PUMA vs. Feminists and Reality

You certainly have to say that you have to be a rather hardcore feminist (or really "crazy") to take on feminist magazine MS. over this particular cover. There are calls for a boycott of a magazine that I am not even sure these people read.

This is craziness that we all come to expect from the PUMA. It is like a gender studies class gone horribly wrong.

Ms. Magazine has done far more for the feminist cause and raising awareness than any of the PUMAs put together. Somehow, they know better who is and who isn't feminist, huh? How do they do it? They call me a misogynist feminist, yet they have no guts to post my response to their outrageous claim. Simply put, they lack integrity, but they still feel qualified to question others' integrity.

It seems that PUMAs have a problem with Obama's including and co-opting the religious right so he can tackle problems like global warming, the economic crisis, and being in two wars. I am a woman, but I am also a human being who believes we have greater fights for the survival of this planet. I have fought against the religious right more fervently and closely, and totally understand their danger that I would never vote for the republican party that they completely co-opted (unlike some PUMAs). I understand what Obama is trying to accomplish and so does MS. They actually looked at his record for women's issues, which PUMA does not. PUMA ignores that his rating for reproductive rights is impressive and he actually worked with reproductive rights activists.

Then Confluence goes off on a riff about Women First. Did you know that Hillary won the Primary? No? Neither did I. Again they pretend that the caucus states do not matter. In their universe, they forget all about the two states that went against party rules and were told they would not be counted. Hillary went along with the rules and only when she realized that she won those states (because she had the party apparatus behind her and name recognition) that she was all of the sudden against the rules. Bah! Hillary lost and Obama won. All of us on the left and more recently on the right have lost elections. Get over it.

Confluence talks about how the patriarchy not only did not want the Hillary, but it did not want Sarah Palin. This patriarchy they speak of had a moment of clarity on the Palin question. Palin had no business being dogcatcher, much less Vice President of the United States. Many women I knew who were for Clinton or were republicans, voted for Obama because Palin was such an insulting choice. It was an insulting choice because republicans thought that women were idiotic enough to vote for any woman, regardless of how hostile that woman is to the rights of women and to our children's future. They thought that just because Palin was a woman we would overlook that she lacked common sense, education, curiosity, intellect, and background to be a heartbeat away from the presidency.

I don't want to get a job because I was a woman and no woman with a sense of dignity would. Feminism is about giving us the opportunity to become anything we want, but we need to prepare ourselves to have the qualifications and be able to be ready when called. I certainly didn't think Palin was or will ever be ready.

Hillary had a lot going for her, but she and her husband made political decisions that hurt her chances. Hillary was also a victim of timing being up against a better executed campaign with a charismatic candidate. Hillary lost because she believed the hype before the primaries that she had it in the bag and relied only on the states that had the democratic machine behind her. When conditions changed she was unable to adjust her campaign. She didn't help herself when she started dissing young people, caucus states, black voters, and educated wine drinkers for voting for Obama suggesting that they were not hard workers like the elderly, lower class, catholic women who take shots of Crown Royal, live in Appalachia, own cats, and belong to a union.

Sure there was sexism, but there was also racism. I had to leave the General Clark for Pres/VP forum, because the Hillary supporters there were blatantly being racist and hostile anyone supporting Obama. That was before I decided on Obama.

Hillary lost because she was divisive and the country was tired of divisiveness. The Bushes and the Clintons represented the culture war over the sixties. While keeping religion out of our bedrooms and classrooms are important, both sides of the culture war need to chill and focus on real problems facing our country. Hillary lost because her divisive nature was ill-suited for the challenges ahead. Obama had better strategy and temperament to get things done than Hillary.

Hillary is going to be Obama's Secretary of State. I am not very excited about this, but I trust Obama that he and Hillary have worked out a way to get his foreign policy across with her skills and connections. We shall see if Hillary can step up to the plate and execute Obama's foreign policy that the American people prefer.

So Obama is a feminist and these PUMAs are just spinning their wheels while they ignore real problems and do nothing to help real women who need help in their communities and around the world. They pick this cover as what they would like to waste their energies on. ROAR!