Another Night with the Democrats

Well, I've spent another night staying up past 11:30 p.m. here in the Eastern Time Zone to listen to the speeches at the Democratic Convention. I tuned in after PBS's NewsHour with Jim Lehrer at 8 p.m. and watched fairly faithfully throughout the evening. I missed a couple of the shorter speeches. The speeches of ordinary folks such as Gloria Craven, former textile worker from North Carolina, and Lilly Ledbetter of Alabama, who sued Goodyear for wage discrimination, tended to be spoken in a monotone as these inexperienced speakers depended too much on the teleprompter. However, these women's experiences demonstrated the economic and judicial shortcomings of this Republican administration. Ledbetter discovered that Goodyear had paid comparable male colleagues more than she for years. She sued and won her case, but then the Supreme Court, in a 5-4 decision, struck down her suit on what seems to be a very narrow technicality. Interested in just what the Supreme Court decided this woman should have done? See Matthew Yglesias' post.

The highlight of the night was Hillary Clinton's speech, and I thought it was a good one. What a president she would make! But, then, I voted for Barack Obama, and I'm standing by my man. Clinton stood by Barack Obama, too, in this speech, and she's set the bar high for tomorrow night's key speeches by Joe Biden and Bill Clinton. Hope they don't disappoint.

I'm Disappointed, Too

When accusations of using the race card in the campaign began to be lobbied against the Clintons, I was skeptical, but I listened closely to an exchange on PBS's Lehrer News Hour between Rep. John Lewis of Georgia (who led the 1965 voting rights march in Selma, Alabama) and Rev. Joseph Lowery (co-founder, with Dr. Martin Luther King, of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference) on this topic. Congressman Lewis has openly supported the Clinton campaign, and Rev. Lowery is a supporter of Barack Obama. As each man argued, I thought how this was a defining moment in some ways: two well-known and respected African-American men were openly discussing their differences of opinion, not bound by the politics of race which requires those of the same race to "present a united front." Each put the best spin on his candidate's actions. I came away thinking that the press was perhaps being too hard on the Clintons.

Recent statements of Bill Clinton's, however, have changed my mind. President Clinton has every right to strongly support his wife's campaign, but some of his recent comments have the whiff of the nasty personal attacks associated with the right-wing "noise machine." I was horrified and disgusted with the Republican tactics in many recent political campaigns: the Saxby Chambliss attacks on the patriotism of Max Cleland and the Swift-boating of John Kerry. The Clintons do not do Democrats any favors with Bill Clinton's recent comments comparing Barack Obama's win in South Carolina with Jesse Jackson's presidential campaign in the same state, dismissing Obama's victory as merely the result of the "black candidate" getting the "black vote."

Glenn Glenwald excellently describes the situation and the Clintons' missteps in his blog. I, like many Democratic women my age, want to see a strong woman president, and I think Hillary Clinton is our best hope and could make a good president. However, I believe Barack Obama is a good candidate, too, and my vote could easily go to Barack Obama if the Clintons don't change their campaign tactics. The Republican smearing is going to be bad enough after Democrats nominate a candidate; Democrats should not take a page out of the Republican smear-tactics game book to smear one another.

Other Comments:
From Barbara Ehrenreich's blog
James Fallows' blog

Is That Sexism? You Bet!

Now, I hadn't decided which candidate I hoped would be the Democratic nominee for president. I like the front-runners for different reasons. John Edwards supports women's rights, he understands the needs of the poor, and he has a strong, smart wife whom I admire. Barack Obama is a fresh (minority!) face, with good ideas, a smooth presentation, and a strong, smart wife whom I admire. Hillary Clinton is tough and smart, but I've been concerned about her vote for supporting President Bush in the Iraq war and about her inside-the-beltway connections that seem a little too cozy.

However, the "how do we beat the bitch" question posed to John McCain by a white-haired woman has fired me up. A woman runs for president in the United States, and she's called a "bitch." And John McCain doesn't flinch from the language--using it, instead, to raise a lot of money for his campaign. Then Clinton gets tossed that "diamonds or pearls" question. !!!?

My mind is now made up. It's way past time that the United States had a woman president. I mean, good god, Chile has a woman president; Argentina just elected a woman president; Germany has a woman president--among others. Hillary Clinton for President!