As I recall from the primary, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi was among those Democratic Party leaders who refused to take a stand against the relentless sexist attacks that Hillary Clinton endured. Since then Pelosi has acknowledged that Sen. Clinton’s campaign had been hindered by sexism; however, the Speaker dismissed it by saying “it goes with the territory.”
As noted in the LA Times, Pelosi “never officially chose sides in the Hillary Clinton/Barack Obama battle for the Democratic presidential nomination. But most of those reading tea leaves assumed her heart was with the eventual winner.”
As early as January, the Times points out, Pelosi effectively encouraged superdelegates to abandon Hillary Clinton and jump on the bandwagon of the charismatic Obama with his proven ability to instantaneously convert large crowds into revival meetings starring legions of youth chanting, “Yes, we can.”
In light of all of the above, it’s a little mind numbing to read in the Hill this morning the selfsame Pelosi, in her by now familiar condescending manner, is holding women leaders in the Democratic party, along with Hillary Clinton’s supporters, responsible for the success of her guy Obama this November:
“DENVER – House Speaker Nancy Pelosi predicted Saturday that female Democratic leaders will help unify the party by getting disgruntled supporters of Hillary Rodham Clinton to back Barack Obama.
“Beginning with speeches by Sen. Clinton (N.Y.) and other women at the Democratic convention here next week, the party’s women will come out strongly for Sen. Obama (Ill.) throughout the campaign, said Pelosi (Calif.), who holds the highest position in the federal government ever occupied by a woman.
“Addressing reporters at a pre-convention luncheon sponsored by the Christian Science Monitor, Pelosi predicted that the Obama campaign would be able to win over Clinton’s supporters before the election. She stressed, though, that, if they failed to do so, it would be their own fault.
‘“I believe that women will see that they have the most to gain by the election of Barack Obama and the most to lose by the election of John McCain,’ Pelosi said. The differences between Obama and Sen. McCain (R-Ariz.) are like ‘night and day’ on issues such as healthcare, education and the war in Iraq, she said.”’
What Speaker Pelosi still fails to understand is that by their passive response to the pervasive sexism throughout the primary, she and other party leaders actually condoned and encouraged the abusive treatment suffered by the first serious female presidential candidate in the nation’s history.
Pelosi’s comments at this point are not only too little too late, they also bear an unmistakable note of condescension toward those of us who saw what was going on and have refused to sit down, shut up, and get with the Democratic Party’s program of nominating Barack Obama at all costs.
Trying to convince us that we have no choice in November other than vote for the lesser of two evils, Barack Obama or John McCain, doesn’t cut it. First of all, the Democratic Party owes Hillary Clinton a public apology, and her supporters need to know for certain the party will no longer tolerate sexism and misogyny in its own ranks or from its bigoted allies in the media.
Until then, Madam Speaker, we’ll remember to vote present in November.
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