2.26.2008

Yeah -- What She Said!

I received this message in an e-mail this afternoon -- I belong to a handful of groups on mybarackobama.com. I wish I'd written this, as it conveys my feelings in a succinct and powerful fashion. Thank you Cecilia Levin, for penning this and passing it along.

Dear Women Supporters of Barack Obama (and those who love them):

The women members of the Scholars for Obama Group (like so many of us) have been concerned about the emphasis on gender and “identity politics” in the current Democratic presidential competition. We strongly believe that the women supporters of Barack Obama could make a vital difference in this very tight primary process. By increasing our visibility, we have the potential to encourage women in states with upcoming primaries to look beyond gender stereotyping when casting their votes.

We believe that it is important to show American voters that the women supporting Barack Obama are individual faces. We are not anti-feminist, traitors to the “cause”, or lacking personal empowerment. Similar to Hillary Clinton’s backers, we are disgusted by and abhor any form of sexism that has been directed towards the female candidate in this campaign. We would love to see a female president some day, but right now our nation’s problems are too urgent, our times are too volatile, and our future is too precarious. We cannot afford to use our upcoming presidential election as a debate about feminism or to correct gender imbalances in our society. We stand behind the candidate that we believe is best to lead our country. We support Barack Obama and his platform, and we know he can achieve many of our shared goals as our president.


To voice our support we produced a photo collage and a video depicting the many and diverse women’s voices endorsing Barack Obama. Our images of over 500 female Obama supporters represent all races, ages, occupations, regions and life styles. View them, find a reflection of yourself in these individuals, and please pass this message and video link on to as many people and organizations as possible:


Our project resulted from a few women sharing ideas and dreams about how we could make a difference. Imagine if each of us takes action! We encourage every woman backing Barack Obama to become visible and let her voice be heard. Be creative, have fun, and always uphold your own dignity with the same respect and dignity that our candidate reflects in his own words and actions.

The women supporters of Barack Obama are not merely crunched numbers or statistics on a chart. We are your mothers, your wives, your sisters, your daughters, your friends and your neighbors. Our strength is in our powerful and united voice, echoing his words, “Yes, we can!”

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