class public school I don't think exists anymore. Hard by the crumble-down projects in Elgin, Illinois, it served black and Latino kids on welfare, and lower middle class white kids like me, but was close enough to country club suburbia to draw students who fox-hunted and would soon head off to East Coast prep schools. The black guys came to school with picks in their huge Afros, and joints in their pockets, and we danced with them to Bootsy's Rubber Band, in parentless, pot-scented, subsidized living rooms.

We never imagined that in our lifetime, we would someday be competing for the spoils of dying-Empire America.

Looking at those yearbooks, I realized I have no idea what happened to any of those young black men. Did they get lucky, draw the affirmative action straw and get into private colleges and law school, get promoted up the EEOC ranks of a multi-national? Or, are they delivering mail, pounding nails, in jail?
Whenever I start to think about the competing victimhood claims between blacks and women, I think about those guys. The fact is, for all the "glass ceiling" and sexual harassment crap I endured, those guys started off a long ways behind where I was.

Like others (including Erica Jong, under attack on this page right now for referring to Obama as a boy) I think Obama looks boyish. And by that I mean young - not "bwah!" With his infectious grin and stick-out ears, he looks like a kid, and that's a good thing and a bad thing. I like that he's my age, he's new and fresh and he's going to negotiate with our enemies (yes! Long overdue!), say things the old fogeys would never say, and try new ways of doing. But he doesn't exactly look grizzled or "seasoned," and it's not because of the color of his skin. As we all know, in our generation, fifty is going to be the new forty.
Like many women, I feel the visceral draw to vote for a female. The nasty sexist crap Clinton has had to endure only makes me want to support her, even though I don't even like her, and I don't think she's a good leader. She doesn't have that warm, follow-me, sun-god quality that leaders in a democracy must have. In politics personality does matter, and it doesn't matter how many disastrous frat boys we elect, that'll never change.

I have a white female friend so passionately supportive of HRC that she screams the Tina Fey line "bitch is the new black" after a few glasses of wine at dinner. And accuses me of being a bad mother and sister for not feeling the pain of our not getting a female president elected this time around.
The fact is, as the UN reported some years back, women world-wide are five hundred years from parity with men. So why should we expect to get a female president right now? Furthermore, and not to make the perfect the enemy of the good, this particular female is not the best candidate anyway - she de facto offends many working women because, even though she did work herself, she really did get to where she is thanks to her husband. And, as has been repeated countless times, she's playing the game the old way.

She's phony Beatlemania in the age of the Clash.

That said, it would be nice to see some glimmer of feminism coming out of our presumptive black male candidate. I'd like to know what he thinks of OJ Simpson, for example. Would he, law professor, stand up in front of a black crowd and admit that he thinks OJ got away with murdering a white woman - unlike the countless black males who actually didn't murder the white woman, but were hanged anyway? In all cases, remember, the woman was actually dead.

More importantly, will Obama repudiate the misogynistic undertone in rap music, the tidal wave of bitch and ho vulgarity that does nothing to move young black (and white) women an inch closer to parity with men?

Calling female reporters "sweetie" is not - ahem - a step in the right direction.

Every day in America a woman gets the crap beat out of her by a boyfriend, every other day, in New York anyway, a man kills his wife or girlfriend. That's feminism 101, friends, it's where we really are on a planet where whole nations can still deny women the right to drive, use birth control or go to school, and force them to wear black blankets over their heads.

All we can do is hope this new kind of man leader cares enough to speak about it.

Comments

[whattamisaid]

Does Nina Burleigh realize how ridiculously race biased it is to ask a candidate to weigh in on O.J. Simpson and decry hip hop simply because he is a black man.

Will Hillary Clinton be taking a stand against Susan Smith, the white woman who murdered her children a year after the Simpson-Goldman murders and blamed their disappearance on a mysterious black man? Should she be expected to? The idea is ludicrous and so is any notion that black people always need to answer for the behavior of people who share their skin color.

