This is in response to Gloria Steinem’s accusation that it’s merely male misogyny and “girls chasing boys” that’s leading people to choose Bernie over Hillary.
The choice of president is a four year commitment to be led by someone. Their ties to influencers, the favors they owe, the contributions they’ve accepted all play a major role in progressives’ choice.
If misogyny is the problem we are seeking to derail by choosing a woman president, then it should be a progressive woman we elect as the first woman president. Hillary Clinton is not a progressive woman. Her deep ties to the interests of the over-powered wealthy disqualify her from such a title. She has only recently chosen to call herself progressive as a reaction to the strong and growing base of people who support Bernie Sanders. She wants their votes and if she can’t have them, she’ll buy superdelegates so the progressives who don’t like her, don’t matter.
For us who care about progress it makes sense to wait for the right woman rather than committing to Hillary based on gender… regardless of whether Madeline Albright believes there’s a special place in hell for you or not (pshew… glad I’m off the hook here). These cheap-shot accusations of being dim and unfeminist impress me on how much more important it is that we ask which woman we want to be our first president. If we elect someone who is responsively progressive (progressive because that message got Obama votes and that’s how Bernie is getting votes), we’re stuck with what ever kind of “progressive” she chooses to be for four years.
Hillary Clinton’s recent “progressive conversion” is and has been unsteady in what it views to be the proper relationship between the wealthy and the working class. Hillary has courted moneyed interests while Bernie has decades of advocating and voting for a healthier balance between the two classes in America.
America wants a woman president. We also want the right woman to be the first woman president. Instead of jumping for Hillary, let’s seek out the right woman and build her up into the genuinely progressive president we demand. In Bernie, progressives have a clear, winning choice. For now, let’s focus on the need to correct that imbalance of socio-economic power. For now, let’s work to create a healthier socio-economic structure. And while we keep President Sanders accountable, we pay attention to the progressive women in Washington.
Let’s build support around a woman who has the steady, progressive agenda America needs. For now, let’s vote for Bernie. We can’t afford to have a president who has a history of disregarding our need to re-balance the power struggle between the wealthy and the needy. We can’t elect a president -woman or not- who cashes checks from wall street while promising to “reign in its excesses.”
Let’s build up support around a woman we can trust. We don’t have Elizabeth Warren on the ballot today, but I’ll wait until we have a candidate like Warren — a true progressive- to be our first woman president.