Thursday, January 31, 2008

What. A. Day.

For the first time in my voting life, I’m torn. In five days, I’ll need to pull a lever in a New York Democratic Primary that matters. And I don’t know what to do. I want to vote for Hillary. I want her to be electable. She moves me. And so does Barak. I like much of what both of them stand for. I want to speak out publicly for one of them. But who?

Every day this week feels heavy with meaning and momentum. Take yesterday. My Wednesday begins with the forum I created for More magazine (“If Hillary Wins…”) going live. On my way to the luncheon to celebrate Susan Morrison’s new book 30 Ways of Looking at Hillary, scrambling for a public place with wireless so I can email the contributors and broadcast the news, I end up in the great phallic palace, Trump Tower.

At mid-day comes the paramsean emulsion, served up at Daniel along with brilliance from Morrison and a number of the contributors to her anthology. Between walnut-crusted fish filet and hot chocolate upside down cake, and chats with Leslie Bennetts and Leslie Savan, I jot down the following:

Among the many comments that served as impetus for Morrison’s book, there's this one: “I’d sooner vote for a ticket of Britney Spears and Lindsay Lohan that pull the lever for Hillary.” Gross. “I take Hillary personally, too personally,” writes Jane Kramer in the book. Yes, and don’t we all? Letty Cottin Pogrebin, repeating a sentiment oft overheard, notes “Hillary is Presidential, Obama is inspirational; it depends what you’re looking for.” Judith Thurman feels “Hillary is using her husband’s credit card.” Sorry, I don’t buy it. Susan Morrison: “Clearly, we haven’t all collectively figured out what we want from a woman leader.” Personally, I couldn’t agree more.

The day ends with my beloved Only Child coeditor (now a novelist!) sending out her “First and Last Political Email.” “Dear Friends,” Daphne writes:

I'm choosing to be thrilled that we have two such qualified candidates vying for the Democratic nomination, and in November I plan to fully throw my support behind whoever is nominated, as I'm sure will all of you (unless I've accidentally sent this to Republicans).

That said, I agree with the NYTimes: inspiring plans to start anew and beautiful rhetoric aside, I believe Hillary Clinton is the most qualified to hit the ground running next January. I've wavered on my support of her because, though her campaign keeps talking about experience, I've never been educated on the nitty-gritty details. So I was happily surprised to receive a quick and impressive rundown recently by one of her full-time volunteers.

I've gone through her website and weeded out all the promises and plans, which any candidate can persuasively and confidently lay out. Instead, I've highlighted her actual concrete accomplishments. Attached is a brief cheat sheet for anyone who, like me, is leaning toward Hillary, but can't articulate why.

Feel free to delete it, or to continue your passionate campaigns for Obama, as I know many of you are, and with great reasons. Please don't reply to this e-mail, and know that I will not send another political e-mail until 2012 (hopefully, not til 2016). I hope I haven't stepped on any toes.


If anyone would like the cheat sheet, email me (my email’s at the bottom of the blog) and I’ll pass it on. And ok, Girl with Pen, embarrassment of riches notwithstanding, it’s time to take a stand. Stay tuned.

14 comments:

Rachel said...

Oh god. I feel the same way. I was 100% Hillary for months, but recently it's occurred to me that Obama has the power (for whatever reason) to move people. And not just people, but the youth. It's a scary thing to think that we might squander an opportunity to have a leader with such sway over a traditionally revolutionary demographic. Then again, I love Hillary and don't want to squander the opportunity for a woman prez. Ugh. Torture.

J. K. Gayle said...

Thanks for the brave candor! I'm afraid to commit publicly just because . . . (Since you ended up in that place, remember when the Donald almost ran in 2000, and when he said on Larry King Live he'd be fine with either Hillary or Rudy in 2008? Looks like for him now it's down to her. So is it his loyalty to NY or what?)

Unknown said...

Whatever stand you take, GWP, the important thing is that you continue to invite response. If you reach out via blog or email to friends to influence their vote, it is your civic responsibility to also allow them to air their opinions either through comments or return emails. And, I guess, the related failure of the Hillary campaign to imagine, much less tolerate, another contender going into this, is precisely why she doesn't get my vote (that and her foreign policy). Here's to the open forum that GWP is and will continue to be.

Deborah Siegel said...

Rachel, I'm so with you. J.K., we'll have to ask the Donald--excellent question! Catherine: YES, and Daphne got a host of emails in response to hers, of course, which she is now diligently corresponding with, open forum!!

Anonymous said...

