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browngirlFrom the Ancient Greek 'poly', for many, and 'ticks' for small bloodsucking arachnids.
Sigh. And double sigh. And sigh again.
Item #1: The Bush administration has driven out another sensible (at least from what I can see) career soldier who advocated moderation instead of chickenhawkery. As the Times article says, "Admiral Fallon had rankled senior officials of the Bush administration in recent months with comments that emphasized diplomacy over conflict in dealing with Iran, that endorsed further troop withdrawals from Iraq beyond those already under way and that suggested the United States had taken its eye off the military mission in Afghanistan." And now he's leaving, because they won't listen to him, as the current administration drags us all headlong along this course of war. *sigh*
Item #2: What was Spitzer thinking? Well, ok, it's pretty obvious, and with which head. But still. Beyond the schadenfreude of seeing a reformer get caught being naughty, I wish he'd remembered that in the US people will condemn one more readily for sexual misconduct than for monetary -- it took several articles before I saw that he was spending campaign funds on this, but all the articles are gleefully relating the sexual details they can find. And there's a certain dismay in seeing a politician crash whose views one generally agreed with.
Item #3: This is the one that sparked this post by breaking my heart. Geraldine Ferraro said, “If Obama was a white man, he would not be in this position. And if he was a woman of any color, he would not be in this position. He happens to be very lucky to be who he is. And the country is caught up in the concept.” I'd been thinking about this as I followed the race, and I honestly don't agree with her. And also, I'm saddened and frustrated; Ferraro's statement isn't much different than, say, accusing a female CEO of sleeping her way to that position. It's the damned-if-you-do, damned-if-you-don't thing: when Senator Obama mentioned race, however obliquely, people accused him of 'playing the race card'; he avoids the subject, and others bring it to him.
And also... some time ago I posted about seeing an article where a small girl's reaction to Clinton's candidacy was to say, "I didn't know girls could be President!" My moment of saying that came in 1984 when I was 8, and followed the presidential race that year in my Social Studies class, and I said it because of Ms. Ferraro. I even met her at a rally, whee. And now I know that when she looked at me she didn't see a possible future president in the little girl smiling at her. One would think I'd stop letting myself be disillusioned by politicians, but then isn't that the theme of this whole post?
Senator Clinton disagreed with Ms. Ferraro's remarks, very diplomatically too, I thought. But still, the pull between being a feminist and being Black in this year's campaign is likely to rip me apart before November, and is shredding the Democratic Party to a depressing degree.
(In general, I realized the Democratic race is breaking my heart in part because it's just like a fanfic fannish shipwar [where in a fandom with characters A, B, and C, fans of an A/B romantic pairing square off against fans of a B/C romantic pairing]. Complete with "what do they see in him?" and "they're idiots to like her", accusations of nefarious motives, and comments on appearance, brainwashing, and trivialities. But then, I suppose, politics is always like that; human tendencies tend to recur. )
Sigh. And double sigh. And sigh again.
Item #1: The Bush administration has driven out another sensible (at least from what I can see) career soldier who advocated moderation instead of chickenhawkery. As the Times article says, "Admiral Fallon had rankled senior officials of the Bush administration in recent months with comments that emphasized diplomacy over conflict in dealing with Iran, that endorsed further troop withdrawals from Iraq beyond those already under way and that suggested the United States had taken its eye off the military mission in Afghanistan." And now he's leaving, because they won't listen to him, as the current administration drags us all headlong along this course of war. *sigh*
Item #2: What was Spitzer thinking? Well, ok, it's pretty obvious, and with which head. But still. Beyond the schadenfreude of seeing a reformer get caught being naughty, I wish he'd remembered that in the US people will condemn one more readily for sexual misconduct than for monetary -- it took several articles before I saw that he was spending campaign funds on this, but all the articles are gleefully relating the sexual details they can find. And there's a certain dismay in seeing a politician crash whose views one generally agreed with.
Item #3: This is the one that sparked this post by breaking my heart. Geraldine Ferraro said, “If Obama was a white man, he would not be in this position. And if he was a woman of any color, he would not be in this position. He happens to be very lucky to be who he is. And the country is caught up in the concept.” I'd been thinking about this as I followed the race, and I honestly don't agree with her. And also, I'm saddened and frustrated; Ferraro's statement isn't much different than, say, accusing a female CEO of sleeping her way to that position. It's the damned-if-you-do, damned-if-you-don't thing: when Senator Obama mentioned race, however obliquely, people accused him of 'playing the race card'; he avoids the subject, and others bring it to him.
And also... some time ago I posted about seeing an article where a small girl's reaction to Clinton's candidacy was to say, "I didn't know girls could be President!" My moment of saying that came in 1984 when I was 8, and followed the presidential race that year in my Social Studies class, and I said it because of Ms. Ferraro. I even met her at a rally, whee. And now I know that when she looked at me she didn't see a possible future president in the little girl smiling at her. One would think I'd stop letting myself be disillusioned by politicians, but then isn't that the theme of this whole post?
Senator Clinton disagreed with Ms. Ferraro's remarks, very diplomatically too, I thought. But still, the pull between being a feminist and being Black in this year's campaign is likely to rip me apart before November, and is shredding the Democratic Party to a depressing degree.
(In general, I realized the Democratic race is breaking my heart in part because it's just like a fanfic fannish shipwar [where in a fandom with characters A, B, and C, fans of an A/B romantic pairing square off against fans of a B/C romantic pairing]. Complete with "what do they see in him?" and "they're idiots to like her", accusations of nefarious motives, and comments on appearance, brainwashing, and trivialities. But then, I suppose, politics is always like that; human tendencies tend to recur. )
