His Mother’s Dreams

BY TAYLOR MARSH
from Washington D.C.

Obama supporters have caused a lot of malicious mischief in the primary season, especially around here. It’s one reason why when reading comments you hear such disdain. Having been through the caucus system myself, I can only say that if I saw Hillary’s representatives in those caucuses act like Obama’s I would no longer be supporting her. It would reflect on my opinion of the candidate and her campaign. In fact, if it hadn’t been for Lorie, my tech team at AgoraNet, I would have been forced
to cut off comments completely a long time ago. Obamabots would be invited in
to join the discussion, then once in either be rude, hijack threads, or just
down right vile towards my readers, but completely disrespectful towards Hillary
Clinton in general. “Trolls” doesn’t begin to describe it. The profanity
in some of the comments yesterday I simply couldn’t print. This has gone on
for months. My own hate mail the last couple of days is over the top, with the
expletives and harshness towards me unending. Mind you, it doesn’t make a dent.
I long ago lost all respect for Obama’s supporters. Miscreants
and children, infantile rough necks, with his female supporters the worst and
most embarrassing, to themselves, that is.

However, one of these banned Obama supporters emailed me yesterday. The tone was quite
different this time around, though he wasn’t one of the profane ruffians, but
simply came in at a volatile time when comments were being tightly moderated.
I’ve cleared the way for him to join the conversation again. But before I could
email him that I’d done so he sent me the missive below, which he said is
what he would have written in the comment section if he’d not been banned. As
much as his personal revelation surprised him, I was also, because this is the
last thing I thought I’d hear from Obama’s crowd, who have been so utterly disrespectful of Hillary’s historic presidential run that it will take a long time for many of her supporters to get over it, while others never will.

Too few commentators, even women themselves, have taken Hillary’s monumental
candidacy to heart. Some of that is due to the traditional media’s flippancy towards women, but also because the fourth estate in this country is still backwards, not allowing women their due. This extends to radio, where even supposedly progressive outfits ignore women like myself who could truly make a difference if on the air. That’s why HLF has become so passionate about getting me back on radio, because she’s finally heard what constitutes Democratic radio. It’s not all that. Additionally, so many women today, especially young women, take for granted
what the women who came before accomplished, while ignoring what is still left undone. It’s not cool to be feminist. The wingnuts have succeeded in declaring this a post-feminist world. Tell that to a woman running from honor killings. Until all women are truly free none of us will be free ourselves, especially in what we owe those who don’t have what we do here. Many also don’t realize what a female president
could mean to the women of this world, including nations around the globe. Women
competing with one another has been the standard for so long, including for
men, who for centuries were our very life line, because we couldn’t put a roof
over our own head. Solidarity is one thing, but paving the way for women to
rise across the world is the only way we will change the world. It’s not a small matter.

His name is Will. He is an Obama supporter. He just learned of one of his mother’s
dreams. It was an awakening.

I spoke to my mother briefly tonight, just small talk, and mentioned the political atmosphere of the last 24 hrs. She just said she loved me, and that she wanted to get off the phone, and gave it to my dad. She is a Hillary supporter, my dad and I are Obama folks. As my dad and I talked, I started to feel really bad about all the negative feelings that have emerged over the last few months. I particularly started to feel seriously guilty towards my mom. Had I just denied my 65 year-old mom the chance to see a woman become president for perhaps the only time in her adult life? I don’t think that a woman president is that far off at all, but I certainly wouldn’t go around assuming that, if I had spent the last 65 years watching a parade of men take the chair in the Oval Office, and feel like there is nothing to be done to change that. And along comes Hillary, and the dream is alive, and then it is crushed in this brutal primary we’ve all gone through. I guess for the first time in this election season, I walked for a moment in the other side’s shoes, and I really didn’t like how my side looked. And as much as my Obama activism has meant to me over the last several months, it suddenly didn’t hold a candle to realizing I may have participated in stealing my mother’s dreams away from her. All of a sudden, all I wanted to do was give my mom a female president, and do all it took to make that happen. This is a damn tough time to be a Democrat.

If Hillary would get the nomination, it is my belief that women across this
country would mobilize in a manner that would send shock waves through the political
system. Since we are the majority in this country, imagine what that would mean
to the Democratic party. No single voting block has that power. A dream would
finally become reality, not just for Will’s mother, but for all women.

As we approach Mother’s Day this weekend, it’s something to contemplate. Will’s mother is not alone.

Hillary Clinton, by the time this contest is finished, will have gotten more votes than any candidate in American primary history. She also has more retired flag officer support and high ranking military support than Barack Obama, but also of any Democrat who’s run in recent times. With Hillary’s candidacy we have come a long way, but as this presidential race continues to show, there’s still much further to go.