in which I discover that I have been profoundly mistaken

[lolaraincoat]

I lost a big bet to twotoedsloth just about eight years ago. Some years before that, I had predicted that the PRI would never allow itself to lose a presidential election in Mexico - certainly not in my lifetime. I believed that the historical patterns that held them in place were just too powerful to be overcome. Two Toes thought otherwise and we put a

Comments

[logovo]

I never thought that the PRI would loose while I was still young, they were just a fact of life, forever in power, specially after Cardenas lost. I was so surprised that I was wrong.

A year ago, when I started reading about race in the US and who benefited more from the civil rights movement, white women or black folk (as bell hooks keeps saying), I thought there was no way Obama could win the nomination. I'm in awe and surprised right now, to see once again that I was too cynical and wrong, wrong, wrong. And like with the Mexican elections of 2000, I'm very glad to be wrong.

[lolaraincoat]

The first part of my academic career was devoted to explaining how the PRI maintained its power so effectively, so when they lost power that was a bit of a setback, personally. Still, worth it! Totally worth it!

I could - probably should - view Clinton's loss as an example of how limited the potential powers of middle-aged white women like me are, and therefore feel worse about it than I already do. But - worth it! Totally worth it! to see Barack Obama succeed.

[meri_oddities]

Now let's hope and pray and vote (though I don't guess you can do that) that he wins the election in November.

[lolaraincoat]

Oh, I totally vote. I live abroad but I'm still a US citizen, voting in the last jurisdiction in the US in which I resided. And even when I become a Canadian citizen I can keep my citizenship in the US as well, and intend to.

[meri_oddities]

One more vote for our side!!

[fledgist]

Let us hope so.

[logovo1]

Very, very sad but not surprised that "Woman" is the new "Nigger."

D:

dude!

[lolaraincoat]

I know you're a Clinton supporter, and you know I love you, and I know you're furious about this, and you have good reasons to be. All the same, even in these circumstances I'd just as soon not have the N word used in any conversation at all - it's just, I dunno, more likely to shut down discussion than open it up.

Okay, that aside, I hope you don't sit this one out. The state in which we both vote is up for grabs again this November, and the differences between the Republicans and Democrats remain significant even if you truly dislike the candidate for whom you have to vote, which anyway I don't think you do.

[elphaba_of_oz]

Noted. I say the same thing to my mom when she uses it to describe the father of her grandcildren. I figured that if Patty Smith could use it in a song title, I could get away with it in this context. You know me. You know I'm pretty damned far from racist

[mulberryfields]

Personally, I wouldn't have said that racism is more powerful than sexism in the U.S. (or vice versa) - apples and oranges, and operating in different (and differently visible) ways. Also, I know it's inevitable that people use this primary, and its results, as a measure of one against the other (sexism vs. racism), but I dislike it. The primary becomes another chapter of what's become a really objectionable, and counter-productive, archetypal battle in our dumb country. Of course race and gender are a factor in the election, but there's always hope that people are making a more complicated choice than whether they'd rather support a woman or a black guy.

That being said, though, yay. It IS historic, and surprising. (Idlerat, bowderlized, and driscoll came over last night to watch the speechifying at my place, and we were talking about how "historic" is the new "black.")

Lola, I wish you got the Colbert Report and Daily Show. I believe they've helped me stay sane. Can I send you some links to a few of my election-coverage favorites?

[lolaraincoat]

First and most important, YES please do send links, thank you! anything that might help me maintain my shaky grasp on sanity would be most welcome.

Second, yes, I agree with you - the problem is the intersection of these two forms of hierarchy, so trying to compare one to the other is both futile and stupid (although you're right that I fell into that trap anyway. *sigh* Really what I should have said is that it's the same intersection working out differently in each case.

And yes I hope mostly people did make a more complicated choice than just scratching their heads and asking, hmmm, the white woman or the black guy? And yet that question was, I think, also part of people's decision-making process. It certainly was part of mine, or else I would have gone for Edwards, who was marginally better on issues than either Clinton or Obama when last I bestirred myself to look at their platforms back in, erm, January.

[mulberryfields]

I agree - it undoubtedly was part of people's decision-making process! And yeah - when it down to the 3 of them, I favored Edwards too. I was actually going to vote for the white guy in the New York primary, but then he went and dropped out.

And reading your comments above ... New York for the election? Yes we can! You will let me know if you're coming, right?

I'll send you some links in an email!

[lolaraincoat]

Yes I will let you know!

It depends on some scheduling stuff at work that I have very little control over, and can't predict very well. But I'll try to make it happen. ELECTION OMG!!!

[femmequixotic]

I'm happy for Obama and his supporters. I truly am. His nomination is an incredible moment in history and in January I fully intend to celebrate his inauguration.

But I will admit that this morning I do feel awfully desolate. The funny thing is that I didn't realize how much I cared about the primary until the misogyny got so overwhelming in the media coverage. That's one of the things that pushed me into the Hillary camp--the turning point for me was seeing the NY Times ask male political cartoonists to caricaturize the various candidates and almost all of them focused on Hillary's ass and thighs, distorting them in a way they'd never consider doing with the male candidates. That was soon followed by the amusement pundits had towards the "iron my shirt" heckler.

I don't know, the prevalence of media-based misogyny in recent months has just broken me. Maybe I was naive but I'd thought we'd gotten so much further since my mom was my age than we actually have.

[lolaraincoat]

I know. I've been troubled and saddened by it too, and much more insulated from it since I never (literally, never) watch TV, only listen to CBC and NPR on the radio, and read the NY Times only on Sundays (and never any other US papers.) Even so, it hurts. But I am trying to be happy about Obama and focus on the positive, at least at the moment. I was happier last night when I wrote the original post; tonight, with the Times website saying that Clinton is going to concede on Friday, I am sorrowful.

[fledgist]

I agree there was an awful amount of misogyny, and Senator Clinton has had it directed at her from the moment her husband became a presidential candidate.