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

[hominidx]

I think it's incredibly important that he also talk about ebonics, low hanging pants and other stereotypical elements attributed to "black culture."

I'm utterly unclear on how that relates to Obama needing to support feminism.
He does, and I hope he proves to either move more in that direction or elaborate more on such issues...b­ut what the hell do these points have to do with it? Should we ask him his favorite fried chicken?

[LeaveArtieAlone]

“Calling female reporters "sweetie" is not - ahem - a step in the right direction.­”
AGREED!
And voting for the guy who called his wife (sounds like blunt) the C word isn’t either!

[SeriousBlack]

And I would rather not vote for a Democratic candidate who during the Democratic nomination process repeatedly called her Democratic opponent less qualified to be president than the Republican nominee.

How's that?

[jpetaluma]

Real written and thoughtful post. By the way, Obama did reference OJ on the stump. He was talking about Bill Clinton's "fantasy" comment. I don't remember the exact segue, but he was giving examples of fantasty, one being, "That OJ didn't do it." I swear this is true. I just can't remember the where or when. Maybe someone else can confirm this. I remember thinking - "wow, that was brave! I wonder how some of the black community is going to respond to that comment." Another example, when he spoke up about sex education, birth control, and a women's right to choose by saying he didn't want his daughters to be punished by getting pregnant do to misinformation. MIchelle is an example of a very strong woman who doesn't put up with much. I think Obama is very sensitive to women's issues. Remember, he was a mixed race child brought up in the sixties by a single mother in Kansas.

[bigbenny]

http://miamiherald.typepad.com/nakedpolitics/2008/03/obama-on-oj.html

[bigbenny]

I guess I liked this so much I thought I'd post it twice. My bad!

GO BO 08

[bigbenny]

I Googled "Obama and OJ" and I found this article: http://miamiherald.typepad.com/nakedpolitics/2008/03/obama-on-oj.html

GO OB 08

[SethBLiNK]

JP, how can you consider this a thoughtful post, when its obvious the writer didn't do the minimum of research.

Personally, I think it's rediculous that Obama should feel the need to answer for OJ or rappers, but if the author wants him to, one would think she would do the most cursory research to learn that he has already commented on both topics numerous times (and in his usual fashion, spoke on these subjects with intelligence and insight.

[faithfully]

I remember he said that

[aliansari32]

Don't consider it remarkable or "brave" when a well-known and powerful black person says that OJ did it. Many "celebrity" black people have said it before. In fact, it was not all of black America rejoicing after the OJ acquittal. Many --I might venture most -- were appalled. I and most of my other black friends believed he was guilty and were pissed at the incompetence of the prosecution.

The jubilant, rejoicing crowds of black people dancing in the streets, images of which played over and over on television, consisted of poor and lower middle-class black folks who had traditionally been systematically abused -- not just physically, but also psychologically -- by police authority (especially in LA). There was no doubt in their minds that the LAPD, a historically racist organization, could have planted evidence, though many other Americans cursed Johnny Cochran for using that angle or playing the "race card." Ironically, a few years later two officers of LAPD's Rampart division admitted to shooting an unarmed gang-banger and planting a gun on him (read this very good report for more info on it: http://www.csupomona.edu/~jis/2003/Reese.pdf).

[dct1999]

BTW Ms. Burleigh,

What has Hillary said about the 6 white west virginians who kidnapped and tortured a black woman? Does she approve of Girls Gone Wild videos?

How does John McCain feel about Robert Blake being acquitted? Does he think Senator Vitter hates women?

Sounds pretty ridiculous right? Similar to asking Obama about OJ and hip hop.

[LeaveArtieAlone]

AGREED!!!!

[allonfla]

"What has Hillary said about the 6 white west virginians who kidnapped and tortured a black woman? Does she approve of Girls Gone Wild videos?"


Right on point dct1999!

[Thurber]

The man has two daughters and a wife. I suspect their best interests are number 1, 2, & 3 on his priority list.

[KGinSanFrancisco]

4 and 5, sister Maya and grandmother in Hawaii.
I don't get the "sweetie" outrage. It was a slip of the tongue, only reported once and he's probably used to calling his daughters and wife "sweety". No big deal, this is such a superficial discussion, anyway, would you prefer "bitch"?

[unity08]

Is Hillary woman enough to stop the race baiting?

There are always differences, but to expect one candidate to do it all and not ask anything from the other is not only unfair, it is disingenuous.

[scm75]

While I fully understand the desire to see a woman elected to the presidency, I am confounded by your desire to see Obama take a stand on every instance in which a black man has victimized a woman. This takes the republican guilt by association argument to a new and bizarre level.

