Not what I expected to feel.
Nov. 4th, 2008 10:35 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
iceminkSo it's over. I've been jittery and excited all day (if all my rare LJ posts haven't told you that). I love election day, and I couldn't wait to hear that Obama had won. But something funny happened as I watched him walk out on the stage to make his acceptance speech,
It hit me all of a sudden while I listened to my parents marvel at the fact that we actually had an African-American president. All I could think was that we still had a male president. It surprised me because I thought all my bitterness over Hillary's loss was gone. I like Obama, I do, and even if I've never drunk the Kool-aid I think he can do really great things for this country.
But I can't seem to forget all the misogynistic things I heard when Clinton was running. Which is even stranger because in retrospect, looking back on the primaries, I don't think it was sexism that cost Hillary the nomination. I think it was a lot of things, including overconfidence on her part, and a very well run campaign on Obama's part. But so many people I had respected in the press, people I thought were part of the same world view as myself, especially (but certainly not only) Keith Olberman, said things that horrified me.
I feel so happy for what an Obama presidency means for so much of our country. I watched on the news tears of African-Americans who must feel more a part of our country than they had ever felt before. And I couldn't help just a bit on the outside as I watched another man take the highest office in our country.
And I'm torn between feeling that this is rational and irrational. Because the other thing I saw as Obama walked out on that stage was the warmth between himself and Michelle. I don't know that we've ever had a first couple who so clearly loved and respected each other. And as I watched Obama hug his girls, I fully believed what he's said in the past about wanting to make sure that when they grow up they will be treated the same as their male counter parts. And I thought of Joe Biden tearing up during the debate as he talked about being a single father. And that means so much for me, because I firmly believe that for woman to have the same rights to work as men, father's must have the same chances to be parents as women.
And yet, just as I can't fully understand the experience of African-American's in our country, I wonder if Obama, can fully understand my experience. And I couldn't help but note, when he talked about the 106 year old black woman, who was born in a time when she couldn't vote, saw her black brothers vote long before she could. In fact Obama was somewhat wrong when he said she couldn't vote because she was black. The 15th Amendment, which gave non-whites the right to vote, was passed in 1870, whereas the 19th Amendment which gave women the right to vote was passed in 1920, fifty years later.
It makes me wonder how long it will be before we get a vice-presidential candidate that's both a woman and a serious candidate (as I think neither Geraldine Ferrara nor Sarah Palin were), or a president that's a woman. After all, I see Obama winning again in four years, and after that Biden will have the nomination if he wants it.
On the other hand, it was only four years ago that most of us heard of Barak Obama for the first time. Who knows what woman might emerge on the American political scene in the mean time. And certainly neither Clinton nor Pelosi are going away.
In the mean time, by the end of Obama's speech I was in tears. And I want more than anything for him to be the great president that so many people think he can be. Realistically too I realize that he may have opportunities to unite the country that Hillary wouldn't have had. I want him to succeed. I want him to be the President I hope he is. But when I looked on the faces of so many African-American's, I envied them their triumph, and the feeling that America has accepted them at last.
It hit me all of a sudden while I listened to my parents marvel at the fact that we actually had an African-American president. All I could think was that we still had a male president. It surprised me because I thought all my bitterness over Hillary's loss was gone. I like Obama, I do, and even if I've never drunk the Kool-aid I think he can do really great things for this country.
But I can't seem to forget all the misogynistic things I heard when Clinton was running. Which is even stranger because in retrospect, looking back on the primaries, I don't think it was sexism that cost Hillary the nomination. I think it was a lot of things, including overconfidence on her part, and a very well run campaign on Obama's part. But so many people I had respected in the press, people I thought were part of the same world view as myself, especially (but certainly not only) Keith Olberman, said things that horrified me.
I feel so happy for what an Obama presidency means for so much of our country. I watched on the news tears of African-Americans who must feel more a part of our country than they had ever felt before. And I couldn't help just a bit on the outside as I watched another man take the highest office in our country.
And I'm torn between feeling that this is rational and irrational. Because the other thing I saw as Obama walked out on that stage was the warmth between himself and Michelle. I don't know that we've ever had a first couple who so clearly loved and respected each other. And as I watched Obama hug his girls, I fully believed what he's said in the past about wanting to make sure that when they grow up they will be treated the same as their male counter parts. And I thought of Joe Biden tearing up during the debate as he talked about being a single father. And that means so much for me, because I firmly believe that for woman to have the same rights to work as men, father's must have the same chances to be parents as women.
And yet, just as I can't fully understand the experience of African-American's in our country, I wonder if Obama, can fully understand my experience. And I couldn't help but note, when he talked about the 106 year old black woman, who was born in a time when she couldn't vote, saw her black brothers vote long before she could. In fact Obama was somewhat wrong when he said she couldn't vote because she was black. The 15th Amendment, which gave non-whites the right to vote, was passed in 1870, whereas the 19th Amendment which gave women the right to vote was passed in 1920, fifty years later.
It makes me wonder how long it will be before we get a vice-presidential candidate that's both a woman and a serious candidate (as I think neither Geraldine Ferrara nor Sarah Palin were), or a president that's a woman. After all, I see Obama winning again in four years, and after that Biden will have the nomination if he wants it.
On the other hand, it was only four years ago that most of us heard of Barak Obama for the first time. Who knows what woman might emerge on the American political scene in the mean time. And certainly neither Clinton nor Pelosi are going away.
In the mean time, by the end of Obama's speech I was in tears. And I want more than anything for him to be the great president that so many people think he can be. Realistically too I realize that he may have opportunities to unite the country that Hillary wouldn't have had. I want him to succeed. I want him to be the President I hope he is. But when I looked on the faces of so many African-American's, I envied them their triumph, and the feeling that America has accepted them at last.
