Princess and the Pea

Go Girls: Get Out and Vote with Mom & Dad

I'm very remiss in posting as I have started a new blog:  www.teensinbalance.com.  But a friend just sent me this from the White House Project,  and I really think it says it all. 

Supper Tuesday

At dinner last night, Adele announced: “I’m voting for…um, what’s his name again?” 

“Obama?”  I asked.

“Yah, him.”

“Why?”

“I dunno,” she shrugged.

“Because your friends talk about him, probably. Because their moms and dad like him.”

“You who voting for, Mama?” she asked, chomping on carrots and sounding like some Southern belle.

“The only woman on the ticket.  Hillary.”

“What’s her last name?”

“Clinton.”

“And she’d be the first woman president?” She seemed awed at the idea.

“Yes,” I remarked.

“ Wow.  I’d wanna be that,” she declared.

“Well, that’d be great because it may take that long for Americans to vote for an experienced, competent and capable woman.”

“Woah.”

Yeah, I thought. Let’s see Adele is seven -- in about 40 years she could run for office.  Why not?

Her father chimed in a few minutes later.  “I was on the radio yesterday.”

“Oh? O’Reilly again?” I asked but not as interested as he would have liked.  (He tolerates talk radio because, he claims, we have to know how the other side thinks no matter how distasteful.)

“No some other program, I’m not sure what.  I told them Hillary can’t win because she’s not likable.”

“Oh?” I asked slightly more interested.

“They wanted examples.”

“Hmm.”

“But I didn’t want to give in to their agenda.”

Adele chimed in, “I’m not hungry.”

Me neither, I thought. 

But Hillary won in Massachusetts.

Hillary in New Hampshire

You go girl.

And thank you to my NH neighbors. I tend to be in the minority with my friends and family when it comes to Hillary Clinton. I like her. I’ve seen her speak and she is personable, funny and smart. She’s someone I’d want as a mentor and a friend. She’s also one of those straight A students. Always prepared. Knows more than others. Comes across as scripted and shrill. And so people don’t like her. My peer group, women in their early 40s, think she should have walked out on Bill. They see her ambition overriding her feelings and self-respect.

Well I disagree. And I’ve been disappointed with my peer group for turning their backs on genuine feminist qualities and misunderstanding the importance of the feminist movement to better our lives today and pave the way for our own children. Last night when NH female voters came out in droves, young and old, I jumped for joy.

Gloria Steinem’s editorial I the NYT was so apt, Women Are Never Front Runners. I’d like to think she influenced some New Englander’s yesterday to see the role of gender and race in this political primary campaign. Perhaps it was Hillary showing her vulnerability and exhaustion. I didn’t see the moment replayed in the media but I heard about it. I did say to my husband, who was convinced it was over for her, that perhaps it would benefit her -- that people could see her humanity. I’m sure Steinem wrote her op-ed piece before Hillary’s slip. She wrote: “This country can no longer afford to choose our leaders from a talent pool limited by sex, race, money, powerful fathers and paper degrees. It’s time to take equal pride in breaking all the barriers. We have to be able to say: ‘I’m supporting her because she’ll be a great president and because she’s a woman.’”

Here here.