I also have to take issue your speculation about those black boys of your youth, "picks in their afros and joints in their pockets." Do you really believe that if they weren't aided by affirmative action they'd be in jail? Is delivering mail or working construction really on the same level with being in jail?

I have many friends who feel that sexism has won out in this election. Though I don't agree, I want to understand their point of view. This article certainly didn't get me any closer.

[Valkyrie]

Ms. Burleigh,

You should do some research before wagging your finger. Really, I'm sick of it. DO SOME RESEARCH. Obama has already repudiated the sexist attitudes in rap music and has done it well and eloquently. Check DKOS, and other sites. There's even a nice video if you'd simply have googled it.

Anyway, it would be nice to seem some fair and balanced "reporting" instead of "shouldn't our candidate have worn his flag pin? Shouldn't he have said something instead of Sweetie? Shouldn't we hold a candidate to his or her policies and how they've run their campaign? Shouldn't his not voting for the war be considered a little weightily than this little nit-picking over non-issues? You make it sound like he should prove himself to the feminist movement. Give him time and remember, we're electing the person who will most likely listen to the people. All the people. With all of their social ills.

I normally respect and admire your columns but this is more of the same. Hillary had some admirable qualities but the ability to get knocked up did not make her the right person for the job at hand. She would've listened more to consultants than to what real women and men really want and need in their lives. She would not have listened to the "active base" that she so quickly derided.

But I understand that this is not about Hillary, right? It's about Obama.

[ATL78]

What's with all of the litmus tests? And why are they so "ethnic'? Are OJ and rap music the measure of someone's allegiance to being Black or better yet...bein­g a Black man?

I can assure you Black folks believe OJ did it. I can also attest to some folks, of all colors, being happy to see a poorly ran case end in acquittal. The OJ Simpson phenom was not about misogyny at all and I'd be willing to bet Obama would address this "issue" if it were truly pertinent in our community. But, I think he'd do better to address issues like Sean Bell and the recent Englewood, CA murder. That's how you attack the "OJ issue".

As for speaking out against rap music, you need to do your research! Obama got flak last year for doing just that.

"Some of Obama's recent remarks have called attention to a generation gap...in particular when he criticized rap music lyrics for using the same offensive words that white radio host Don Imus used..."

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/05/02/AR2007050202813.html

As noted in the article, he has had no problem with addressing issues head-on, regardless of how they poll. He went to Ebenezer Church in Atl and spoke on the homophobia in the Black community earlier this year. And, at the LA debate, I remember his concern over movie ads that are shown during American Idol--he was worried about his DAUGHTERS.

[ATL78]

The REAL measure of a man and what he thinks of women is the women in his life. Say what you will about Barack or Michelle but they have an obvious love and chemistry that I have not seen in politicians' lives. And you can't call her weak!

[patmancando]

No, she seems to wear the pants in the family....­......and I don't mean like in pant suits!

[KGinSanFrancisco]

You are right, choosing Michele speaks volumes for the kind of man he is. She is his equal, bright, outspoken and concerned with people's issues. She's no bimbo.

[SeriousBlack]

OK - (A) So he says "sweetie" and therefore he now has a mandate to exhibit some "glimmer" of feminism? (B) Why does Nina have to reduce the Democratic nomination process to the physical characteristics of the two (black man vs. white woman) rather than their experience and policies?

[jcwtts1]

Of all the blogs on Huffington Post over the last 5 months or so I think I find this one the most offensive. Starting with "ghetto" kids with afro picks and joints in the back pockets, all the way to OJ Simpson and the marginalization of lynching..­. just for the record the white woman wasn't always dead, often she was lying about the sexual contact with the black man, or white men were reading something into banal and benign contact. For example Medgar Evers supposedly whistled at a white woman the day he was beaten and burned to death. Black people haven't spent the last four months crying our that their pain is so much greater than women's, Gerry Ferarro did that and started an entire conversation designed to undermine Obama. Grow up, Obama won, and not because he was black but despite of it. .

[LeftLeanWing]

Not Medgar Evers that was Emmett Till

[MrsPeel]

LeftLeanWing is correct. However, the U.S. history of lynchings and racial assassinations is so extensive, they are hard to keep track of.

Good post, jcwtts1.

[nkhogan]

Thanks for this blog. It is very thoughtful. It is something I have thought long and hard about. I am an Obama supporter, but not an unquestioning one.

The policies on his website are very pro-woman, but I'm not convinced that he will do the right thing by women at the end of the day. I hope so. I don't think he's a chauvinist and I don't think the Democratic good ole boy network has conspired against Hillary.

I think NARAL made a wise decision in endorsing him now while it still counts for something so that they can begin to lobby him. Women who say they will vote for McCain over Obama because they are angry that Clinton hasn't been nominated hurt their cause. Now is the time for all us feminists to start influencing Obama and the campaign before he gets elected to become even more pro-woman.

