*Here is comes: HOPE I am wrong!!! (I am a Bernie supporter who will enthusiastically support HRC when and if she wins! And it is the MSM, the corporate greed that jumped the gun….not the Clinton campaign, the same media shutting out Bernie, trashing Hillary and elevating Trump). It will be from males, mostly white, often young, mansplaining to me why I should not trust Hillary.
The fact that I voted for Bernie, gave money to his campaign, is irrelevant (to them), is ignored (by them), or they do not believe me (that’s on them, I do not have to f*cking prove myself to anyone). Supporting Bernie was no easy decision for me. Having come of age in the 1960s, having been a proud liberal/progressive all my life, I lived through the era, in the 60s and 70s, where most men, including the liberal, progressive men with whom we planned, marched, protested, still treated us, females, as “lesser”, mostly ignoring our input, as they were “the leaders.” We often were delegated to getting the coffee, the food, the whatever was needed while the men “discussed” the issues. Yes, many of us were quietly frustrated. Quiet did not mean we were not angry as h*ll! So despite wanting to cast my vote for the first democratic female with a realistic chance to win the presidency, I chose Bernie because frankly, his policies are more aligned with my beliefs. I was able to put my “personal” wants aside. NOW, I ask fellow Bernie supporters to do the same, and especially those spouting, repeating the decades of lies and spin from the right. Hillary is NOT the devil incarnate as the right and some here would like to spin.
To this day, in many of my peer circles, I am expected to “remain silent” while friends/relatives husbands spout off their vitriol about Hillary, about Obama, about Bernie. My female friends/relatives married to right wing males simply do not want to have to deal with an angry husband b*tching to them about their spouse’s wife/relative’s politics and why she is wrong. I apparently p*ss off men when I debate them, challenge their cr*p, from Obama is going to take away guns, to Hillary is the worst person ever to be SOS. The worst argument of all that I heard from a few men as well as women, is that “they could never vote for Hillary because she did not leave Bill.” Seriously. This was said by people willing to vote for Trump. As for young men, the few I am in contact regularly are family, and are mostly “centrist 40 somethings….who voted Obama but a few are in corporate jobs, so Bernie scares them and they are not as excited for bragging rights to have voted for the first female as they were for the first African American, who btw they saw as the cool guy. Hillary they see as an older woman and are mostly clueless about how they are often self-absorbed in their own male privilege. That said, thankfully none of them would ever vote Trump.
Now I have to deal with progressives repeating the “untrustworthy” meme that the press has been spreading for years. Rolling my eyes at any progressive pushing this. Yes, Bernie is better on many things. But Hillary is not a right winger no matter how many here spin it. And I REFUSE to sit back and be the quiet woman who does not get her say. THIS IS HISTORIC. I don’t give a sh*t if Hillary is not the PERFECT female. Hello, Barack Obama was not the PERFECT African American either. Policy wise, especially on education, President Obama was hardly a left winger. And he is pushing the TPP, ( though I expect Hillary will be blamed for that).
Much to my disappointment the president was way too easy on republicans. But he was/is a good president who did some good things, despite the constant blocking by the right. I think Bernie, as much as he would want to push hard left, would still deal with a strong system of right wing blocking, a right wing corporate press. Our president is and will be ONE player in a system that has checks and balances, and sadly because of money weighs more heavily in favor of the right wing.
These are things that have been angering me even as I was voting/supporting Bernie.
**DOUBLE STANDARD
The “Clinton State Department”. When I heard phrase on the news, I honestly thought they were talking about things during Bill Clinton’s presidency. But no…it is about the Obama State Department, apparently called the Clinton State Department whenever anything went wrong. Did anyone refer to the Bush State Department as the Rice State Department or the Powell State Department? No, cuz it was republican and they dictate the news? Then again I have not heard anything about the “Kerry State Department”. Hmmm?????/ Oh yea, did the “Clinton State Department” get any credit for destroying Osama Bin Laden??? Or does the Kerry State Department get credit for the current mess in Syria,
**INFIDELITY OF BILL
Somehow Trump, and disenchanted democrats who wanted “anyone but Hillary” will play this game. Hillary staying with Bill makes her part of his issues. She (the wife) somehow dared be upset with the other woman, Monica. Seriously people???
