-1We have a winner. Here I thought there weren't any exciting news stories to get me going today. Who am I kidding? This article is titled "If Not Now, When Can a Woman Be President? Women face letdown of seeing Clinton's shot at presidency fall short" and it is found at http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/24685257

I have several problems with this article; the first, and most prominent, is one I've been asked about and have explained several times already to friends and family. Why is it expected that because a minority happens to share status with a public official, all are supposed to vote for that candidate? All black people are expected to vote for Barak and all women for Hillary. Furthermore, as Hillary's chances (finally) wane, this article presents it in a light of women lose again--if Hillary can't win what woman possibly could? Will a woman ever be president?

My problem here is that the article appears to be operating in a vacuum. Hillary Clinton isn't losing to John McCain, she's losing to Barak Obama. That is a huge difference. Furthermore, Hillary Clinton is a phenomenally aggressive and talented woman, but she is not women's only chance. If Hillary doesn't get elected that does not signal the end of all women everywhere in the U.S. of ever successfully running for President.

Every time a woman comes along she is singled out as a "special woman;" some sort of messiah for the women of the world. Isn't it more a sign of equality if Hillary gets elected, not because she is or isn't a woman, but because the majority of the people in this country think she is the best person for the job? Isn't it more a sign of equality when we stop asking ourselves if a "man" or a "woman" would be better as President and instead say, what sort of person do I want to run my country?

This campaign has been a particularly emotional one for me. The same as most everyone else I would guess, but because I'm an outspoken feminist (and I hang around with feminists) a lot of people have wanted to talk to me about Hillary Clinton. I am an unabashed Barak Obama supporter, but I've found that I've had to qualify myself. Not because anyone was interested in why I've chosen to support him, but because as a woman, and a feminist, I am expected to vote for Hillary Clinton.

It is, to some degree, a case of reverse stereotyping. What's more, I think the unexamined allowance of Hillary Clinton to be presented as women's "only" chance is as damaging as never having a woman seriously run for president. Hillary Clinton has accomplished some amazing things (good and bad) and while I'm sure she has overcome any number of difficulties, so long as women accept her as our only possibility we are still letting those who dislike women set the rules of the game. This whole time I've been thinking about Virgina Woolf's A Room of One's Own and the section where she discusses the special woman, the token woman, the one exception to the rule of women. For all the parts of that book I both agree and disagree with, that one rang very true with me. If every time achievement is had we look on it as an exception instead of expected, what are we saying? Wow, there's a [fill in the blank] who can actually do something. I wouldn't mind voting for [whomever] because s/he's not like all the others. If [name] can't do it, who can?

I don't know all the places I'm going with this other than a general outcry to the expectations the media seems to be placing on Barak Obama and Hillary Clinton. You are expected to vote for the candidate that looks like you, but if John McCain said anything remotely like that we would label him a racist.

My good friend and I were discussing feminism the other day and she said something I found incredibly poignant and true on so many levels; she said that it seemed we had more physical liberty than mental liberty. We aren't prepared for the equality that laws are giving us (hopefully I'm not butchering this in the retelling). I found that very true of women in particular, but as I think about our presidential nominees I think it might be true on a grand scale as well. We have the freedom and the choice to vote for any number of people now-a-days, but we aren't prepared to. We still want either a) the guy that looks like all the other guys before him or b) the guy/gal that looks like us. It still isn't about having knowledge of their beliefs or whether you think they'll do a good job.

At least we have the choice--that's something any way.