I'll have to stay home or write in your name.

~Denise
BlogHer Community Manager

Flamingo House Happenings

I hear you on the 216 years of nothingness, but at the same time, I personally can't get excited about Hillary Clinton. I guess that's what it comes down to. I almost voted for her in the primary, but ultimately could not get over a few of her policy stances. As a result, it doesn't bother me at all that she was not picked. I also don't think the other possibilities of female candidates were very strong in general. I like a lot of the female governors, but I am not sure that they were ready to be on the national stage. (I was unimpressed with Sebelius's post-debate commentary and deer-in-the-headlights look. But give her time, and I'm there.)

Take a look at the candidates that EMILY's List is backing, and there's good chances for more (progressive) women in Congress, governors' offices, and local government. I don't think that all is lost by just the VP pick by any means.

Yeah, it sucks to be asked - yet again - to wait. But given how bad things are on the policy front in terms of issues that I care about, I'll take any viable reversal of course that comes my way. My hope is that HRC's campaign was so groundbreaking that we can expect some really exciting future races with even stronger women contenders.

Suzanne Reisman, Contributing Editor - Feminism & Gender
Campaign for Unshaved Snatch (CUSS) & Oth

it's been a while...and certainly not at 3a.m.!! hahaha

Thanks Denise! miss you much!

I can't just ride along, can I? Rats.

Well - first, let me say - I get people's complaints about Biden not being new, Biden not being a governor, Biden being male and white and from a small state.

BUT - I think if there are lessons we've learned already, that we might not have had the advantage of having until Obama become the candidate he now is (seriously, think back a year ago - he was sparkling, but how much more did we see beyond that sparkle compared to what we've seen in 12-15 mos?), they include:

1. trusting the people Obama trusts.  Not all of them, and not all of them on every decision.  But there's no doubt that the team he's assembled and relied on, by and large, over the last two years have some serious mojo and instincts and smarts. He had a VP selection committee - most people liked the people Obama named to help him.  If we can't trust this pick, if anyone who supported Obama can't trust this pick, you're going to have serious problems with him as a president, no?

2. Why the click? Because Biden has what I feel and have felt Obama lacks all along - and it is the double-edged sword that Nelle and a few others have pointed to that was referred to as entrenchment when it was mentioned in regard to Hillary: Biden has been there since he was 29!!!

But guess what? That "entrenchment" carries with it many goodies for people who are elected to be in D.C. - one of my concerns was the length of time it takes to build connections that can help you get what you want done actually done.  My concerns included confidence that Obama and his people, as new and fresh as many though not all of them are, could and would find the literally thousands of people they'll need to get done what they and we want them to get done.

These are the realities of goeverning a federal government. It's not sexy, it's not Utopian - it's what we have.

3. This is a Democracy.  Obama was not and has never been my pick for president, but I'm a Democrat and by the system we have in place, he's getting the nod to be the candidate.  I don't have to love it but I do feel that I have to want to vote for him.

To expect that Obama would pick someone as emblematic as he is of change ignores the fact that, as I mentioned before, we have more than 100 million people who will be voting and WANT to vote and to whom the Dem. ticket MUST appeal in order to win (well, half of that and then some for good measure).

Just as a unitary president or a single-party federal government is dangerous, so would a ticket that is change and change.  We simply do not have an electorate that wants that - they will not vote for it.  Change freaks out a LOT of people - even when they really sincerely believe they want it and know they need it - they can still get freaked out and pull back.

Biden is a hedge against that urge.

4. The female myth. I'm 46 - I want to break that ceiling too - but it never was Hillary for me - I don't care how feminine or what she is/was.  Yeah, I voted for her over Obama but I've always said I'd vote for whomever was the eventual nominee. Obama has many things going for him - no question. But not several of the things I prioritized in terms of governing.  That's just my perspective.

5. Why else I got the click: Biden is definitive where Obama is deliberative.  Deliberative is a thing i like - I love process.  But in times of crises, when you must act quickly, decisiveness with less info and input than you might prefer is necessary - and this is where Biden v. Obama's years in service matter to me.

6. There are other good choices, I happen to have lucked out that Obama chose the one I really like.  If it had been pretty much any of the others- with the exception of Webb - I would be fine too.  I just happen to really like Biden, Dodd and Richardson.

Again - we live in an enormous country.  Coming off of two weeks in a country of 6 million (Israel), really - unless you've lived under such a small national government with such a small and tight population - Arabs absolutely included (I'll be writing more about that this week), I know - it can be really difficult to realize just how many people half the electorate comprises.  And how varied.

This choice is about shoring up governing and concerns about governing. If we can make that case - that this is the team that can and will govern this nation to a position of strenth on so many levels where we've become weak or weakened, the White House will be Obama and Biden.  Independents want stability and improvement just as much as the next voter.  I believe this ticket has great potential to appeal to them.

And it's our job - those of us who support this ticket - to put out everything we can think of as to why this ticket is the one that can do that.

Speaking of which, I am compiing 57 reasons to vote Obama - Biden.  If you have some you'd like me to include, please please email me or comment here.

How'd I do?

Jill
Writes Like She Talks