Tag Archives: Hillary Clinton

No Gloating

Politics, Uncategorized, ,

As per Edric, I do not wish to gloat when Hillary wins tomorrow or Wednesday morning.

I will celebrate, eat, drink, dance, calm down…decompress…slowly.

I will likely spend the whole day Wednesday sleeping, thinking about what movie to watch at the theatre (likely #DoctorStrange in 3D) and finishing my slideshow for a #Nerdacon panel.

I will be waiting for someone to respond to my post-election job applications.

I’m not interested in gloating. I don’t think much that is favorable about Trump, but the people who have voted for him or will vote for him tomorrow will still be with us on Wednesday.

We will have to work differently than we did under President Obama. The racism and sexism exhibited by both his most ardent supporters and his Republican opponents over the Obama years will still be exhibited in different doses.

But those who voted for him over economic anxieties should not be left behind in not only explaining our economic limitations and dead ends, but charting a course forward to overcome those limitations.

Those who voted for him over their being de-centered in the future of the great American narrative – by sex, gender, sexual orientation or, as egregious as it is, race and skin color – will either find a way to navigate this landscape, hopefully by recognizing their privilege and helping to build a new, more equitable, more domestically compassionate status quo, or will retreat into an organized but dysfunctional socio-economic dystopia of the mind. I’m already doing what I can to dispel that dystopia for the fallacy it is, and to show that everyone should have an equitable role to play in this country, and an equitable chance to play that role.

We live in a small world, and we live in a big world. Our place is not assured, but we will write our own futures. Let’s write futures which will reach out to people who are not like us in shared background but who have the goal of comforting the afflicted, even if this disturbs and rouses the comfortable to wakefulness.

8 years ago today, #BarackObama was elected president of the United States.

I remember that he had the wind at his back during that campaign. His campaign, his presidency and his brand has changed the trajectory of the Democratic Party in the post-LBJ era.

I think Hillary Clinton will lead under this reality as she tries to leave her own mark. I don’t think we’ll go back to the 1990’s. I don’t think it will be possible. Our expectations are greater than back then, and Obama has made good on too many of them for us to revert back to that period.

The first thing that came to mind when reading about Clinton’s public vs. private position?

Abortion and reproductive rights. Also, marriage equality and civil unions.

We praise male politicians for putting their private, religious positions (especially Catholics, Mormons and Muslims) on the shelf when making public policy positions on the “sins” of abortion and marriage equality.

We’ve been doing that for much of the history of this “culture war”, even when their fellow parishioners demonize these politicians as “liars” and “frauds” for not being “true Catholics/Mormons/Muslims/Jews/etc. (TM).”

It’s More than Identity for Us

Politics, Uncategorized, , , , , ,

You know what I felt to be racist about 2008? It wasn’t that so many chose to vote for Obama or McCain based on their skin color.

It’s that so many in the GOP went out of their way to denounce Obama’s presence in the race overall, and dismissed his eligibility based on his ethnicity and insinuations about his ethnicity in ways that McCain did not face.

You know what I feel to be misogynist about 2012? It isn’t that so many choose to vote for Clinton or Trump based on their gender.

It’s that so many in the GOP have gone out of their way to denounce Clinton’s presence in the race overall, and dismiss her eligibility based on her gender and insinuations about her gender in ways that Trump has not faced.

So I don’t mind that African-Americans turned out much more for Obama, and I don’t mind that women will turn out much more for Clinton. Not one bit.

I do mind that anyone would be institutionally denounced in their candidacy based on their ethnic or gender background, especially by those whose ancestors have been privileged with citizenship and social credibility for the entirety of this country’s history.

Ultimately, over 50% of the population voted for Obama based on his background and his credibility. The same will happen for Clinton.

If GOP voters are concerned that so many would vote for a Democratic candidate based often on their background while their similarly-originated candidates don’t do anywhere near so well, they are not doing anywhere near enough to bring in candidates with both a relatable background and a believable credibility for office. Try harder.

One more time, with feeling:

My Future with the Sanders Campaign

Politics, Uncategorized, , , , ,

After #DemDebate night and reflecting with Dominick on how the nomination contest has played out in both social media and real life, I don’t think I can take anymore of the presidential race. I’d rather work to get Democratic lawmakers into majorities, and let others work to get Sanders or Clinton into succeeding PBO.

News media is jostling over whether Clinton or Sanders won the first debate, while Democrats are hurting all over from the last two midterms. While Sanders expands his interactions with AAs and starts to affirm that #BlackLivesMatter (for which I am proud), his supporters have already burned bridges with many pro-BLM activists on social media while I looked on in horror. I’m really muted about Hillary because of the iconic symbolism of having a (first) woman president who at least tilts toward progressive ideals (“a progressive who gets things done”). I really do want her to do better intersectionally in her policies, as I do Sanders and, yes, (VP-in-waiting) O’Malley.

But again, Democrats are hurting. Progressives and liberals in general are hurting. Social cannibalism abounds in the GOP’s state-level and federal-level policies. Nothing is getting done with state or federal legislatures to fix the cracks left by negligent or abusive government in our society. The state-level Democrats in Georgia and the Old South are a lost brand, spoiled goods which make little sense for progressives and liberals in the South to support.

So I’m just tired of presidential election news, because the presidency has only so much that it can get done. I tire of waiting on pins-and-needles to see the candidates become everything that America needs. I’d rather help get more progressives and liberals into legislative and statewide office. Next year will be an opportunity for that, so I will ask around.

I’m thinking of backing away from most of my active involvement with the regional Sanders grassroots campaign. I have not been too actively involved for months.