I don't need Barack Obama to be the second coming of Andrea Dworkin or a Black Panther. As a black person and a woman, I need to know that, as president, he will move this country closer to equality for all people. That means helping to close the wage gap between women and men, and white women and women of color. It means ensuring committed gay couples have the same rights as committed heterosexual ones. It means ensuring that kids in poor inner-city and rural areas are guaranteed a good education just like rich kids in the suburbs. I'm not arrogant enough to think that I am the only person on earth to face inequality, and I am not entitled enough to think that a president's work need be all about me. I wish some of my fellow American citizens felt the same way.

[dratster]

I am used to such rhetoric from some of my White Republican friends ( Am a Republican who will NOT vote Republican for the first time this year, should have done it 8 years ago...)

Whenever the subject concerns the Black community I am the "expert".

Never mind that I lived as an officer's son during the time I could count the number of Black families that lived near me on one hand or that I started out in the Army as a Russian linguist where I only needed half a hand to count the number of Black Russian linguists in the entire army.

After leaving the Army I became a computer consultant in a particular field where in 20 years I could count the number of Blacks on just one hand again.

I cannot tell you the number of times that I have been told how "articulate" I am or how I am NOT like those other "n*ggers".­..(No exaggeration!) or asked about my opinion about OJ's guilt or "why didn't those folks leave New Orleans!!!"

It's sad to see this blogger write questioning Obama's commitment to feminism while spewing such stereotypical nonsense about Affirmative Action, Afros and OJ...

Let's hope that the election of Obama brings about some real dialogue on a lot subjects that are swept under the carpet in America.

[JulieinVT]

Regarding the question heading this post - have you paid any attention to Michelle Obama?

[Bobrobert]

Fems.

Get over it.

Blah blah blah.

If you want a woman to be president try to run one that doesn't cry about the mean media.

If you want a woman to be president try to run one that does not have delusions about "sniper fire in Bosnia" on three different occasions.

If you want a woman to be president try to run one that doesn't come across as a woman that feels it is "her turn".

If you want a woman to be president try to run one that doesn't feel the need to be "one of the guys'.

If you want a woman to be president try to run one that doesn't want to kill millions of innocent woman and children in Iran with nukes.

Other than that Hillary would make an ok president.

Dont forget to vote folks.


If you want a woman to be president try to run one that does not have all the baggage that this one seems to be proud of but 1/2 the voters find too much for a president to carry.

[mergina]

He had better be, or it's off to his senate seat in November.

[Bluedrgn]

Okay, so yeah he has slipped a couple of times and called women sweetie. Yeah it is not very PC. But its not really that offensive ether. Women have called me sweetie before. It didn't bother me. I don't get the fuss.

Seems to me Obama has displayed many more positive feminine qualities then Clinton has. You know, wanting to have more dialog in politics and with our enemies. Wanting to heal the rifts that exist in this country etc. This is a lot more feminine then jumping up and down and pounding our chest to frighten our enemies (such as threatening to obliterate Iran). Or talk that you have more balls then your opponent etc.

[Mesaywar]

Excellent job, Ms. Burleigh. I think you've managed to write a piece that doesn't miss a single misdirected gripe, gratuitous swipe, or broad-brush ignorant stereotype.

[stringer]

Sigh.

I'm sorry but you men and women really don't understand the younger generation. You don't think mixed-race, mixed-gender high schools exist anymore? I'm sorry but WHAT world are you living in? There's not a single young person I know who doesn't have friends from just about every ethnic group you can name.

Furthermore, while the campaign has been incredibly and unfortunately sexist (as well as some rather disturbing racial trends) we have made HUGE progress. We've had both a credible African-American and female candidate for president.