I am voting for Hillary in this Tuesday's NY primary, but if Obama wins I will vote for him in the general election. I hear alot of people talk about him moving young people. Well, Bill Clinton did that for me when he first ran for President. I had just turned 18 in 1992 and really responded to his campaign. Some of it may be superficial, his sax playing or how Fleetwood Mac got back together to play for him, but it did work for me. He may have reminded me of my parents, also boomers, rather than Bush, Sr. who reminded me of my grandparents. I think young people are deluded if they see themselves in Barack Obama. Yes, he is younger than the other candidates, but he seems a little conservative and older to me. Young people have to realize that alot of politicians in office are older and we have a powerful group of aging citizens that want to keep social security, medicare, improve quality of life, lower cost of living, etc. A younger president has a huge challenge ahead. I think Hillary offers a better balance to negotiate with both. Also, I don't buy into this message of hope that Barack emits. It seems soemwhat outdated or retro. For me hope is the last resort when you are powerless.

Unknown said...

I will personally ask you to support Hillary. She moves and inspires me a 41 woman who for the first time got involved with a primary, not because she is a woman but because her depth and breadth of knowledge, her experience over her lifetime and the need to have someone who can deal with a huge domestic agenda and our foreign relations needs as well as two wars all at once. It will take strong Presidential leadership that is instinctual not learned. On one point, having been to 82 countries as First Lady, briefed about each one by the state department, already makes her tremendously more prepared. Having worked on universal healthcare, failed, gotten up and accomplished Schip is an incredible process that gives her immediate knowledge about how to move forward politically (and it takes politics to govern). Having earned the respect of the military in many ways on the armed services committee, is as step up. Don't let the media tell you Obama is the only one to inspire. 1.7 million democrats came out to vote in a Florida primary that didn't count, Hillary recevied nearly 900,000 of those votes, 110,000 more than John Mccain and more than Edwards and Obama combined. (she did not campaign there, non of them did, they were allowed to have closed to the media fundraisers, which they all did) Please don't let this moment pass, because this is it for Hillary and I don't see another woman on the horizan for a long time, I am not voting for Hillary because she is a woman, that's just icing on the cake. Barak, he's great, and won't it be great when we can support him in 8 years, when he's got more experience that we can be equally proud of? Please, support Hillary in Tuesdays Primary, she needs every vote and I'm asking for it with much appreciation.

Anonymous said...

Whenever I think about casting my vote for Hillary on Tuesday, I get choked up.

I feel so honored to have the opportunity for the first time in my voting life (yes including Bill who I adore and i am well into the 2nd 1/2 of my 40s) to vote for someone who truly is ready to lead the way we need leadership today. She moves me and inspires me and makes me believe that she will save our civil liberties and our reputation in the world, she will address the environmental changes needed today and is uniquely qualified to address domestic economic issues for those who need it most while pragmatically understanding how to accomplish this in a divisive political environment. She is not divisive. She has been a true unifier. She truly is a hero to me!

Lisa said...

Hillary has EARNED my vote. She has INSPIRED me with her accomplishments. She has awed me with her intellect and touched me with her compassion. She has excited me with her fight.

I am thrilled to have an opportunity to cast my vote for such a brilliant, caring, hard working, qualified candidate that also happens to be a woman.

Being married to a Republican means that I have had to fight the Anti-Clinton rhetoric in my own home. So trust me when I tell you, I have researched EVERY ATTACK on her, and feel even more confident that she is truly a great public servant.

I am also sure that she is far more capable of withstanding the Republican attacks than Obama.

It takes more than inspiration to run a country. Unfortunately, sometimes inspiring people means telling them what they want to hear. Not HRC. Hillary is honest, talks about the hard work, but I know she means for us all to work together for the better of the country.

We have a chance to be a part of something not only historic, but excruciatingly necessary for this country to turn around, domestically and internationally.

Please vote on Tuesday. Vote for someone who's 8 years in the White house will be an inspiration for generations, especially to our daughters.

Unknown said...

