Sexism is alive and well in America.
One exit poll I saw had almost twice as many voters having trouble voting for a woman for president than voting for a black man.
The New York Times had a long piece about a future woman president today, Kate Zernike writes:
That woman will come from the South, or west of the Mississippi. She will be a Democrat who has won in a red state, or a Republican who has emerged from the private sector to run for governor. She will have executive experience, and have served in a job like attorney general, where she will have proven herself to be "a fighter" (a caring one, of course).
She will be young enough to qualify as postfeminist (in the way Senator Barack Obama has come off as postracial), unencumbered by the battles of the past. She will be married with children, but not young children. She will be emphasizing her experience, and wearing, yes, pantsuits.
Oh, and she may not exist.
The future candidates Zernike offers up are far-fetched and unlikely. I do not see another woman having the money, the message, or the national stature to run for president in my lifetime.
I believe that it will be a long, long time before another woman makes a credible run for president.
This is a tragedy for America, especially when compared to the rise of so many other women political leaders around the world.
(Also see monday's New York Times As Clinton's Hopes Dim, Gender Issue Lives On By JODI KANTOR)
To be sure there have been many racist incidents in this heated campaign as seen by Kevin Merida article in the Washington Post earlier this week which drew 2100 comments and much media attention.
One could surely come up with a video of racist images aimed at Obama, but the sexist anti-woman aspect of the campaign has not been fully documented. Obama is not to blame for the blatant sexism, but we must confront it nevertheless.
Many HuffPo readers do not support Hillary Clinton, but every woman, and man, and Obama supporter, should be horrified by the video below.
But alas, I am sure that this political season has been so polarizing that it will bring out a slew of sexist comments from even the enlightened HuffPo community.
Please just take a few minutes to view the entire YouTube video and try to leave your personal political preferences out of it and you will be as appalled as I was.
Write to: jfleetwood@aol.com