Finally if certain female Hillary Clinton supporters would quit insisting that SHE AND ONLY SHE be on the ticket, then we could easily get a woman on the ticket yesterady: Kathleen Sebelius. But again, many female Hillary supporters insist on telling pollsters they won't for ANYONE on the ticket not named Hillary and will desert the Party. Well that makes it hard to put Sebelius on the ticket despite her name being leaked to every major news outlet out there. So if it doesn't JUST have to be Hillary, yes we can get a woman elected.

[Bobrobert]

Out of curiosity ... what is a Sebelius???

Be sure to vote folks.

[Mojane]

Composer. Governor of Kansas.

[K-Dog76]

stringer
Well said

[Ichibanjohnjon]

Jeeeezzzus! can we call it even for Christ sake!!! Hilary was hit with sexism and it was ONE of the MANY reason she came the slightest bit short of winning.

That said both blacks and women have hard ships if a women is beaten by her boyfriend every hour then a black man is abused by authority every hour. Its the world we live in both these candidates knew the environment they were running in. They should have planned accordingly, I think it was Hilary that said if its too hot get out of the kitchen, and she said she is comfortable in the kitchen.

These candidates are not victims they are breakthroughs lets stop tearing them down and be happy for both and whomever wins lets make sure we do all we can do to put them in the White house. Because if neither of them can win now the next time we may see another women or black man will be another 50 - 60 years. I feel worse for the black women because they may never happen.

[KaAp]

I am a woman. I am 52 years old ... and you know what right now there are several really significant issues facing the nation aside from bourgeois feminist concerns ... yes, we are facing a dying empire, in a dying world, a world where global climate change is geometrically intensifying, a world with an extreme oil shortage and a country which sold out to multinational corporations long ago and never did begin to convert from dependence on fossil fuels to something else (perhaps algae which might ameliorate CO2 emissions and also burns efficiently) ... We are involved in a horrible war for some unknown purpose --- we are despised worldwide. Our schools, our fire fighting forces indeed our entire infrastructure has been privatized, sold to the highest bidder, and has decayed into an impossible situation. Meanwhile people are out of work, gas prices rise, and right now I am tired ... if someone calls someone sweetie yes it can be construed as sexist and he apologized now let's get over it ... right now ... we as women may be 500 years behind men but unless Obama gets in and we have more of McCain's same old same old guess what --- it won't really matter because the human race won't last long enough to play catch up ...

[lisakaz2]

Perceptive and full of perspective.

[Hopalongpoppyseed]

KaAp, Wow, you nailed it sister! Now, you are the woman I could support for President. You've got that judgment thang goin'.

[SethBLiNK]

Wow, somebody posting on a blog about... actual issues that matter. I wonder if this is a trend that might catch on.

[numinousNimon]

Hit it on the nose.

[K-Dog76]

kaAp
Well said

[PhyllisBurke]

if he puts another suit on the ticket....­..imagine how african-americans would feel if obama had 15,000,000 votes and a hundred, hundred fifty less delegates, and hillary picked a white man.
wrap your mind around that, and consider what happens with the massive female vote, which will become the swing vote.

[SethBLiNK]

If the numbers were reversed, Hillary would be crazy not to pick Obama. His ability to draw votes, to raise money and to draw crowds would be a great plus to her campaign. And Obama, at 46 would be at an ideal age to serve 8 years as VP and then become President. Too bad she ran such a mismanaged campaign, cause that would have been a great ticket.

Hillary as VP is another story. One thing a running mate and a VP needs to be is a team player and so far she hasn't shown herself to be one. It would be awful to have a running mate whose own quotes can be thrown back at her.

But, after so many worked and voted to get a female on the ticket, it would be a shame not to have one. I think the idea of a less divisive female running mate is a good one. One who has impressed me is Claire McKaskill, who is also a staunch Obama ally. However, she's from the same region and doesn't have a lot of years in elected office so she may not provide some of the assets needed to balance the ticket.

[presto]

If the numbers were reversed, Obama would have 16 million votes and Hillary would have 16 million votes. One of them would have to drop out.

