Sarah Shocker – Women Count Blog

“Wow! McCain definitely knows how to shake things up. Picking Governor Sarah Palin as his running mate today makes it crystal clear – women are the most coveted demographic for both Obama and McCain. It is also clear that Senator Clinton’s candidacy continues to impact the race in unprecedented ways. In fact, many think McCain’s pick is a reaction to Obama not picking Clinton as his running mate. We just listened to Governor Palin’s speech and noticed that she didn’t mention Obama or Biden by name, but she did give props to Senator Clinton and Geraldine Ferraro. Like the rest of the country, we still need to get up to speed on everything about Governor Palin, but there is no doubt that she is pro-life, and really close to Big Oil interests. If McCain thinks we will fall in line simply because he picked a woman – we will give him our own surprise. We know that Senator Clinton’s supporters didn’t just vote for her because she was a woman – they voted for her because she was a qualified woman who was with them on the issues. Stay tuned – WomenCount will uncover the “substance over style” and we will continue to keep you updated as the “Sarah Shocker” plays out”

AdvancingWomen.com’s take on “Sarah Shocker”:

AdvancingWomen doesn’t think we should “fall in line”  as we examine Governor Sarah Palin’s credentials, just because she’s a woman.  We do think, however,  we should be extraordinarily respectful and mindful that, as women, we do share a common history with her, and whoever is elected, we will share a common future, so it would serve us well to look for common ground and ways to work together, whichever side of an issue we fall on. We should all remember that women legislators of both parties have done more for other women than men of either party.

We think Governor Palin’s nomination should give us all hope…. at a time when many of the “first wave” of women advocates, have given up the fight, or settled for achieving their own ambitions without reaching down to give a hand up to other women.  Or they become imbued with a sense of sadness and loss instead of a fighting spirit which inspires them to move on and take up the next challenge.

This morning Ellen Goodman wrote  a kind of sad, elegiac tribute  titled “Curtain call for Clinton’s drama”, http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2008/08/29/curtain_call_for_clintons_drama/, mentioning the lost battles of Geraldine Ferraro and Hillary Clinton, noting “For the first time, the woman checked off the box of experience. And watched it reframed as “old politics.” And “However many speakers talked about the 18 million cracks in the glass ceiling, the ceiling is in place. While polls say that women now feel it’s more likely to have a woman president in the future, older women wonder, “In my lifetime?”  Goodman ended with Senator Clinton’s quote: “My mother was born before women could vote. My daughter got to vote for her mother for president. That, for the moment”, wrote Goodman” is history enough.”

AdvancingWomen.com respectfully disagrees.  That is not history enough. We are thrilled to welcome Governor Sarah Palin into the race.  Of course she will be imperfect like every man who’s ever served, just like Jefferson and Lincoln and John Kennedy.  Of course she won’t agree with us on every issue.  As women trying to crack the glass ceiling, we should offer a big enough tent to allow people to have civil debate and try to reach common ground. We don’t think serious, thoughtful people will vote for Governor Sarah Palin just because she is a woman any more than some people would vote for Barack Obama just because he is a Democrat.  Hopefully they will study the candidates in depth and in context and make a judgment on the totality of the issues before casting their vote.
But, in the meantime, the valiant run  of Senator Clinton and the bold nomination of Governor Sarah Palin are just two more steps on a long , steep road that will eventually take a woman crashing through that highest and hardest glass ceiling and into the seat of power in the Oval Office.  AdvancingWomen looks forward to all of us working together to do everything possible to make that day come sooner rather than later, starting with developing that women’s farm team, with electing women dog catchers and sheriffs, city council women and school superintendents, mayors, governors, senators and ultimately….Madame President.