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

[TaylorJ]

continued from last comment by taylor j.

Lastly , I do find your implication that African American men (ie Obama?) could only exceed in life through affirmative action OR are working menial labor jobs OR in jail? And I quote you "Did they [YOUR "BLACK" CLASSMATES] 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?"

Huffington Post - CAN YOU SAY 'DIVERSITY TRAINING'!!

[NinaBurleigh]

Thanks Taylor J, I wasn't aware that Obama had spoken out on the OJ case, and I stand corrected.

As for my racism, however, I beg to differ. I don't know where or when you grew up, but the kids I grew up around in the 1970s actually needed help to get into college. They couldn't afford it, they didn't have the connections. Affirmative action has helped a lot of men and women - probably even me - in my generation who wouldn't otherwise be where they are. Let's get over being embarrassed about that. To acknowledge that isn't racism. And to call me a racist for pointing it out is not exactly helpful and pretty disrespectful too.

As for wondering if my former school mates are in jail. Let's see. What's the percentage of black men in American jails? It's a sick fact of life in this country, one of the many ills that having a black president might help heal.

[fedupcitizen]

Your reasoning does not make sense regarding Barack Obama singularly. Perhaps if you had written an op-ed about what is wrong with society it would have been more appropriate. Instead of heaping every hyper sensitive issue like OJ, affirmitive action, prison into your musings about what Brack Obama should explain.

Barack Obama grew up as a black male believe me when I tell you that he is keenly aware of what that means in America.

Let me also inform you that he was one of the leading voices about death penalty sentencing in his state for innocent black and poor white men who were wrongly sentenced to death and later freed.

So it is not a question of him being aware...it is a question of whether you and your friends are aware. You can do more positive having discussions with your family, friends and community when an injustice of any type occurs whether it is against any man, woman, or child.

Thank you for all of your assistance in this regard.

[arglebargle]

So then, what criticism of Obama do you think you're advancing here, exactly?

[TaylorJ]

continued from last comment by taylor j

Don Imus Debate Turns Toward Rap Lyrics
By The Associated Press
New York, NY - Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama has questioned the way some rappers talk about women in songs, saying the lyrics were similar to the derogatory language used by fired radio host Don Imus.
They are "degrading their sisters. That doesn't inspire me," Obama said April 13 of some hip-hop artists when a man in a campaign-event crowd in Florence, S.C., questioned him.
Earlier last week, Obama criticized Imus, who was fired April 12 for labeling the Rutgers women's basketball team "nappy-headed hos."
"I do think we've seen a coarsening of the culture," Obama said in an interview with the Associated Press. As a constitutional lawyer, Obama said, he was a free-speech advocate.
"But just because you can say something doesn't mean you should say something," he said. "And I think that we have not talked enough about the harmful images and messages that are sent." He said as a parent it was a constant struggle to reinforce his two daughters' sense of self-esteem.
"I think that all of us have become a little complicit in this kind of relaxed attitude toward some pretty offensive things," Obama said. "And I hope this prompts some self-reflection on the part of all of us."
http://www.blacknews.com/pr/don_imus_snoop101.html

[TaylorJ]

continued from last post by Taylor J


As for your "rap" comment - I (and I suspect others) take deep offence that you would demand of Obama to somehow apologize or defend hip hop lyrics just because he is african american - a common racist expectation that all african americans are responsible for all other african americans- example - I expect you to denounce the lyrics of Guns 'n Roses as racist if you are white, -or homophobic if you are straight, or sexist if you are male, etc. To answer this ridiculous claim, however, for the sake of factual correction - Obama has been critical of certain rap lyrics to the point that some hip hop artists have openly supported Hillary Clinton because of this criticism -ironic -eh? Here is the article:

[CitizenE]

