politics, and the role of women in them

Commander Salamander has a pretty sharp entry where he suggests Obama man up. great job, as usual Cmdr.

and to use part of a phrase i read today, the wheels may not have fallen off the Obama bus yet, but the lug nuts are certainly backing off. one or two too many curves, and that bus may end up in the weeds.

the role women play in modern American politics has experienced a relatively radical sea change in the last couple of years. hillary, pelosi, and others have shown that women are simply not to be discounted or ignored when it comes to leadership roles in this country. i say it's about damned time. too bad the two examples i used are from way over on the other side of the fence from me, but it does point out that huge strides have been made. and what is particularly sweet for me is that the biggest step may be taken by one of those women often denigrated and underestimated by the liberal factions in this country. that would be gun toting mom from out west, with no law degree and close ties to "small town" America. what also fascinates me is the apoplectic paroxysms of the feminists, leftists, and the others out there. oh my, here is a woman, but she isn't in our club.
yesterday's SF Chronicle Insight section had a front page essay by one of the members of that select group of women. or she WAS a member. let's see, she was a life long member of the Dem party until recently (she's registered as "declines to state") now, and was the former president of the L.A. chapter of N.O.W., the epicenter of feminism in this country.
a quote or two from the article:

...There was a lot of pandering and lip service to women's rights, and evenings filled with anecdotes of how so many have been kept from achieving their dreams, or failed to be promoted, simply because they were women. Clinton's "18 million cracks in the glass ceiling" were mentioned a heck of a lot. More people began to wonder, though, how many cracks does it take to break the thing?

Ironically, all this at an event that was negotiated and twisted at every turn in an astounding effort not to promote a woman.

Virtually moments after the GOP announcement of Palin for vice president, pundits on both sides of the aisle began to wonder if Clinton supporters - pro-choice women and gays to be specific - would be attracted to the McCain-Palin ticket. The answer is, of course. There is a point where all of our issues, including abortion rights, are made safer not only if the people we vote for agree with us - but when those people and our society embrace a respect for women and promote policies that increase our personal wealth, power and political influence.
...
Palin's candidacy brings both figurative and literal feminist change. The simple act of thinking outside the liberal box, which has insisted for generations that only liberals and Democrats can be trusted on issues of import to women, is the political equivalent of a nuclear explosion.

The idea of feminists willing to look to the right changes not only electoral politics, but will put more women in power at lightning speed as we move from being taken for granted to being pursued, nominated and appointed and ultimately, sworn in.

check out the article, and see what i'm talking about.
hell, even the Brit's get it.

...
People have concluded that politicians of all parties seem to inhabit a world apart, governed by self-interest, cynicism, corruption, incompetence, deep contempt for the electorate and an incorrigible instinct to deceive them.

Politicians know this. Which is why they all purport to stand on a platform of 'change'.

But change from what to what, precisely?

Unless there's a clear answer, 'change' becomes a pointless soundbite which risks creating an impression of yet more political sleight of hand.

This is the trap into which Barack Obama has fallen.

Yes, he has amazing gifts of charisma and oratory; along with his youth and black ancestry, this all helps create the impression that he is an outsider and embodies a fresh start.

But, on closer inspection, he looks suspiciously like yet more of the same old same old. The way he changes his political message to fit the audience he is addressing sits ill with his pitch to represent a new politics of integrity.

And his voting record and positions on social issues place him firmly among the Left-wing elite which has waged such devastating war upon the West's moral values.

By contrast, Palin has a very strong sense of right and wrong rooted in her evangelical Christian faith. Perversely, this damns her in the eyes of the Left as the 'hard Right'.

This is clearly absurd: she is a working mother of five who has shown herself as capable of felling Big Oil and other political cartels against the public interest as shooting moose.
...
For she has taken the supposed characteristics of the Left - youth, dynamism, change, excitement and social conscience - and presented them as conservative virtues.

Since the Left habitually shores up its own position by demonising conservatives as nasty, backward-looking, mean-spirited, lifedenying, prejudiced, stupid and boring, it recognises her as a mortal threat - not just to Obama but to its whole political platform.

Accordingly, it is frenziedly hurling smears and allegations at her. And maybe she will eventually fall apart under the pressure.

read this article at The UK Daily Mail

ayup, going to be an interesting 59 days....