Love vs. lust: Gloria Steinem vs. Surrender Dorothy blog

I loved Gloria Steinem's op-ed in today's New York Times. Steinem writes like the senior stateswoman she is, strengthening her relationship with her existing followers and building bridges to new ones.

But I lust after Surrender Dorothy today. There and on BlogHer.com, Blogger Rita offers up the muthavoter version of Steinem's message:

Voting for Hillary for the Same Reason I Lost My Virginity

"...This country needs to just go ahead and elect a woman already. It's time. We all know it's time, are itching to just GET IT OVER WITH, get a woman in office and put an end to the questions of whether or not her PMS is going to interfere with her foreign policy. Hey, I'm a woman, and I'm an emotional wreck, but I'm not the kind of woman who is going to run for public office. The kind of woman who runs for public office has big, brass balls of her own that she wears on a pearl strand around her neck. The kind of woman who runs for office stands next to her husband while he's talking about whether or not he had his dick sucked by an intern and then the next year runs for Senate. Folks, Hillary isn't going to break into tears over much. She's a female politician, and she's tough. Give her the job. Let's get this over with.

"I am going to vote for Hillary because this country needs practice accepting a female leader, and Hillary can handle being the first. She may not be the best candidate I can think of to be Leader of the Free World, but she's good enough to pave the path for better candidates of the female variety in the future. Allowing women to take a viable swing at our nation's highest office will bring twice as many candidates to the table in future elections.

"Our entire judicial system is set on precedent. Our Constitution, on which we base all of our laws, is one big precedent. It's the way we structure our beliefs in this country - we believe that if we've seen it happen once, it can happen again. But until we've seen it happen, we doubt. I've got an opportunity to vote to make it happen. Listen, if Hillary were a right-wing Republican, I wouldn't vote for her just because she's a woman. She's not. I do think she's a moderate Democrat. I'm way more liberal than Hillary, but she's got good positions on healthcare and education, and she's learned from her mistakes on Iraq. She's a good, Democrat woman, up against good, Democrat men. Apples to apples, I'm taking the pear..." Read the whole thing

Pow! Whether you agree with her choice of candidate or not, Rita can work a metaphor.

Me? Still undecided about our next president. But loving every minute of this. How about you?
 

Comments

[Rachele]

Dude, the crazy media hype of Obama's Iowa win has just pushed me even further into Hillary's camp, for reasons btoh Gloria and Rita allude to. The dominant media narrative/frame in every outlet crowed like an Obama campaign memo: "Obama is the new, exciting, substantive cnadidate for real change in America, Hillary's just a corporate, more of the same, also-ran, rejected by even Independent and female voters. Her candidacy is crumbling, look!" The unbridled gloating only made it more obvious than ever that sexism DOES trump all - nobody wants a woman with power, period. Amen to Ms. Steinem for tellin it like it is!

[Anna]

The first two paragraphs of Gloria Steinem's piece woke me up to Surrender Dorothy's conclusion. IT IS TIME.

[Lisa Stone]

Rachele, thanks for your post. In the past week, I've spoke with a number of women who told me media hyperbole alone had turned them protectively toward Hillary Clinton.

I was at a dinner last night with eight people who represented four parties: Republican, Democrat, Libertarian and Independent. The two staunches Republicans at the table had already voted for Obama. The women were sidling toward Hillary -- I heard shades of your words, Anna.

Thanks for the feedback!