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Sunday, September 28, 2008

But she's a woman!

Sarah Palin shares nothing but a chromosome with Hillary Clinton.
She is Phyllis Schlafly, only younger.

- By Gloria Steinem September 4, 2008

Here's the good news: Women have become so politically powerful that even the anti-feminist right wing -- the folks with a headlock on the Republican Party -- are trying to appease the gender gap with a first-ever female vice president. We owe this to women -- and to many men too -- who have picketed, gone on hunger strikes or confronted violence at the polls so women can vote. We owe it to Shirley Chisholm, who first took the "white-male-only" sign off the White House, and to Hillary Rodham Clinton, who hung in there through ridicule and misogyny to win 18 million votes.

But here is even better news: It won't work. This isn't the first time a boss has picked an unqualified woman just because she agrees with him and opposes everything most other women want and need. Feminism has never been about getting a job for one woman. It's about making life more fair for women everywhere. It's not about a piece of the existing pie; there are too many of us for that. It's about baking a new pie.

Selecting Sarah Palin, who was touted all summer by Rush Limbaugh, is no way to attract most women, including die-hard Clinton supporters. Palin shares nothing but a chromosome with Clinton . Her down-home, divisive and deceptive speech did nothing to cosmeticize a Republican convention that has more than twice as many male delegates as female, a presidential candidate who is owned and operated by the right wing and a platform that opposes pretty much everything Clinton's candidacy stood for -- and that Barack Obama's still does. To vote in protest for McCain/Palin would be like saying, "Somebody stole my shoes, so I'll amputate my legs."

This is not to beat up on Palin. I defend her right to be wrong, even on issues that matter most to me. I regret that people say she can't do the job because she has children in need of care, especially if they wouldn't say the same about a father. I get no pleasure from imagining her in the spotlight on national and foreign policy issues about which she has zero background, with one month to learn to compete with Sen. Joe Biden's 37 years' experience.

Palin has been honest about what she doesn't know. When asked last month about the vice presidency, she said, "I still can't answer that question until someone answers for me: What is it exactly that the VP does every day?" When asked about Iraq , she said, "I haven't really focused much on the war in Iraq "

She was elected governor largely because the incumbent was unpopular, and she's won over Alaskans mostly by using unprecedented oil wealth to give a $1,200 rebate to every resident. Now she is being praised by McCain's campaign as a tax cutter, despite the fact that Alaska has no state income or sales tax. Perhaps McCain has opposed affirmative action for so long that he doesn't know it's about inviting more people to meet standards, not lowering them. Or perhaps McCain is following the Bush administration habit, as in the Justice Department, of putting a job candidate's views on "God, guns and gays" ahead of competence. The difference is that McCain is filling a job one 72-year-old heartbeat away from the presidency.

So let's be clear: The culprit is John McCain. He may have chosen Palin out of change-envy, or a belief that women can't tell the difference between form and content, but the main motive was to please right-wing ideologues; the same ones who nixed anyone who is now or ever has been a supporter of reproductive freedom. If that were not the case, McCain could have chosen a woman who knows what a vice president does and who has thought about Iraq ; someone like Texas Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison or Sen. Olympia Snowe of Maine . McCain could have taken a baby step away from right-wing patriarchs who determine his actions, right down to opposing the Violence Against Women Act.

Palin's value to those patriarchs is clear: She opposes just about every issue that women support by a majority or plurality. She believes that creationism should be taught in public schools but disbelieves global warming; she opposes gun control but supports government control of women's wombs; she opposes stem cell research but approves "abstinence-only" programs, which increase unwanted births, sexually transmitted diseases and abortions; she tried to use taxpayers' millions for a state program to shoot wolves from the air but didn't spend enough money to fix a state school system with the lowest high-school graduation rate in the nation; she runs with a candidate who opposes the Fair Pay Act but supports $500 million in subsidies for a natural gas pipeline across Alaska; she supports drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Reserve, though even McCain has opted for the lesser evil of offshore drilling. She is Phyllis Schlafly, only younger.

I don't doubt her sincerity. As a lifetime member of the National Rifle Assn., she doesn't just support killing animals from helicopters, she does it herself. She doesn't just talk about increasing the use of fossil fuels but puts a coal-burning power plant in her own small town. She doesn't just echo McCain's pledge to criminalize abortion by overturning Roe vs. Wade, she says that if one of her daughters were impregnated by rape or incest, she should bear the child. She not only opposes reproductive freedom as a human right but implies that it dictates abortion, without saying that it also protects the right to have a child.

So far, the major new McCain supporter that Palin has attracted is James Dobson of Focus on the Family. Of course, for Dobson, "women are merely waiting for their husbands to assume leadership," so he may be voting for Palin's husband.

Being a hope-a-holic, however, I can see two long-term bipartisan gains from this contest.

Republicans may learn they can't appeal to right-wing patriarchs and most women at the same time. A loss in November could cause the centrist majority of Republicans to take back their party, which was the first to support the Equal Rights Amendment and should be the last to want to invite government into the wombs of women.

And American women, who suffer more because of having two full-time jobs than from any other single injustice, finally have support on a national stage from male leaders who know that women can't be equal outside the home until men are equal in it. Barack Obama and Joe Biden are campaigning on their belief that men should be, can be and want to be at home for their children.

This could be huge.

Gloria Steinem is an author, feminist organizer and co-founder of the Women's Media Center . She supported Hillary Clinton and is now supporting Barack Obama.

9 comments:

OldLady Of The Hills said...

THIS IS POWERFUL! And so right on the money! I LOVE Gloria Steinem and I LOVE you for reprinting this here on your Blog, Rain. You really do us all a great service with not only sharing your own feelings in your own words about all this, but by sharing this article, too....I had not seen this, and It Says It All! Thank You, dear Rain!

