Blog on Winking into the Future
I grew up in the time when girls could not wear pants to school even in the dead of a brutally cold Michigan Winter. But it was a turbulent period of change for the marginalized and by the time I was a teen, bra-burning women were demanding to be noticed for their diverse capabilities as viable contributors to our society. That is - in every way formally withheld. I wondered then, could this battle lead us to the top?
In this past year we’ve had two prominent political positions sought after by women. Did the brave suffragists dare to envision a pantsuit-wearing female candidate demanding to be counted in the 200-year legacy of the good ole boys presidential network ? Intelligent, experienced, opinionated and adept, Clinton brought hope to every little girl who dared to imagine a bigger future than her grandmothers’ dreams could allow. Whether or not you agreed with her politics, at least you knew she was a qualified candidate. Clinton didn’t make it to the top but she proved a formidable challenge for a system in profound need of substantive change. And then came Palin
There will be no pant-suits for Sarah Palin. Standing on the shoulders of her sister warriors, she barely notices who propped her up. Palin is the equivalent to the women who follow the starter-wives...bearing hot-looks and enthusiasm over substance, she begs to be taken seriously. As much as we may want her to stand worthy of her new-found position, the hard fought battle for women’s rights doesn’t single out the intellectually astute and politically prepared. Just as unqualified male leaders have found their way to the presidency, the mixed blessing and curse of a truly equitable system is allowing the keenly inept to step forward and claim readiness. The question remains, will American voters move past the glitzy appeal of alluring slogans into the true challenge of departing from an eight year presidential debacle? If we take her suggestions to heart and boldly select a maverick, then we may want to hire the one senator who authentically challenged the Bush Administration and not the one at the top of her ticket who has voted in synch with Bush born mandates more than 90% of the time. Oh that's it! I finally get it... I “betcha” that’s what she's really been trying to get us to grasp at our kitchen tables all along...smile, wink, wink!
I grew up in the time when girls could not wear pants to school even in the dead of a brutally cold Michigan Winter. But it was a turbulent period of change for the marginalized and by the time I was a teen, bra-burning women were demanding to be noticed for their diverse capabilities as viable contributors to our society. That is - in every way formally withheld. I wondered then, could this battle lead us to the top?
In this past year we’ve had two prominent political positions sought after by women. Did the brave suffragists dare to envision a pantsuit-wearing female candidate demanding to be counted in the 200-year legacy of the good ole boys presidential network ? Intelligent, experienced, opinionated and adept, Clinton brought hope to every little girl who dared to imagine a bigger future than her grandmothers’ dreams could allow. Whether or not you agreed with her politics, at least you knew she was a qualified candidate. Clinton didn’t make it to the top but she proved a formidable challenge for a system in profound need of substantive change. And then came Palin
There will be no pant-suits for Sarah Palin. Standing on the shoulders of her sister warriors, she barely notices who propped her up. Palin is the equivalent to the women who follow the starter-wives...bearing hot-looks and enthusiasm over substance, she begs to be taken seriously. As much as we may want her to stand worthy of her new-found position, the hard fought battle for women’s rights doesn’t single out the intellectually astute and politically prepared. Just as unqualified male leaders have found their way to the presidency, the mixed blessing and curse of a truly equitable system is allowing the keenly inept to step forward and claim readiness. The question remains, will American voters move past the glitzy appeal of alluring slogans into the true challenge of departing from an eight year presidential debacle? If we take her suggestions to heart and boldly select a maverick, then we may want to hire the one senator who authentically challenged the Bush Administration and not the one at the top of her ticket who has voted in synch with Bush born mandates more than 90% of the time. Oh that's it! I finally get it... I “betcha” that’s what she's really been trying to get us to grasp at our kitchen tables all along...smile, wink, wink!
