No constituency is more eager to see a woman win the presidency than America’s feminists, yet — despite Hillary Rodham Clinton’s historic candidacy — the women’s movement finds itself wrenchingly divided over the Democratic race as it heads toward the finish."At breakfast forums, in op-ed columns, across the blogosphere, the debate has been heartfelt and sometimes bitter. Are the activist women supporting front-runner Barack Obama betraying their gender? Are Clinton’s feminist backers mired in an outdated, women’s-liberation mind-set?"
And there is this:
"We’re squandering an opportunity to be seen as a voting bloc that turns elections," Feldt said. "Unless we are working together, in a strategically thought-out effort to vote in our own best interests, we are in danger of never having another election where people will say women can determine the outcome."
For years, the women's "movement" (in my mind, but then I'm male) has played gotcha politics, played favorites, and cherry-picked issues when any issue that endangered or negatively impacted women's rights should have been pounced upon. Does anyone think if the sitting president had been bopping an intern in the 1990s that the women's movement would have turned a blind eye (as it did) -- if that White House office holder had been a republican?
Very intriguing reading if you are an elections and policy wonk, like myself. The Associated Press has the story.
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