One Historic Moment in America: Obama the candidate

PEACE is one of two tags/categories for today's post.  The photo is from my television set: Barack and Michelle Obama on Tuesday, June 2, moments before he declared securing the Democratic nomination.  PEACE is the issue many of us  kept at the front of our consciousness in this long slog toward hoped-for change in Washington.

Obama is not a perfect candidate.  Jan in San Francisco gave an excellent feminist perspective on a recent post at her blog, Happening Here.  Two women in Minneapolis who blog as THE CLOTHES LINE were in the enthusiastic crowd last night.  One of them, Susan, expresses what many feminist Obama supporters feel: sadness for Hillary Clinton.  In a model for respectful blog exchange, she and an anonymous Commenter discussed their differences about the candidates.

In Portland, Oregon, Writerquake has a perfect post under the title, "A Moment Comes,"  the first line of a quote from the late Indian prime minister, Jawaharlal Nehru.  It ends, "...the soul of a nation long suppressed finds utterance." Leaving her comfortable digs in California, Good Girl Roxie leaves to serve as an Obama Fellow.

We're all women, fifty-something on up, live around the U.S., have different histories.  We have many questions for Barack Obama about health care, the environment, aging.  You might say these are women's issues--or those that women seem to work on and talk about a great deal.

Hillary Clinton wants suggestions for her future?  How about a powerful speech on immigration with a focus on what's happening to undocumented immigrant women in Postville, Iowa?

She could mobilize black and white older women supporters to hold a summit to demand more attention to HIV in women over 50. I look to the losing candidate to put women's concerns out front in the coming campaign, to show her best side as a woman who applies her experience, brilliance, and energy to achieve a more peaceful  and equitable future for my children and grandchildren.

All mentioned here have been added to my blogroll.    (The "Roxie" in that title refers to a dog, not my grandchild, in case you wondered.)

Translation:  The leader of the enterprise is a woman. -Vergil

[TYPEPAD seems unable to correct font problems here...sorry.]

Comments

[Lydia]

Oh, thank you so much for the link to my blog in your post and for adding me to your blogroll! In the post you have named me Winterquake, where I am in actuality: Writerquake (as seen in your blogroll). Perhaps you can change that to avoid confusion! "Good Girl Roxie" is mentioned near the quote from my blog, so I just visited her and see that she will be working for Obama in Northern Nevada - fun for me to read because Reno is my hometown! I have bookmarked her blog now!

You got a darned great photo right from your tv screen! I never thought of doing that and love the personal feel it gives to the moment of history. And your post is wonderful.

I'm going back to my blog now to add you to my blogroll. It is a pleasure to do so!

[Hattie]

My typepad blogs works OK, but one TP blog freezes my computer every time I hit it,and I have to restart my computer!!!?????

[sahara]

Hey there! I'm down in Cape May, NJ for a well needed rest; and I can even read blogs again.

No, Obama is not the perfect candidate; no one is. Why do Americans want the Wizard of Oz? Folks shouldn't be sad for Hillary; she taught our daughters that we can get that far, which was much farther than Shirley Chisholm (whom many feminists didn't support).

The other lesson we need to learn from Hillary, is to maintain our integrity, which she lost early in the game. Health care, the environment, aging are everyone's issues; men just aren't as vocal.

In a discussion with my much younger female cousins, they didn't understand the feminist attitude; "Barak got a momma, don't he? She's a woman too; after all moms raise sons, and she raised a good man. And if it comes down to it, what man would you rather have in your life––McCain or Obama? Michelle ain't gonna let her husband mess up, cause she's strong."

I had to smile.

[Hattie]

So far my Type Pad account is OK, except that the "remember personal info" function does not work.