Just when you didn’t think this election could get more absurd:
Lynn Forester de Rothschild, a prominent Hillary Clinton supporter and member of the Democratic National Committee’s Platform Committee, will endorse John McCain for president on Wednesday, her spokesman tells CNN.
“This is a hard decision for me personally because frankly I don’t like him,†she said of Obama in an interview with CNN’s Joe Johns. “I feel like he is an elitist. I feel like he has not given me reason to trust him.â€
Forester is the CEO of EL Rothschild, a holding company with businesses around the world. She is married to international banker Sir Evelyn de Rothschild. Forester is a member of the DNC’s Democrats Abroad chapter and splits her time living in London and New York.
Sitting on my couch watching Sarah Palin speak last night was like watching a bad Hollywood movie, something from the ’70s (including the hairstyles) where this wildcard candidate comes out of nowhere and gums up the political machine (which frankly, and obviously, needed a total rehab before she came to the scene anyway) and steals the show and no one quite knows how or why. In her speech she was sneering and whiney and at one point sounded like the seemingly cool girl who secretly has low self-esteem and taunts the loser kids in the cafeteria, imploring commentators that she didn’t care what they thought of her. Nyah nyah.
But what is most insulting about this whole process is the idea that women are simply interchangeable, that, oh well, Hillary didn’t work out, let’s grab at some other person with a pair of breasts and call it even. Of course there are staunch feminists and former Hillary supporters who might find the Palin pick validating and, hoping for John McCain’s imminent demise, vote for her with the expectation that we could still, somehow, one day in the next four years, have a female president. If things had gone differently and Obama had been unable to continue his run, and if either party had gone out and found another black candidate to switch in for him, it would be considered overt racism. But somehow, with women, it’s just fine to assume that this kind of tokenism will fly. And, it seems, it does. Forget experience. Forget policy. Sarah and Hillary are suddenly political sisters riding the same train to the White House and everyone should just jump aboard and ask questions later.
Women have come farther than to allow themselves to be duped in this way, to be told we are all the same or let the ability to wear a skirt in public dictate public policy and political choice. Just because she’s a woman and the idea of a woman president is exciting and long overdue does not make Sarah Palin qualified to lead this country.
Because to paraphrase the immortal words of this YouTube video, just because I saw a vagina once, or have one, does that make me a gynecologist?
Carolyn Slutsky (sister of Matthew and Peter) is a writer in New York City, whose work has been seen in The New York Times, The Jewish Week, and other publications.
Great speeches tonight from what I heard. Brian Schweitzer is easily my favorite politician in America and Hillary kicked some major ass. Yeah, I had goosebumps.
Get the full rundown at The Delegates here, here, and here.
Michael Dukakis was my professor at Northeastern University and is one of the most intelligent and genuine people I’ve ever known. His insights were always spot on and his desire for young people to get involved in public service was a common theme throughout each lecture.
I just came across a (long) speech Dukakis gave in March 2008 as part of the University of San Diego Distinguished Lecture Series. This speech is wide-ranging but focuses mainly on the 2008 election and his thoughts on the electoral process in general.
I am reminded of what a great teacher he is and how, despite a high-profile electoral loss, he has managed to contribute so much and inspire so many to get involved in public service and politics.
Our friends at PoliticsTV put together this great compilation of the best web moments thus far in the 2008 race. We are debuting the video here on DoubleSpeak for the first time! Enjoy and please send this around too all of your friends.
Yesterday, I was on MSNBC discussing Obama’s veep search, as well McCain’s proposal to hold 10 televised town hall meetings with Obama. Props to Josh, whose post was the fodder for our discussion on the teevee. Check it out. Happy Friday.
Imagine this: It’s August 28th, 2008 in Denver, Colorado and the Democratic Party is concluding its convention on the 45th anniversary of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s “I Have a Dream” speech by nominating the first African American candidate of a major party in American history. The crowd is cheering, the balloons are falling, and across the country and the world there is a sense of history being made.
On to the stage steps the tall figure of Barack Obama beaming his megawatt smile and waving at the crowd. He is flanked by his wife Michelle, his running mate, and the running mate’s spouse. They’ve joined hands and lifted their arms in the air. It’s a new day and a new direction for the Democratic Party.
Can you really imagine the last person on that list to be former President Bill Clinton? Can President Clinton be the fourth most important person on the stage that night?
And come January, when it would become President Obama, could he truly run his administration with President Clinton advising Vice President Clinton across the street in the Old Executive Office Building? The man is undeniably brilliant but can he stand in the shadows?
I think Senator Hillary Clinton would be a great running mate and a great Vice President. It could be a 16-year ticket of progressive good governance. But I worry that Bill Clinton, the only Democratic president I have known in my lifetime could not handle his far less prestigious and powerful role.
By Carolyn Slutsky
