Can a Man Be the Women’s Candidate?

I hate to state the obvious, but if you’re running against a woman who’s been endorsed by Emily’s List, has stood up for women and families her whole life, as well as spoken around the world on women’s issues, including a very controversial moment in China, I’d say it’s time to check your humility, sir. From 1995:

It is time for us to say here in Beijing, and the world to hear, that it is no longer acceptable to discuss women’s rights as separate from human rights,” Mrs. Clinton told the Fourth World Conference on Women assembled here. “It is a violation of human rights when babies are denied food, or drowned, or suffocated, or their spines broken, simply because they are born girls,” Mrs. Clinton said, or “when women and girls are sold into slavery or prostitution for human greed. “It is a violation of human rights when women are doused with gasoline, set on fire and burned to death because their marriage dowries are deemed too small” she continued, or “when thousands of women are raped in their own communities and when thousands of women are subjected to rape as a tactic or prize of war.” … .. … .. As Mrs. Clinton recited her litany from the podium, many delegates applauded, some cheered and others pounded the tables.

From 1998:

The First Lady, Hillary Rodham Clinton, and Secretary of State Madeleine K. Albright traveled to the outskirts of Beijing this morning to visit a women’s legal aid center that operates on the leading edge of China’s developing legal system, tackling a wide range of issues affecting women — from rape to job discrimination to family planning.

From Clinton’s blog post on Firedoglake.

I introduced the Paycheck Fairness Act in Congress to help close the pay gap. It would toughen the penalties for violating the Equal Pay Act, to stop discrimination in the workplace. It makes sure the government enforces equal pay in its contracts, so that we’re leading by example. It prohibits employers from retaliating against employees who share information about their salaries. Did you know you can be fired for talking to your fellow employees just to find out if you’re being treated fairly? The Paycheck Fairness Act would require the Department of Labor to keep collecting and publishing information about women workers — information the Bush administration has stopped collecting. One more step they’ve taken toward making Washington an evidence-free zone! This bill is an important step forward for women and our families. I couldn’t even get a hearing on it in the Republican controlled Congress, but this month the Senate HELP committee had our first hearing on the wage gap and began considering legislative action.

What brought up this subject?

The Chicago Tribune was mistakenly emailed a working draft document on why women should choose Obama over Clinton. I have to agree that one line hit me too: “We are light years ahead of the Clinton campaign in terms of organization — not photo ops and TV cameos…” Oh, but that was to be struck. Trouble is that it has now seen the light of day. Mind you, I’m all for spirited attacks on the issues, but what are these people smoking? “Light years ahead of the Clinton campaign in terms of organization”?

Here’s a snippet, but read the whole thing. It’s a campaign classic.

October 16, 2007 TOo: Interested Parties FRr: Betsy Myers, chair, Women for Obama RE: The Fight for t The Womaen’s vVote – A View from the Grassroots DA: October 17, 2007 Like all Americans, women desperately want change they can believe in. They want an end to the divisive politics in Washington. They want someone who had the judgment to say no to an unnecessary war and who can stand up to the special interests that have shut out the voices of average Americans for too long. These are all the reasons why women have been at the forefront of the grassroots movement that is the Obama campaign. ,which is why they have been at the forefront of the grassroots movement that is the Obama campaign. While the Clinton Campaign likes to portray the competition for the support of wWomen through the lens of meaningless national poll numbers, which reflect the quasi-incumbents advantage in name recognition, the true story is on the ground in the early and February 5 states. In the latest The latest Des Moines Register poll showed 2 out of every 3 women is are not supporting Senator Clinton. In the state , where the public knows the candidates best, Iowa, the gender gap being touted by the Clinton Ccampaign is essentially non-existent. … .. Â

The strike-throughs and underlines continue throughout. What a blunder.

I have no doubt Barack Obama contributed a lot as a community organizer, helped women get off welfare, and helped kids in the inner city. But is Mr. Obama seriously going to contend he’s done more for women and has a better plan for women than a woman who has worked for women and families for decades; made speeches on behalf of women’s rights all over the world; campaigned for pay equity; and championed women’s rights since the rise of the modern feminist movement? Is he kidding? You can support Barack Obama’s candidacy, which many do and I appreciate, but there is no evidence whatsoever that Obama’s record on women rivals Clinton’s. That she’s been doing it twenty years longer than he has is not a minor point.

It would be easier to swallow if Obama and his team could bring some humility to the issue, after all, he’s a man. But what makes it worse is that some of us have been listening to this crap from men for years. How they’re going to help us because they understand what we go through. Really? No man can ever understand or appreciate a woman’s reality in the work force, family or in the world at large better than a woman who has walked in those shoes herself. It’s an insult to posture otherwise and something we’ve been hearing for far too long.

Granted, team Obama needs to reach out to women voters if only to blunt Cliton’s built in advantage among women, especially as national poll numbers give women an even bigger reason to team up with Clinton. But they might consider doing it without insulting us in the process.