[lisakaz2]

And expect the GOP to run a continuous loop of her endorsements of McCain. She boxed herself out with her own negative campaigning.

[presto]

How about telling us exactly what you think that "continuous loop" would say? Obama has run a campaign every bit as negative. You are just looking through your bias.

[allonfla]

First of all, if Obama lost 11 contests in a row, the DNC and the superdelegates would have ran him out of the race sooooooo long ago. They all would have jumped behind Clinton much earlier. Who would take the risk of jumping behind the new comer when he was so far behind in delegates? Actually, It would not have even reached 11 losses, after about 5 in a row, everyone would go "what is this guy doing here?" And Clinton would have declared victory a long time before Ohio and Texas.

Clinton has gotten this far because she is a Clinton and well known and respected in the DNC. Anyone else would have been done, so your hypothetical "what if" is nonsense.

For every WHITE female vote that does not jump behind Obama, you can bet a dozen more minority votes will get behind him to show him loyalty. We will not let this opportunity pass because of your temper tantrums. I emphasize WHITE because those are the base of her female voters, good luck convincing the rest of us females

[patch61]

no you all women turned your back on sen.hillar­y clinton you thought this was a joke you should be ashamed of yourself individuals you know who you are!!!!!!!!!!!! now i will tell you the law of the land now remember if there 2 men running you could pick either man but everything changes now you can not call yourself feminists any longer oh yes when there is a woman running for president you with diginity back her up now since you did not now wait till you need backing or funds or anything that a woman needs you are no longer the feminist groups you all call yourself they can either pass the bill or not now since you had a woman running she would have made sure all things that you need will be passed now you will have to wait and see if the next president will pass it oh now you will fall right on in there with affrimative action....­..........­..........­..........­..

[SethBLiNK]

Geez. Look at all those periods at the end of this post. I bet if you had dispersed them among those words and threw in a comma or two, this might almost make some sense.

[DRPike]

I thought the post was just so stupid even the punctuation was trying to get away.

[allonfla]

no comprendo gibberish!

[MrsPeel]

Ms. Burleigh,

Hillary HAS endured many sexist shots. It's also true that "Every day in America a woman gets the crap beat out of her by a boyfriend, every other day, in New York anyway, a man kills his wife or girlfriend. That's feminism 101, friends...­"

What about the violence many black folks have to endure every day? What do you make of the first nationally viable black presidential candidate being attacked by an assassination joke from Mike Huckabee? Huckabee gets away with "Whoops, only kidding!"

Regarding your requests re: Obama's opinions on OJ, rap, etc. specifically because he is a black male, I'm speechless. 'jcwtts1' said it well below (5/17, 6:12pm), as have others.

Pal, I can't feel a 'visceral draw' to vote for anyone who oversteps ethical bounds.

I grew up on Jong, Steinem, Brownmiller, Dworkin, Cottin Pogrebin, et al. as well as many other influences. My biggest influence is my independent self. I think for myself.

Lastly, I'm white, female, and 53. I directed a rape crisis center/battered women's shelter at 22. Re: "As we all know, in our generation, fifty is going to be the new forty." Junior, fifty was the new forty a long time ago.

__________­__________­__________­__________­__________­_____
P.S. to original post: I agree that your blog was poorly researched. Actually, I think it was ill conceived; research easily answered your questions. Perhaps a better blog w/h/b your observations about HRC vis-a-vis available info on Obama?

[MrsPeel]

Indeed, what 'jcwtts1' has posted additionally, 5/18, 9:13pm.