Not to say Bill gets a pass. Nor Monica (young or not she was an adult, and she was not pressured). The only victim imo was Hillary and she handled it. It was HER business and HER marriage yet I have run into people who have said they won’t vote for her because “she did not leave Bill...” as if they have the right to assert themselves in another person’s marriage. And some of these people who said it, some women in fact, are married to some of the biggest a**h*le jerks I know. They may not cheat but they are still domineering, nasty, know-it -all men who honestly live “white male privilege” daily.
YES, absolutely Bill should have known better (so should have FDR, JFK, and a long line of public figures going back to the founding fathers-but hey, white male privilege still runs strong). He was beyond stupid and sadly, the fact the he still needed his ego stroked, is sad. But what a**holes like Newt, Denny Hastert, Delay and Kent Starr thought they could pull off was/is the height of hypocrisy. This was NOT about “poor Monica” or family values or moral codes or concern for the country. It was about the same thing as the republicans are always after...greed, power and personally destroying the enemy who may keep you from the power you need to fulfill you insatiable greed.
***Double Standard Again
So the other day I read someone here complaining how Hillary dared make nice with Richard Mellon Scaife after what he and his minions did to Bill and her in Arkansas (the origin of the vast right wing conspiracy). It had a “how dare her forgive him” meme. Apparently forgiveness is suspect, a bad trait. So I thought...wow. So we should NEVER EVER forgive the Iranians for the hostages held for three years? Or they should NEVER forgive us for the whole Peacock Throne mess. Or how about the Chileans...should they invade and bomb the USA for our propping of Pinochet. Etc.
Seriously, human beings live and learn. Maybe Richard Mellon Scaife was insincere. Is that not on him, not on Hillary? It reminds me of the sneering I get from some relatives when I give some money to some stranger asking for help for food….they roll their eyes at me. “How do you know they are not going to use it for booze or drugs?”
My reply: “That’s on them. Choosing to help someone down on their luck if my choice. If they squander it, that does not lessen the sincerity of my gift.” I feel that way about forgiveness. You give it freely. How it is accepted and used is not on the giver.
***BUT HILLARY WILL MOVE TOO SLOW ON IMPORTANT ISSUES.
Then stay involved dammit. Democracy is not just about voting. It is NOT just about the presidency. Ask Obama. Push her, vote in the midterms and do not let the republicans keep the senate and be ready to take back the house in 2020. Inform yourself and others. Stop worry about Hillary’s “trustworthiness” and participate in the system to fix it, change it…….IT MATTERS cause democracy requires participation, locally, state wide, nationally, 24/7 all year long.
In the end, as a woman, as a democrat, as a liberal, I will NOT concede this historical moment. While I wanted the older Jewish democratic socialist because I truly believe democratic socialism is the right course, there was not enough time to build the following with enough votes. Thirty years of republican machinations applied to dirty the words “liberal” and “socialist” will not be so easily undone. But still what Bernie has done must NOT end, must NOT be ignored and should NOT be used to destroy what matters to millions of women. Don’t underestimate the significance of a female as the presumptive nominee of a major party. Before any one dares say “Gender should not matter…” I am going to say this. If GENDER or RACE did not matter, then why were the first 43 presidents of this country WHITE MALES???? GENDER AND RACE have mattered for over 200 years. They will stop mattering when people of color and females are allowed the same opportunities as white males, are not subjected to double standards. We have had ONE president of color, now, I hope, we will have a president who is female. This does not discount the importance of policy. Bernie’s followers need to stay active and they need to think about the future. And most importantly ANYONE helping the right wing put into office a racist, bigoted narcissistic jerk whose main concern is himself, must bare the responsibility that comes with the violence, the mess this man can do to all of us.