Whatever motivates someone to vote, gender is among the greatest insults. In a tough campaign against bright and skilled opponents, Hillary Clinton might need to rely on the gender vote to get by. Too bad!
Is a Hillary a woman? No. She is a presidential candidate. That she is a she should not be part of any discussion. But, wait, it is, you say, just look at this blog.
Is Barack Obama black? Is Mitt Romney a Mormon? Is Mike Huckabee formally a fatso?
What? Are we such a nimble-twitted mindless pile of voters we are judging a candidate's quality by such personal info? How many people said that people who voted for George Bush because he claimed to be a Christian (he's a United Methodist) are idiots?
I'll show an idiot: anyone who said this, yet is voting on the gender or race card.
Sadly, as you see in the in this Reuters piece, Hillary's gender will make a difference to "make history." By voting for her because she was born, as Bill Cosby has said, as an apple "without a stem," we are choosing to tell her, "Hillary, you aren't smart enough or experienced enough to win on your own, but, for a girl, you are pretty good."
Find a better reason to vote for a candidate.
related: I Don't Care Anymore: Why We Aren't Voting Values and Issues
2 comments:
I disagree. The one reason to vote for Hilary is because she's a woman. And an additional reason to vote for Obama is because he's of African descent.
Why? Two very important reasons. Because we've denied rights de jure and of late de facto to these groups, and it's payback time. And secondly, more importantly, for the same reason that Affirmative Action is needed. Not primarily to level the playing field, but to provide for the nation as a whole. In Affirmative Action, we want more women and blacks and other minorities because of the different perspective they bring, and in diversity there is greater strength. For too long we have been without the perspectives of women and minorities in the top leadership positions of our nation (and therefore the world), and therefore we have been the lesser.
I say, yes- vote for Hillary because she's a woman. Even better, vote for Obama for a huge host of reasons, and also because he's black.
The issue though, is, have enough reasons to vote for the candidate apart from gender and race. There will be voters who could not recite key platform points who pick their candidate.
Granted, there are stupid voters. Some will pick Edwards because he is good looking, or Thompson because they like his TV show.
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