Brenda Pruitt said...

I am 51 years old. I had a baby at 17, and raised her, got married and had another. I am now married to a physician. We are both proud Democrats. I am appalled that women are even remotely considering voting for this woman. What my oldest daughter calls "a man in a skirt." I primarily blog about my garden and home, and in that genre, believe me, I am in in the minority. So happy to have found someone who heartily agrees. Finally. Women will be stepping back years if this woman gets one high heel in the White House.
Brenda

Mary Lou said...

If the interview with Katie did not convince those that would vote for the GOP then NOTHING will. OH. My. GOD!

Anonymous said...

Sorry...I just don't agree with you, and my numerous Democrat lady friends don't either.
Sarah is a great role model for young feminist women...she says what's on her mind and can hunt and fish better than many men.
She has fought the corrupt politicos in her own party...that says tons about her.
Since Hillary is not in the race, my vote is McCain/Palin. Obama is a sexist empty suit, as many Americans are finding out.

Rain Trueax said...

Kara, I hope that if young women are using her as a role model it's based on the image not the reality of Sarah Palin. If you followed any of my links in the previous blog, you'd find the reality is a woman who lies, who has earned a reputation she hasn't done anything to deserve, who poses in full make up with the animal she just shot for a photo that she can use campaigning.

If you really go looking, you will find in Alaska there are two versions of Palin and you won't find the truth by listening to the spin. Many like her purely because she fought the oil companies for increased state taxes that were then sent back to the Alaskan citizens in a reverse income tax. She can't do that anywhere else and don't forget you are paying that reverse income tax for them (unless you live there and then you like how you get it from everybody down south).

We don't need a president who can hunt and fish like a man or one who is fun at a barbecue. We need one who truly understands the complexity of this country's problem and won't feed people pablum when they need to hear the hard truths about our situation and what must be done now. Hearing how exceptional we are won't work unless we have the reality to back it up. Think Emperor's New Clothes.

Many will vote for her, and sounds like you will be one. That's your choice. I hope you all do so based on the truth and not the spin. Find out what's really gone down, and then make a decision.

I have no problem with those who vote for her based on her desire to end all legal abortions. I do with those who think the government does not have the power to do that. If you agree with her position on that, it makes sense to try and send abortions into back alleys again. Just don't kid yourself it cannot happen. It has before and is one judge away from happening again in any right wing oriented state.

Personally, I believe in voting on the issues and realize there are those who will see Palin's stand on say teaching creationism in science classes as the right one. They will think her desire for government to ban certain books is a good idea. It makes sense for them to vote for her. But make sure you agree on her issues (if after listening to her speak about them you can even understand what they are).

To me, it's vote for the candidate who is going to try to do what you believe should be done. Voting on ideal role models for anybody can end up backfiring. There are more than a few of those images that end up anything but the reality.

Anonymous said...

I WILL vote for her...I don't believe all the attacks that the mainstream media has made up about her...the people of Alaska love her, and they are the best judge.
Besides, Gloria Steinem has seen better days...she doesn't represent the women of today.
I don't believe all this "back-alley" abortion stuff...women need to make better choices about the men they are with...and perhaps if they would learn to defend themselves (yes, even arm themselves, why should men have all the weapons?) they would have no problem fighting off a rapist. Women for too long have had this "victim" mentality..fight back, dangit! Stop thinking that everyone should just sit around singing Kumbaya..lol.
And that is another thing I like about her...she fights back!
She has my vote, and that of about 22 of my closest friends.

Rain Trueax said...

Just out of curiosity, Kara, what is the age group of you and your friends?

As for Alaska, it does buy some popularity to give each person an extra $1200 a year on top of the $2000 per capita ahead of that. But she's not universally popular up there. Perhaps you saw the rallies against her. If you agree with her on the issues though, hey it's a country based on the populace voting on that basis...

I grew up when abortion was illegal, saw the results. It won't be turned back in my state for awhile as we had it legal before the court found the right to privacy in the Constitution. If another court overturns that right, our state will stay legal until the feds try to block all abortions which could also happen with a right wing government. I do understand some people see that as the right thing to do.

My philosophy is to decide on issues that matter to you, evaluate the character of those who are running, vote informed not on spin from either side, and do vote-- so even if you and I disagree on the issues, I am glad you are voting. I do though hope it's based on looking at the issues and deciding which candidate backs yours.

You did watch the Katie Couric interview with Sarah Palin (it's on YouTube, of course, as part of being informed, right? The blog I wrote on Palin was ahead of this one and it has a few links.

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Barefoot and Pregnant in the Kitchen said...

Kara--Aside from her hunting/fishing abilities, what QUALITIES does she bring to the table? What EXPERIENCE does she have? Have you seen any of her interviews?? Can you tell me ONE thing she's done to progress women's rights? As far as Alaskan citizens goes, there have been quite a few large-scale protests against Palin. So, if Alaskans are the best judge of her character, why are so many of them protesting her as VP?

In Gloria Steinem's defense...I work for the Women's Media Center, co-founded by Gloria Steinem and, as a 24 year old woman who has spoken to her personally, read her current works and heard her lecture as recently as last week, I can say that she most certainly is not out-dated and yes, I do feel that she represents me and my opinions about our society today.

Lastly, we are all women posting our opinions about this election. We are writers expressing our opinions. I wouldn't say that anyone whose written on this blog, or any of the women I know in general hold any sort of vicim mentality. Women are fighting back, and have been fighting for years. Gloria Steinem is a wonderful example. And she is still fighting.

If any politician in this campaign is sexist it's McCain for think that women are stupid enough to support him JUST because Sarah Palin is a woman.