Is it possible for committed feminist like myself to actively campaign for Obama? I remember the first time I heard Hilary speak, almost 20 years ago, so impressed by her, and wondering if I would ever live to see the day when she might become our president. Now that this is a distinct possibility, I am shocked to find myself where I presently am. I have to say it isn’t easy to abandon Hilary, who is smart, ready, and able to be president. I can’t help but respect her command of the issues when I see her in the debates. But, and this is a big BUT, as a feminist I am concerned for the future of our children, as well as for the planet if our broken system of corporate-domination of American politics is not radically changed.
As a long-time feminist activist and founder of two successful women’s organizations, I would love to see a woman president. But the very future of our nation, and Mother Earth, depend on bold leadership, buttressed by a massive movement for political change. Whoever, can galvanize such a movement has my vote, regardless of gender. The critical issues facing our nation today transcend identity politics, whether racial or gender-based.
The survival of the planet, and of the shrinking American middle class, require bold leadership, backed by a Congress that is willing to do the right thing, regardless of corporate concerns for how this will affect their profitability. It is not news to anyone that the huge multi-national corporations care only about their own bottom lines, and have abandoned any sense of good citizenship to this country, to their workers, to the environment, and to the communities they operate in. It is an open secret that their lobbyists are writing the laws, and that our legislators owe their first allegiance to their corporate donors, rather than to the public interest. Until now it was understood that the huge cost of elections, coupled with the general apathy of the citizenry, required candidates to obtain corporate sponsors in order to compete. That's why once elected, there seems to be no real difference between Democrats and Republicans, as evidenced by our current lackluster Democratic Congress.
I admire Hilary Clinton, but the Clintons, no matter how personally liberal, are very much products of this system, and owe their political careers to their mastery of it. For every social justice or women’s rights program they get, they give away the store in the back rooms where economic deals are made. (NAFTA, media conglomeration, and the wholesale appointment of corporate lackeys to positions on the federal regulatory commissions that oversee their own industries, are but a few examples).
Hilary, no matter how sincere, is a product of this system, and even if she honestly wanted to, would be unable to change it, since it would require the cooperation of the Congress, who itself is corporate-sponsored. I supported Hilary when I believed that the undue influence of lobbyist money was an intractable part American real-politics, and given that, felt she would at least use the power she did have to tinker around the edges on behalf of social programs that benefited the rest of us. That was the best I thought possible given the reality that elections are massively expensive, and to win them required accepting huge corporate donations, with strings attached. Until now.
Although Edwards campaigned vigorously on the issue of getting corporate money out of politics, I never believed that he would have the ability to actually do anything about it even if he were elected President. I figured that the corporate-owned Congress would sabotage anything he proposed, just as Bill Clinton’s Democratic congress sabotaged Hilary’s healthcare plan. At least Hilary had the political skills to game the system, and manage to fulfill some social agenda issues, I thought. While in theory I believed that a mass movement from the grassroots might possibly be strong enough to win an election without taking corporate money, I never thought the slumbering masses of exhausted Americans would ever rise up to organize. Until now.
Barack Obama’s campaign is unique in modern American history in that it is much more than a political campaign for president. He is building a viable mass movement of folks, like myself, who are mobilized, energized, and actively working to reinvigorate the Democratic party so that it once again represents the public interest. He/we have already demonstrated what this means: (1) millions of dollars can be raised to go toe-to-toe with the corporate donations received by the Clinton machine, and (2) voters can be turned out in huge numbers, sufficient to win where it counts, at the ballot box. This is the true meaning of grassroots democracy, and it represents real political strength. Obama, if elected by this mass uprising of a newly energized electorate, will have a true mandate to change the system. For real. A Congress that doesn’t go along will find itself replaced by a new generation of Obama Democrats, because our movement will have proven that it can formidably win elections against corporate-sponsored candidates.
As a feminist I have been active on almost every front of our historic quest for gender justice. But the movement that Obama is creating to build a grassroots organization capable of sending honest politicians to Washington, in order to take back our government institutions from the undue influence of the special interests, is perhaps the defining issue of these times. If feminism’s core value is equality, then, it can only achieve marginal victories within a system that is so unequal, with the power of the political machinery controlled by the corporate elite, dominated by a white male old boy system that does not reflect the demographic changes that feminism has achieved on the ground.
For the first time ever I, like so many others, volunteered to be a precinct captain and to call my neighbors on behalf of Obama—a task I was at first hesitant to take on. I was amazed that people were really receptive to the fact that a real person, a neighbor yet, was calling instead of some paid script reader, or telephone droid. Many of them were impressed that this was not the first phone call they had received from the Obama campaign, and were awed that indeed he seemed to be mobilizing an army of volunteers. Also, to my great surprise, many told me that their Republican family members, who would never vote for a Clinton, were thinking about voting for Barack should he get the nomination. And others told me that their adult children who had never voted, and had been turned off to politics, were voting for Obama as well. And I saw for myself the massive turn-out of young adults at an Obama speech I attended. Out of 8,000 PAYING attendees in the audience, over half were young. Like me, they came out, paying $15 for a ticket (non-students paid $30), and stood in line for 3 HOURS to wildly cheer this amazing man’s message of hope, determination, clarity and vision. Everyone who attended was asked to sign up on the campaign, and the majority did. This campaign truly understands how to effectively organize and raise money as well as volunteers. This is nothing short of impressive.
Recently we were challenged as a statewide organization to make 100,000 calls on behalf of Obama. I did my part for about 2.5 hours, and wondered if we had reached our collective goal. I was heartened to hear that at the end of the day we had actually managed to contact 200,000 likely voters—double the goal. Many hands make work light. What an incredible organization this is. The people united cannot be defeated is what we used to chant, and now I can proudly say, the truth of that slogan is being played out in this remarkably well-run and effective campaign.
If our movement secures the nomination for Obama, I admit a part of my heart will break for Hilary’s personal loss. But with an Obama presidency, Hilary will be able to go back to the Senate and actually get passed the kind of social and economic justice legislation that she has always dreamed of. With an Obama mandate, and her hands untied from corporate influence, she will rise to greatness as the change-agent she once aspired to become, before she understood that in deference to her corporate sponsors she had to lower her sights, and compromise her goals. She will no longer have to be satisfied with small incremental changes, but can at last put her incredible vision to work actually crafting the kind of system-changing legislation we as a nation need and deserve. She will be able to fully walk her talk, and we will all be the beneficiaries—women, children, and our men. The energy of Obama’s movement is the only way for this to become possible. So I guess I am a proud feminist for Obama.