I would like to see is for him to select a female VP. I think this would go a long way to winning many women over.

I hate the conundrum---if this becomes the typical social movement in which women defer their own agenda to get a man elected in the hopes he will represent them, I will be furious. I do what I can to influence Obama and the campaign. Instead of condemning him and rejecting him out of hand, that is what those HRC supporters who say they are ardent feminists should be doing now as well.

[allonfla]

I agree with most of your comments except;

Obama has already won over a lot of women voters and the rest will come his way once Hillary Clinton steps up and speaks to her supporters about their threats to vote for McCain.

He should not be blackmailed into choosing HRC as a VP. And no I don't think choosing any woman will do to ease the fury of HRC supporters. Then they will be asking, why not Hillary?

What message does that send about women - do as we say, give us what we want or we won't give you any....vot­es?. His VP is his choice, one that can enhance his image and his candidacy not to please women voters. Should we demand a white candidate choose a black VP to please black voters? - you don't hear it much, but the Black vote is extremely critical for a Dem to win.

I may get some flack for this, but I truly believe that this threat of female voters moving to McCain is overblown. I was pretty scared myself. It seems like a big threat because we all read the thousands of angry posts, many from the same people over and over. But please remember, there are millions more that will support the democratic nominee no matter who it is.

[nkhogan]

You know, I really agree with you about the VP thing. I'm just saying I wish he would choose a woman! I ran out of room to explain it as my word quota was up.

I think he has a lot of constituencies to think about when chosing a VP and he should not choose one out of fear. I also think he needs to choose the best person for the job, regardless. Just expressing a desire that would make me feel better myself, but I here you. And I think, like you, that women will realize that Obama is a far better choice for President than McCain and will represent women's issues much better. I don't even think feminist/gender issues are on McCain's radar whatsoever. And if he follows GWB's policies we are in trouble!!!!! I have worked on gender issues at the UN and for the past 8 years, the US government has always been the stumbling block with respect to the right to choose, sexual and reproductive health rights and they even wanted to basically repeal the 1995 Beijing Platform for Action that is all about gender equality.

So really, I hear you and I totally agree the black vote is important and I want Obama elected and am doing all I can to support his candidacy.

[SethBLiNK]

This isn't a conundrum. Women didn't defer their own agenda to get a man elected. Two candidates ran. One won, one didn't. People voted their passions, it was exciting and now (or soon, we're not rushing anybody) it is time to move on and run against the Republicans.

Hillary's passionate supporters, especially the ones who were motivated by a desire to see a woman president, might take a little while to get past the disappointment.

And, when the time comes, and Hillary herself accepts it, it should fall to her as a leader to lead... to help the women who supported her to take pride in how far they came, and to embrace the Democratic candidate. I have no doubt that were the tables turned, Barack Obama would do this with grace, generosity and the inspiration he is known for. I'm hoping Hillary cares enough about the future to do the same.

[mabs0]

I personally didn't think hip-hop and OJ are the kind of issues a president has to take a stance on. Don't get me wrong, it's good to have a discussion on those topics but they will not impact my life in any way. I don't think a president can do anything about the sexist undertones in hip-hop, nor should he, or that his opinion matters more than mine when it comes to whether OJ is guilty. Just curious, is he supposed to talk about OJ because he is black or because there is some ardent need to talk about it again?

However, I was pleased to hear Obama talk about the need to make secure equal pay for women. That is something that a president can affect and that is something of substantive importance for every working woman in this country. I was also impressed with the way he handled questions on abortions. He phrased the issue in a way that underlined his understanding of the issues that women face and his confidence in women's abilities to take sound decisions when it comes to their future and the welfare of their families.

Unlike McCain who recently managed to upset some women groups by saying that he doesn't think women need guarantees for equal pay but that they need more education to close the gap with men.

http://act.credoaction.com/campaign/mccain_vs_ledbetter/?r_by=27-346356-xJEpzo&r

[washington31]

Those cultures that don't allow women to drive or where scarves over their heads have customs as to American women. I have seen a few interviews since Sept. 11th of these women and they say they are fine. On the other hand some of these women are taken advantage of and abused. That is for their government to control. American women have come a long way and I know that Obama support womens rights...B­ecause he has a no bullsh*t dealing wife and two daughters that he may one day want to become president!

[colleen2]

I've been a feminist for the past 55 years and Senator Obama strikes me as far more thoughtful about issues affecting the majority of women than Mrs Clinton.
That is, unless 'feminism' means I must support someone who compares herself to Maggie Thatcher just because she's female. This is getting embarrassing, Mrs Clinton's supporters should think before they write.