I would like to point you to an interesting read. The Stranger, a free Seattle weekly paper, has a feature up with the colorful title Hillary Clinton Has a Vagina and So Do I.
Erica Bartlett is not happy about the assumption that she should support the woman in the race just because she is a woman.
As a progressive, a feminist, and a chick, my support for Clinton is presumed. After all, I have a vagina. So does she.
Especially given her longtime support for John Edwards
I like Edwards because he emphasizes poverty, social justice, and ending corporate welfare. Of all the candidates, his positions are most in line with my beliefs. His campaign promises—ending corporate welfare, eliminating tax giveaways to the wealthiest two percent of Americans, implementing a just system of health care for all—are most in line with what I want.
But she is torn
But like almost everyone who is not a straight, white, Christian male, I've dreamed of having someone in the White House who looks like me. This is more than simplistic identity politics. Yes, it's identity politics, but it's not simple.
She goes on to give a thorough discussion of the validity of the identity politics case for Clinton. Her skepticism towards Clinton lead her to be more thorough than other writers I have seen on this subject. She is also fair.
But although Edwards and Obama may agree with Clinton on many things, I believe that---as a progressive woman---Clinton would be far more likely to prioritize women and children than any candidate who has never been a woman or a mother.
This point, in particular, stood out as new to me:
She points to a 2005 study by researchers at Yale University that found that male politicians with daughters were actually more likely to focus on "women's issues" than female candidates.
It's a good thing that nearly all of our candidates have daughters!
In the end, she does not abandon her candidate. But she does say that Clinton might be OK too.
I'll still support Edwards if he gets the nomination---an outcome that seems less and less likely in light of the Clinton juggernaut. But if it's Clinton, I'll support her enthusiastically. As a feminist and a woman, I'm ready to see someone who shares my values and my gender in the White House. It's about time.