I am a thirty-something Black woman from New York City as well and I am supporting Obama tomorrow, and here's why. I too came of age during the Clinton administration and had great respect for the Clintons when they were in the White House. My love for Bill wained when he showed his true colors during Monicagate, and my love for Hillary began to wain the minute she stepped foot into New York State. It took a lot of audacity for HRC to run for Senate to represent a state that she has never lived in, much less knows anything about(she moved to Westchester 2 months before declaring her bid, just in time for filing deadlines). That act encapsulates the type of person that she is, which is someone who has always cared more about her own personal ambition above all else, including the people who she claims to represent. Unlike Bill, who has an office in Harlem, Hillary spends only a fraction of her time in New York State, choosing instead to spend the overwhelming majority of her time in Washington. Her entire political career has centered around putting her in place to run for presidency. Throughout this campaign, she has used some very ugly political maneuvers to manipulate the media to focus their energies on race and gender. The Clintons are no fools. They are seasoned politicians who do not make rookie mistakes. The Clintons knew that the minute that this election became about race, that Obama would lose. Because white people in this country become very uncomfortable whenever race is mentioned in any context. On the flip side, the Clintons learned from the New Hampshire election that the focus on gender only benefits her - because it solidifies the women's vote, which represents more than 50% of likely voters around the country. The Clintons purposefully and actively manipulated the conversation on race and gender to their advantage, attempting to marginalize Obama as the Black candidate (which I find laughable since Barack has only recently been able to gain a stronghold among Black voters)and alienating her African-American supporters in the process. Considering that African-Americans have always represented the bedrock of Clinton supporters you would think that she would go out of her way so as not to alienate this group, but that hasn't seemed to be a concern for her - and why is that? Probably because African-Americans only represent around 10% of this country's population, and given our historically dismal turnout records we would expect that Af-Am's would represent only a fraction of the voting constituency. Or because adoration for Bill in the African-American community is so strong that our allegiance would be equally unflappable. Either way it was a risk they were willing to take - at worse they would lose support from a group that only represented a small segment of the nation's voters and in exchange for a lock on the women's vote. Clinton's campaign in South Carolina showed their true colors - the distortions that were made about Obama's voting record on women's rights (he's a feminist and if you've ever doubted that, meet his wife), the injections of race into the media discussion that were made at every turn knowing full while that South Carolina is a racially divided state, Bill Clinton's notion that somehow Obama put a "hit job" on him, and the comparison of Obama with Jesse Jackson, the "other Black presidential hopeful who was campaigning to be president of Black America". African-Americans have thankfully woken up and taken to the voting booths by storm to vote Obama into office. If HRC wins the primary, it will be incredibly difficult for me to vote for her in the general election, and I know a lot of people who feel that way as well, because HRC will do, or say anything , and sell out anyone (i.e. Black voters) for personal political gain. I would LOVE to have a woman as president, but not just any woman will do. I want a female president whose about the people and not about herself. Thankfully there are a host of powerful female Senators and Governors in place to move into that position into the next decade (i.e. the governors of Kansas and Arizona, and the Speaker of the House). I will be voting for Obama - man who carries himself with dignity and who has inspired an entire nation to engage in the political process in a way that I have NEVER seen before. And as his foreign policy advisor Samantha Powers stated to a crowd of female supporters this past Saturday, Obama has said to his advisors from the very beginning that this campaign is not and should not be about him, because it is about the people. That is the kind of person who I want running this country.

Deborah Siegel said...

Thank you so much to Tanya, Lisa, Cynthia, LB, and Urbanartiste for your incredibly thoughtful and heartfelt comments. While we talk about being moved by one or the other (or, in my case, both) of these candidates, what's moving me even more is the passion with which everyone is expressing their opinions here on GWP and in emails these past few days. It's an amazing day here in NYC - I just saw a woman walking around wearing a sandwich sign in support of Obama. It made me teary, I swear. Even though I am voting for Hillary, I remain choked up by all of our engagement -- yours, as well as this woman on the street's. So thank you for sharing your thoughts here. You have made my week.

Anonymous said...

in response to Tayna. Most media professionals who have not been great to Hillary will readily admitt that she went in the Senate with humilyt refusing reporters requests to follow her as a junior Senator because she did not want the attention. Instead she went to work getting legislation completed (healthcare for the national reserves among one aspect) and helped to build development between rural NY and NYC. She was re-elected in NY for a second term with 67% of the vote, include many Republican districts (she carried 21 of the 23 counties GWB carried in 2004) proving that she works for everyone and thereby is appreciated by moderates and independents as well. So many Obama supporters like to compare him the JFK or to RFK, do they remember that Robert Kennedy was considered a carpet bagger when he came to NY to become our Senator. Most NYkers are very proud to have HRC as our Senator, I'm sorry Tanya is not one of them. Obama is the uniter, however, you can search the blogs and it's always the Obama supporters who say they may have to sit out the GE if it's not him, even today Michele Obama has said, she'd have to think about actively supporting HRC. That's not the unifying message we need out there. In terms of the race issue, I find it offensive for anyone to call them racists, as would many of the African American leaders supporting them. Jesse Jackson was quoted saying that he did not find it offensive comparing the two campaigns. I again, personally ask for you to think about their records, what they have accomplished, not promised. Look at the NYtimes article on Obama and Nuclear waste as one example of why it takes experience and a fighter to get things done. I personally ask for your vote for HRC

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