PRE-DEBATE THOUGHTS

Has it occurred to anyone to question why Hillary Clinton has proven to be the star of the debate format during this election cycle?

Could it be (gasp!) that it's because she has a thorough mastery of the issues; and that that is so because she's spent the past twenty (at least) years studying how to improve the lives of Americans, and trying to do it? That when other, more self-centric, women such as myself are dreaming of vacation cruises and zoning out with a good book after a hard day at work (hey, we're entitled!) -- this woman, who has shown herself since her youth to be more concerned with others than herself, pushes herself to advance one more idea, one more program, one more initiative to improve humanity.

Ambitious? You bet. But the real question is, for WHOM is she ambitious? I'd answer, for the voiceless.

I've posted comments on numerous, more highly-trafficked "progressive" blogs during the past few weeks, entreating the Obamamaniacs to balance their knee-jerk, anti-Hillary screeds with the facts of her progressive record, and reacting against their sexist not-so-sub-texts. The most offensive was this post on Easter Lemming: "I have been reminded by true sons and daughters of the South that "My Mama wants Hillary Clinton and if you respect my Mama you'll vote for Hillary." I suppose the darkies need to step to the back of the line, again ..."

This was my comment:

Your last paragraph is offensive. I guess I'm one of those mamas, and while I've spent a lifetime in the South being afforded front place in the line (ladies first!), that courtesy has afforded me little in getting me to a PLACE AT THE TABLE. If my adult children are aware that I support Hillary, they also know that I was marching for civil rights long before my feminist instincts kicked in.

And long before most Obama supporters who are swarming and swooning were born, we Hillary mamas were bearing and raising children while trying to support them on a salary 2/3 of a man's. We've been passed over for promotion, asked to bring in the coffee for meetings we're chairing, and perpetually asked to take notes, even when we reach the executive level.

We Hillary mamas care about healthcare, education, children's and women's rights as well as foreign policy and national security -- and we'd be the last to ask someone to step to the back of the line because of something so superficial as race or gender. We've lived discrimination our entire lives, in ways a male will never understand.

Gender discrimination is alive and well at Easter Lemming (among other so-called "progressive" blogs).

My response was rewarded with this response by the blogger: "Fair enough, although this response seems identical to what I have been hearing and reading and comented on. 'We've paid our dues, dammit. We deserve this.'"

Dues? Dues? Isn't this just the same charge made against Hillary repeatedly, that she thinks she's "owed" the presidency? What did she EVER do or say to indicate she felt that sort of privilege? The answer is, nothing. She's continuing to fight the good fight despite the slings and arrows of outrageous journalists and the haters who have held sway to the "Clinton rules" for decades now.

Here comes the debate. Over and out.