Now that the most sexist political campaign in the history of the United States has come to a successful conclusion, it is time to consider what lies in store for women in an Obama administration. The signs are not good. We now have a President-elect who has absolutely no respect for women and who has shown no compunction at using in his campaign the most vile, degrading, threatening and obscene comments, gestures and even physical attacks to destroy any woman who stands in his way. Of course, most of those are from his enraptured followers — the Messiah for the most part just sends others out to do his dirty work. He only has the energy to do a couple of flip-offs himself — it’s apparently tiring being so wonderful.
The Democratic Party, which prior to this election billed itself as being dedicated to women’s rights, demonstrated in every way possible what a monstrous lie that was and made Republicans look like rank amateurs in the field of keeping women second class citizens.
Perhaps the most serious issue of all, however, is that there is now no women’s movement worthy of the name. Many of the leaders of the era in which I grew up decided this year that, rather than stand up for fair and equitable treatment of women in politics, they would just swig down the kool-aid themselves and become active participants in the outrageously false and viciously dehumanizing sliming of Sarah Palin.
Then there is the group calling themselves “third wave feminists,” whose only goal in this election seemed to be dedicating themselves to getting the lesser qualified male elected. No slander was deemed too unworthy in pursuing this goal, no sexist comment too vile; after all, the cunt was asking for it by daring to oppose The Messiah. I’ve got news for you, girls — you’re not the third wave; you’re just the scum left when the second wave washed back out to sea. You’re nothing but cowards, secretly happy you’re not the ones being attacked, more than ready to help with the figurative gang-rape of another woman just as long as you’re not being victimized yourselves. If you think giving your blessing to and participating in these unwarranted attacks on Sarah Palin is your ticket into the inner circle of acceptance, you have quite the rude awakening ahead. You will never be anything but hos expected to cater to the wishes and whims of the bros, and frankly this is exactly what you deserve.
Women in the media — what can one really say? From old fart Barbara Walters to the young wannabes, they were just as bad as their male counterparts. They gave their all in holding Palin to an impossibly high standard and doing an investigation of her life that went beyond thorough right on into trivial, while holding Obama/Biden to no standard at all and refusing to investigate anything about them, no matter how important the issue.
There are a few bright spots on the horizon to give one hope. Many women refused to participate in their own immolation and chose not to vote for Obama. Many of these women have websites, which will be of immeasurable comfort during the trying times ahead. The group The New Agenda is dedicating itself to keeping watch and speaking out in opposition to sexist behavior, regardless of party.
Whatever each of us chooses to do, we simply cannot stand idly by and let the behavior exhibited by Obama and his minions continue unchallenged (or we should just start sewing the burkhas now). I will not become a Republican, but I will never go back to the Democratic Party — ever. I will give priority to women’s rights in making my voting choices and will be participating in the attempt to elect a certain percentage of women to public office — with one caveat: I will never vote for any woman politician who catered to Barack Obama at the expense of more qualified women candidates (yes, I am stating unequivocally that Sarah Palin is more qualified than Barack Obama). For the more egregious offenders in this category, I will actively work and contribute toward their defeat. It does no good to have women in office who work against qualified women candidates, and the sooner they are replaced, the better for us all. To all organizations who represent themselves as working for women but who supported Obama — fuck you.
I voted for John McCain and have a very favorable opinion of him, in contrast with the stereotypical views I held of him and Republicans in general at the beginning of this year. He would have made a very fine President; and his wife Cindy, a woman who has without publicity dedicated much of her life to charitable causes, would have made one of the finest First Ladies this country has ever seen. But it was not to be; we were outnumbered by the bigots, the greedy and the gullible, those registering and voting illegally and those who saw in Barack Obama the chance to govern after being unable to get elected themselves. So now we will have in office as President and First Lady two of the most hateful people ever in public life. Starting January 21, it will at least be entertaining to watch the disappointment of those who think The Messiah will at his inauguration wave his arms and all of their problems will magically disappear and be replaced by new houses, new cars, ponies, puppies, butterflies and government checks.
I won’t be joining with McCain in his call that we all come together and sing a big round of Kumbaya with The Messiah. I’ll be busy trying to minimize the damage his term in office will do in my own life. Financially it probably won’t be much different than under Bush — there’s a reason the same media that was so biased for Bush was also so biased for Obama, and it’s not to spread the wealth. But the climate of hate and humiliation and violence toward women that he has so cavalierly promoted in his pursuit of higher office will be something we will all have to contend with for at least the next four years. From the reactions of authorities to incidents of vandalism by Obamabots, I’m not sure how much help we can count on from that quarter. Combine that with the seemingly constant ineffectuality of protective orders when dealing with “domestic” violence (how I hate that oxymoronish term), and it’s not hard to figure out that the risk of becoming a crime victim may rise markedly in the Obama-encouraged climate of rage against “uppity” or nonconforming, noncompliant women. Our best hope (oh, the irony now represented by that word) appears to be in developing the skills necessary to defend oneself and being willing to use them when needed. But even that might not be enough. Just recently in our area, two women were beaten to death — beaten to death — and a third killed, in front of her children, by a former boyfriend with a gun. Nothing can guarantee a woman’s safety as long as the current climate exists. When a class of citizens is made a target and treated as “less than” by those in power, it is a short path from words of denigration to acts of violence.
A few years ago, Tipper Gore decried the lack of civility in our nation. One of my least favorite ex-senators, John Danforth, after a tiring round of ripping Anita Hill to shreds, wrote a guest editorial for the Kansas City Star bemoaning the politics of personal destruction. The threatening and sexually explicit comments about Cindy McCain and Sarah Palin in this campaign have gone past either of those complaints directly into total indecency. This is what Obama inspires in his followers. This is what the Democratic Party now stands for.
This cannot be tolerated. It will be more than difficult, considering that a large percentage of women are willing participants in the hate, but we women who see the injustice in this simply must come together and organize to stop it. We can count on no one but ourselves. We can become a force to be reckoned with; and for the sake of our daughters and granddaughters and generations of women to come, we can delay no longer. Talk to your friends. Blog. Comment on blogs. Organize. Join The New Agenda or another organization that is truly for the advancement and equality of women.
The most disheartening accomplishment of the Obama campaign was to make us afraid. We were afraid to put up yard signs, afraid to put a bumper sticker on our car, afraid to go out in public wearing a t-shirt his thugs would find offensive. I’m certainly not advocating putting our person or our property in harm’s way, but the “election” is over and they have “won.” As with all bullies, as long as their tactics work, they will not stop. We cannot continue to live in a society that is so hostile to the mere expression of support for one’s chosen candidate or in which politicians advocate or allow women to be victimized simply because of our gender. We must take our power back or lose what little we have left. We must practice and encourage opposition to any officeholder who condoned, even if only by inaction or silence, this behavior by Obama and his supporters. The time to start is now. I’ve drawn my line in the sand. I’m taking no more crap from them. I’m donating to no more causes that will end up using the money against my interests. I’m avoiding as much as possible spending in ways that will benefit any person or company or even any state that supported Obama.
I have no doubt that, as President, Obama will turn out to be every bit as incompetent as we expect. Consider the enormity of the problems this country is facing and factor in how pissed off people will be that they don’t get their “pie,” which will go instead to the crooks and thugs who catapulted Obama into office. Inside of two months, people will be longing for the good old days of Dubya. Come the next election, Democrats will find out about payback being a bitch. I think she is, and not a mousy, whiny little Tina Fey bitch, but a big, bad, kick-ass Sarah Palin bitch. And she’s wearing boots. Get ready, boys.
