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Unify NOT Divide

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If you remember how you felt in 2004 …

You will let the Hillary supporter’s grieve their loss – this is coming from a loyal Hillary supporter. In 2004 there was a lot of talk that if John Kerry lost and George Bush won again  we would not have to worry about 2008 because Former First Lady Hillary Clinton would be running for the Presidency. A HUGE piece of history would be made in the next election, a female president- imagine that.  The world would change.

Now remember how you felt on November 3, 2004 when Senator Kerry conceded the election, and we had President George Bush for another 4 years. There were a lot of Republicans saying they were right after all and their candidate prevailed in yet another election.  No matter how hard we worked for Senator Kerry they still tormented us – even those who did not vote had an opinion.

In 2004 we also learned about a Senator from Illinois named Barack Obama. Many of us heard his powerful rhetoric for the first time at the 2004 Democratic National Convention in Boston. I said “Wow, this person is amazing; he is going to be our president someday!”

SOMEDAY is the key word. For the first time in my 13 years of voting, I was torn between whom to elect on February 5. I finally had the opportunity to vote in a life changing election. We had the first female speaker of the house, Nancy Pelosi, and it was time for the first female president, Senator Hillary Clinton.   I felt that Senator Obama lacked the depth of experience that we had with Senator Clinton. Do you remember that Hillary swept California, not Obama?  There was hope!

We Hillary supporters feel as though it’s 2004 all over again.  It’s a monumental loss for all of us and Senator Clinton who we believed in and who was going to be our first female President. We feel that the Obama supporters are like Bush supporters in many ways. No matter how hard we worked, they won’t give us time to mourn. They seem to forget that they have a lot of work to do in unifying the Hillary supporters with their candidate.

Yes, we Hillary supporters feel jilted and angry because four years ago we were waiting for her to make history and become the first female president of the United States.  Now it’s Obama, Obama, and more Obama mania.

In November, Obama will need all of the votes that he can get – these include those from the disappointed Hillary supporters.  As Democrats, we are all peers who hold the same vision and values.  But honestly, even after a month it still pains me to go into a room and have everyone cheer for Obama because he is the nominee.   I am not on the Obama side yet and sit afraid to speak for fear of being ridiculed and accused of supporting the other party.  Right now the best things that an Obama supporter can do is when meeting a Hillary supporter to take the time and listen – you might learn something, make a new friend, and get a vote in the long run.

Marriage Equality

Marriage Equality: Myths and Reality

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Immediately after the 2004 presidential election results came in many political analysts floated the notion that the Massachusetts Supreme Court ruling that required the state to enact marriage equality was responsible for George Bush’s re-election.  The hypothesis was that the anti-marriage equality initiatives on the ballot energized the right to turnout and they helped push Bush over the top.  That theory was roundly rejected by the actual exit polling data.  Unfortunately that myth still lives on and is influencing political analysis to this day.  Today it appeared in Peter Schrag’s column in the Bee, which was picked up by Boi from Troy and subsequently linked by Marc Ambinder in the Atlantic.

Given its hot-button nature in an election season, there must be a lot of Democrats, from the presidential candidates down, who are hoping that the court follows Jerry Brown’s pleadings. To this day, a lot of people believe that the 2003 decision of the Massachusetts Supreme Court striking down that state’s ban on same-sex marriages was a major factor in the defeat of John Kerry in the 2004 presidential election.

Schrag really needs a phrase in there that recognizes that while people continue to believe that myth, it has been disproved.  It is something the bloggers, particularly kos harped about, but did not make it very far into the mainstream, despite the numerical evidence.

In that decision, the Massachusetts court held that that “the right to marry means little if it does not include the right to marry the person of one’s choice.”

The ban, the court found, “works a deep and scarring hardship” on same-sex families “for no rational reason.”

The backlash to a similar California ruling would make the reaction to the Massachusetts ruling seem mild.

Why?  Why would California’s reaction be any larger than Massachusetts?  The state’s electorate has been moving slowly toward support for marriage equality.  I suspect that a poll conducted now would show opposition below 50%.  The voters in this state are more likely to support marriage equality now than at any point in the past.  There has been a great deal of positive movement in the past few years, particularly as the Milenials come of voting age.

If indeed the court does rule that the state constitution requires that all persons be treated equally, then we will see an attempt by the right-wing to put an initiative on the ballot to amend the constitution in a way that the Courts cannot overrule.  That would be a big huge fight.  However, if 2004 is any guide, it would not effect the presidential election in any measurable way.