Much to my amazement, this primary seems to have become more of a gender war than a race war, the exact reverse of what I expected. Sorry to say, there's plenty of reason for that. Obama needs to cross that particular line, too, because this entire primary season is about beating history in order to get to a better future.
More below.
Tim Russert hit the nail on the head last night, amidst all the blathering about why "Obama can't close." (Are you as sick of that distortion as I am?)
Anyway, Russert quite rightly said that women, especially older women, are for the first time seeing the very real possibilty that a woman could become President in this country, and they don't want to vote against that dream. (Paraphrasing. I doubt Russert ever uses the word dream.) Importantly, white women are a majority of voters, and that's why Clinton's campaign won't die.
As a supporter of Obama while still being a member of Clinton's "demographic" of old, white and female (Call me Old White Woman, aka OWW), I think that's an issue worth exploring, because the women voting for Clinton have a legitimate beef. The unfortunate part, in my opinion, is that it's leading them to vote for the wrong candidate.
As the OWW I am, I have a memory of the days when I was paid less for doing the same job as a man, because I was, after all, just working for pin money while men were working to support families. (Wrong!) As an OWW, I can remember women graduating from college only to discover that no one cared that they had a degree in Math, or Oceanography, or some other "male" field... and in order to get a job they had to do things like, oh... train as a legal secretary. Or get that teaching certificate so they could be shoved into an elementary or high school. I was allowed to wait tables, but not manage the restaurant. I could be some guy's executive secretary, do 90% of his job for 10% of the pay... and be called "my girl."
I've also watched, over the years, as women moved in large numbers into fields that were previously all male. Take PR for example. Once the majority of PR people became women, the pay in the field dropped by 45%. (This amazing statistic emerged in the early eighties, but darned if I can find it to refer you to it. Still, it was burned into my brain as a serious indicator of my chances and prospects.)
Women like my sister, a professional, watched as men with fewer qualifications became partners in the firm, while she had the promise dangled in front of her constantly to keep her from leaving, but never got the partnership.
I could go on, but why bore you? The point is, these women have a beef. A legitimate one, especially among us older chicks. We're bloody from beating our heads on the glass ceiling, and a lot of us grew bitter in the process.
So along comes Hillary. A woman who could actually become president.
And out comes all the old bitterness. All the anger at men who have deprived us of opportunities. Anger at men who have left us for "trophy wives" leaving us to scramble to survive down at the bottom of the economic ladder they never allowed us to climb. Anger about the way we have been treated by men since time immemorial. And we see our chance to change the game.
In my mind, every time I hear the phrase "white men are breaking for Obama" I see another OWW woman getting up and heading to the polls to take a swipe at all those white men who have held her down in her life. In fact, in my own personal and unscientific poll, I have discovered quite a few black women are also feeling the same.
Have you managed to stay with me? Maybe not. Maybe you're tired of hearing about this, and figure it's all history. But that history is biting us on the backside right now.
What is happening in the campaign is the revolt of the OWW. Barack needs to find a way to reach out to these women, to reach past their anger and sense of being held down, and lift them up directly. Hillary does it indirectly, just by being a woman. But Barack is going to have to put it out there in so many words and deeds. He needs to woo these women because they're an important voting block, a very big voting block, and anger and a "dream" are causing women (in my opinion) to vote for the wrong person.
I'm sorry my fellow OWW can't see that while Hillary may be a woman she she wears the same old "political pants" in her brain. That Iran comment scares me to death.
But my sisters are enthralled by a dream that has blinded them to the real hope in this campaign. They see a huge chance to finally win for womanhood. To put a woman in the most powerful office in the land. To give their daughters and granddaughters a hope that has previously belonged only to white men.
So folks, if you know an OWW who's voting for Hillary, try talking to her about what she's really voting for in terms of her children and grandchildren.
And if you're a male, get off your behind and get to the polls, and get your dads and granddads to the polls to vote for Obama. No reason women should count for the majority of voters.
And Senator Obama, may I respectfully suggest that you reach out to the OWW woman vote and make it clear to them why you won't be "just another man in the White House."
Too much is at stake to let old wounds determine this outcome.