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Subject: Why I'm Switching My Vote to Hillary
Hi, Bart,
You know that I have written to you in the past expressing a lot of doubts about Senator Clinton, and stating my intention to vote for Senator Edwards because I felt Senator Edwards was the only one really addressing the issues of the war and of economic justice. I still feel that Senator Clinton's vote to authorize use of force in Iraq was a major mistake, I still object to her support for the flag-burning amendment, and I think her campaign has made some major mistakes.
So why have I changed my mind? Why have I now decided to support Senator Clinton when I had previously decided to vote for Senator Obama after Senator Edwards dropped out? I was ready to overlook Senator Obama's relative lack of experience, his thin resume, and his cult-like following. But I began to realize that, in supporting Senator Obama, I would be keeping company with people I really don't like all that much.
I would be on the same side as a Washington press corps that has been out to eviscerate the Clintons from the first day of the Clinton presidency, starting with articles calling then-thirteen-year-old Chelsea "ugly" and criticizing the new president for wearing a Swatch to his inauguration instead of a Rolex (the Swatch was a present from his daughter).
I would be complicit with all those who have innundated the airwaves, the newspapers, the Internet, and all other aspects of the popular culture with the vilest sexist imagery aimed at one woman that I have ever seen, all those adolescent bully-boys and their self-hating handmaidens (yes, Maureen Dowd, I mean you, and Arianna Huffington, forget you too!).
And finally, by voting for Senator Obama, I would be siding with people who would happily turn this country, or what is left of it, over to another four or eight years of Republican misrule. I have seen this for almost fifty years. I saw the McCarthy and RFK voters walk away in 1968 and give us two terms of Richard Nixon. I saw Ted Kennedy tear the party apart in 1980 and give us two terms of Ronald Reagan. I saw Jesse Jackson and his supporters undermine Michael Dukakis in 1988 and give us Bush I. And I watched in helpless rage as Bill Clinton was mercilessly trashed for eight years by both the left and the right, laying the groundwork for eight horrendous years of Bush II. Enough, already!
I know that, if Senator Obama does get the nomination, the Clintons and their supporters will work their tails off for him, because they know what is at stake. But if Senator Clinton wins, I also know what Senator Obama's supporters will do, because their candidate has told us himself, on more than one occasion. He has said that he knows Senator Clinton's supporters will work for him if he wins the nomination, and that people who vote for her in the primaries will vote for him in the general election. And he has also made it very clear that his supporters, and his voters, will not work for or vote for Senator Clinton should she win the nomination. By saying this, he has made it abundantly clear that, to him and his supporters, ending the war does not really matter, universal health care does not really matter, economic justice does not really matter, Social Security does not really matter, human rights does not really matter. All that matters is that they get their way; if they don't, they take their ball and go home, just as they and their spiritual predecessors did in 1968, in 1980, and in 1988. This is politics by tantrum, and I for one am sick of it!
Go, Hillary!
Ann in Philly
P.S. Go to http://womensmediacenter.com/ex/020108.html
and read this essay by Robin Morgan.
The Erica Jong essay you put up on the site was
hot, but this one is smokin'!
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