In Martin Scorcese's latest film on the Rolling Stones both former President Clinton and would be President Clinton are seen in the audience. Has Ms. Burleigh demanded that Clinton call on the Rolling Stones to apologize for their song "Midnight Rambler," which seems to glorify a serial rapist? The problem with PC gotcha games is that people always can get you back. Was Obama's use of the word, "sweetie," half as patronizing as the inexperienced "boy" meme laid upon him (especially given Clinton's lack of experience, especially in relation to foreign affairs, when he first ran for President)? It's easy to see the tunnel-visioned myopia of manipulative politics, harder not to fall for it.
I do believe there are many reasons to be skeptical of Obama, but right now, first things first; it's time to start being skeptical about McCain--what John McCain will mean to women if he's elected President--from the Supreme Court to health care. If/when Obama is elected, we should hold his feet to the fire.

[TaylorJ]

To the author of this post: Please do your homework next time and try to reign what I would characterize as racism, but others migh call racial insensitivity because they want you to listen to them.

Senator Obama very publicly discussed his opinions about the OJ Simpson trial on an ABC Nightline interview right after his speech on Race in Philadelphia (Night Line has an African American viewership as well as white in case you are thinking that this disqualifies the comment)
"You remember when, during the O.J. trial, there was a similar moment when the culture -- you know, black and white culture just had these completely opposite reactions and nobody understood it.
And, by the way, I'm somebody who was pretty clear that O.J. was guilty. And I was ashamed for my own community to respond in that way, but I also understood what was taking place, which was that reaction had more to do with a sense that somehow the criminal justice system historically had been biased so profoundly that a defeat of that justice system was somehow a victory. "
http://abcnews.go.com/Nightline/Vote2008/Story?id=4480133&page=2

[clevelandchick]

Nina,

An even better measure for judging Obama's feminist cred than whether he believes OJ killed Nicole would be his legislative record, that's what NARAL did. He's got a 100% rating by that group.

I also look at the influencers in his life. His mother was an incredible woman who worked with poor and abused women in third world countries. His wife, my God what a tough strong smart woman. And of course his two little girls.

I see a bit of my husband in Obama, who is probably a bigger feminist than I. His father abandoned him and he was raised by his mother and grandmother. HIs role models growing up were strong women. He's never had an issue with women in authority or doubted their intelligence and strength. So it's weird for me to listen to other women talk as if a man cannot be a feminist.

Finally, as someone who calls people of both gender 'sweetie' all of the time (got it from my mother), I saw that tape and didn't think anything of it. As women, we both know that that term has to be said in a certain snotty condescending tone of voice when it is meant as an insult. Obama didn't do that and you know it.

[CitizenE]

Your rsponses are always thoughtful--both a haven for other thoughtful responders, and I hope a corrective for the official posters at this site.

[patmancando]

NARAL got so much hell for that their web page collapsed and then they cut off the comments
mechanism.

[allonfla]

A lot of those comments on their webpage were positive. I read many.

[Gma11]

I understand where you're coming from. As partial answer, look to his family - a very strong female partner, two little girls. Also look to the NARAL vote. NARAL had political reasons for their vote. One that Obama was the likely nominee. But also that Obama had a higher score on their list of criteria than Hillary did.

[InfoGiant]

Furthermore, Barack is about equality for everyone, fair pay for the poor, fair healthcare, not giving someone an advantage by lobbying him with cash (well, other than the American people). What is the alternative? John McCain? Nothing about that man suggests he stands for women's (or anyone's) rights. You think "sweetie" isn't a little uncomfortable? What do you think about John McCain calling his wife the "C" word?

http://infogiant.wordpress.com/2008/05/12/clinton-supporters-threaten-to-switch-to-mccain/

[janex]

What about the nasty sexist crap Mrs. Clinton has doled out? Do you really think that when she went after Monica Lewinsky she didn't know that Bill had, in fact, had sexual relations with "that woman?"

I don't see the sexism that Mrs. Clinton has suffered from. No one forced her to move to Arkansas with her boyfriend, no one made her marry Bill Clinton, no one required her to use his contacts and his affability to further her own career, no one required her to evade answering a question about conflict of interest by deriding the kind of women who bake cookies and have teas, and no one required her to lie about having been under sniper fire in Bosnia.