[NinaBurleigh]

The tone of most of these posts proves the point in my first paragraph, which is that the competition between Clinton and Obama has drawn forth some of the most bilious stuff simmering just under the surface of progressive America. Impossible to respond to all, so I'll just pick the main one, which is that to point out that affirmative action helped underprivileged black males in my generation is taboo, or "naive" or "offensive" or "racist." If you think affirmative action didn't help disadvantaged men and women in the U.S., then I've got a candidate for you, if you can get him to give up his lifetime bench job and run for president: Clarence Thomas.
I also note that almost none of the responses showed the slightest bit of interest or concern for the issue I brought up here - domestic violence and the treatment of women.
There's a level of censorship here that belongs in Russia, Hollywood or Zimbabwe: the notion that a white person can never ask a black person what he or she thinks of OJ SImpson. I agree it might disrupt a dinner party, but asking a black candidate for president where he stands on one of the most divisive moments in recent race relations in this country is fair game.

[dct1999]

1. Where is the censorship? No one demanded that your blog post be removed. We are merely giving our opinions, just like you gave yours.

2. You write of your concern about Obama's take on OJ and hip hop music. You asked if he will speak out on these issues. Many of us pointed out that with just a few key strokes you could have determined that he has already publicly discussed both issues in a rational, responsible manner. Why didn't you do your research?

3. It troubles many of us that you depicted your young black male classmates as joint toting welfare recepients. Are you certain that none of them had working class or middle class backgrounds? Did none of your white classmates procure their own joints?

4. If you think Obama shows bad judgment when he calls women sweetie, why can't you see that Ms. Jong's use of the word boy is at least as equally insensitive? In my opinion, it is much worse because I don't recall white women being called sweetie and then badly beaten, incarcerated, run out of town, or lynched by corrupt law enforcement or terrorist organizations.


4

[NinaBurleigh]

1. Actually several of you specifically said no white person should ever ask a black person about OJ. - read on down the postings.
2. I asked, you answered, with links to his comments. Now we're all edified. Simply asking is not "criticism­." I don't think Obama has talked that much about OJ, rap, but he has answered the questions. Good for him. Hope to hear him out more on domestic violence and misogyny in future. And btw to care about such things is not "radical."
3. I wasn't writing about the 1970s pot trade in Elgin, Ill. Someday maybe I will. To extrapolate from single sentence that no white people sold pot, that it was sole province of black guys, is projecting your own prejudices.
4. I actually don't care who calls who boy or sweetie. But .. sweetie is code as much as boy is code. People who care about such things think saying Obama looks boyish is the same as a white master calling a black man boy, or calling a woman sweetie equals a fat 1950s congressman calling a woman sweetie before pinching her in the ass and locking her out of the boys-only smokefilled room.

[sandtats]

Obama was raised by a single mother, a woman described by high school classmates as one of the first, true feminists, an independent spirit and trailblazer light years ahead of her time; a woman who upon completion of her Ph.D in anthropology, devoted her life to the betterment of women and the poor through her work in rural development as a consultant to Pakistan, through her partnership with Indonesia’s Bank Saudara, the United States Agency for International Development, the Ford Foundation, and Women’s World Banking, on what is described as the world's largest sustainable microfinance program, creating credit and savings services for the poor. She mingled with leaders from organizations supporting Indonesian human rights, women's rights, and grass-roots development.

This is a man raised by a grandmother of humble origins, a “Rosie the Riveter” and former waitress, who with no more than a high school education would in 1970, become one of the first two female VP's of the Bank of Hawaii.

This is a man raised by strong women, who respects strong women, who surrounds himself with strong women; a man who married an accomplished, outspoken woman, a man who seeks the advice and counsel of strong women, e.g. Dr. Susan Rice, Samantha Power, Valerie Jarrett.

Obama is more in touch with his feminine side than is Hillary, a woman seemingly more concerned with heralding her XY bona fides, her “testicular fortitude,” her bitchiness, than her womanness.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/politics/chi-0703270151mar27,0,5157609.story

[ohmercy]

ummm,
just curious, why is Hillary being brought into this?
Can't there be a discussion of one without an attack on the other?

[JoyceBains]

Wow. This is one of the most offensive pieces I've ever read here. "Lucky?" "Affirmative Action straw?" Proof that even when you think you get it...you don't.