Mrs. Clinton's problem is the same problem that her husband had: they are opportunistic liars. The difference is, Bill has previously come across as likable.

[AlexVonHussein]

This one of the most demeaning, racist and sexist , mean post I have read in a long..time­.

[fedupcitizen]

I agree. It seems that those who oppose Obama have a need to paint him with all kinds of brushes that he does not own...

[MPeter]

Nina, I did not quite understand the gist of your article. How is it that Obama should talk about OJ but McCain or Hillary are never asked to speak about the White criminals who get away with crimes everyday? George Bush and Cheney have the blood of millions on their hands but have never been asked to aknowledge this fact. Obama is boyish? So were Kennedy and Lincoln. It is the smarts that we should be looking for, not vanity.

[qtez4183]

What does OJ Simpson have to do with Barack Obama becoming President. Why is it important for you to know what he thinks about the OJ Simpson case but not Economics, The Irag War, Gas Prices, etc. That argument is irrelevant and if you ask me smells of racism. Barack on several occasions have already spoken on the misogyny in rap lyrics. Maybe he should also speak out against tiny fey and your friend for using the phrase "BITCH is the new black". So if Hillary was to get the nomination their would be no more beatings, glass ceiling, misogyny in the world? You Feminist need to get over Hillary losing, if she would of ran the campaign she is running now and not the arrogant "im entitled to the presidency" campaign she ran earlier then maybe she'd be the nominee. So quit your bitc.....w­hining and accept barack as the nominee

[SethBLiNK]

I'm an Obama fan and I'm a man, but I thought it was actually a positive statement when Tina Fey said "bitch is the new black."

For years, the complaint has been that if a woman acts strong and tough, qualities that are admired in men, she gets labeled a bitch. Rather than complaining about it, I thought Fey was embracing it. Kind of like, I am who I am, and if you want to call me a bitch than I guess it's cool to be a bitch.

Basically, it's changing the game. It's taking ownership of the word and the qualities (many of which are positive) that it embodies.

[SethBLiNK]

First, Ms. Burleigh, let me commend you on staying in the kitchen and taking the heat. I don't agree with much (any) of your posting, but I admire a person who is willing to engage and defend her opinions.

While I do think that domestic violence is an important issue, I don't think that Obama's opinion on OJ or rap lyrics should be the litmus test by which you judge him on this topic.

However, since you do seem to feel these are the important questions AND since, as many have pointed out here, Senator Obama has answered both questions prior to you posing them, I am curious if you have now read those reactions and if they meet with your approval?

[jfor]

Funny, I thought one of the two democratic nominees left was one of the rich white guys.

There are lots of reasons for questioning Senator Clinton's experience, judgement and policies, Hillary is a woman but that does not make her the champion of "woman's" issues, especially when you have been in Washington for as long as she has and have an ex-President as your husband. Hillary will champion the issues that will get her elected and re-elected. The issues important to her are those that payback the people who gave most to her campaigns. Hillary is compromised and that has weakened her ability to reason soundly for the most good.

A woman will be President of this Country in my lifetime, this I am sure. It just won't be Hillary. This does not make me a misogynist, it makes me honest.

[scire]

I think furthermore, that an Obama presidency in and of itself would pave the way for a woman president. As has Hillary's own campaign.

What people keep forgetting about all this, is that EITHER candidate will be making history. The democratic party should be exulting in this.

The reality is, Hillary is going to lose the nomination. Let her campaign until the end, but start being realistic, and get behind what, for those of you who are Hillary fans, should be the next best thing.

And give Obama his due: He has run a fantastic, brilliant campaign that brought in millions of new voters and doners and an incredible amount of money, that in and of itself will make history. And he did so by following the rules.

And he's made history through his speeches alone. How can any democrat, even the Hillary supporters, not be proud?