We just heart Buzzflash for their efforts before the election to visibilize the many qualified and capable women who should be considered for cabinet posts in the Obama administration.
“In all the discussions of what an Obama cabinet might look like, we feel something is missing. In a letter: “X.” That’s right; we feel the speculation has been a little heavy on the Y chromosome.”
“We’re not saying Obama should exclusively choose women for his cabinet. But, in this day of supposed gender equality, could we expect an enlightened man such as Obama to at least consider one woman for each position in his cabinet search? We think the possibility is more reality than dream.”
They even provide a handy list of all the cabinet positions and via Riane Eisler, here is where you can send your list directly to the Obama transition team! And yes this is important–a list of possible 44 contenders for various cabinet positions reported by the AP today includes only 9 women!
Also kudos to Naomi Klein for pointing out that,
“The first order of business – and one that cannot wait until inauguration – must be halting the robbery-in-progress known as the “economic bailout.”
“Stopping the bailout profiteers is about more than money. It is about democracy. Specifically, it is about whether Americans will be able to afford the change they have just voted for so conclusively.”
Sadly, instead of considering someone like Klein for the position of Secretary of the Treasury, the name of Larry Summers is apparently on the short list of possible contenders. Given Summers horrendous comments about women during his tenure at Harvard, we are just flummoxed as to why NOW’s Kim Gandy would be so timid in voicing her concerns about him:
“On Wednesday morning, National Organization for Women President Kim Gandy contacted the Huffington Post to describe her “mixed feelings” at the prospect of Larry Summers being on a rumored short list of contenders for Treasury secretary. Cautioning that the quickness of the group’s decision to drop a hint about its concern over Summers was not a formal declaration of “opposition,” Gandy nevertheless fleshed out a broad critique.
“It’s very important that whoever is in key positions understands the importance of women to this economy — and that the impact of wage inequality for women has bearing on the overall economic inequality in our society,” she said. “I don’t see [this] on the agendas of most of the candidates being suggested. While Larry Summers has talked about income inequality, he doesn’t seem to get it that a lot of that is related to the wage gap between men and women.”"
Mixed feelings?? What exactly would it take for NOW to voice a formal declaration of opposition? More about the Larry Summers and the role of women in the Obama administration here.
Via e-mail, The World Can’t Wait’s Debra Sweet reminds us not to get too attached to our electoral rose-colored glasses:
“What is there to celebrate in an Obama presidency? Making us feel good about the country again when Obama is trying to unite us to behind what he calls “the good war” in Afghanistan? While people in the US were lining up to vote, a US air strike on an Afghan wedding party killed 34 civilians. Another strike killed 7 more yesterday.
Obama, the “anti-war” candidate, wants to leave 50 to 80,000 troops in Iraq, and move more combat brigades to Afghanistan. He promises to increase the US military by 92,000, ready to project American empire further on the lives of kids in high school now. Obama proposed sending drones and special forces into Pakistan – a sovereign country – and the Bush regime secretly began attacks on Pakistan in July, which have killed scores of civilians, as part of the Bush doctrine of pre-emptive war.
How could we celebrate “national unity” when Obama’s vote for the FISA law opens the way for unprecedented political repression and spying on the people? People expected Obama, who taught Constitutional law, to protect their rights, but Obama went out of his way to make an unpopular vote to bolster the “war on terror” and set the basis for expanded political repression. He voted for an amended USA PATRIOT Act that had more draconian curbs on political protest than the 2001 version.
How can we feel Obama is “for the people” when he put all his backing behind the bailout of Wall Street banks, but tells the people only to have faith in their leaders? When he supports the notoriously racist death penalty, and blames Black people themselves for the huge prison population? When he finds “common ground” with the most rabid Christian fundamentalist plans to do away with abortion and gay marriage? The ban on gay marriage passed in California, benefiting from Obama’s expressed opposition to gay marriage.
In the face of huge crimes perpetrated by the Bush regime,.Obama said, “I think you reserve impeachment for grave, grave breaches, and intentional breaches of the president’s authority.”
Finally, many thanks to the Center For New Words for putting together a series of town hall meetings that gave women throughout the country a chance to really say what they want. The program culminated in a post-election panel discussion that was set up in a way that allowed women from around the country to participate via the internet. Check out the website for many excellent speakouts from women everywhere!
Postcript–Just after I posted this, I came across “Sayanora Sarah”, Katha Pollitt’s rocking feminist critique of Sarah Palin’s candidacy,
“And so we bid farewell to Sarah Palin. How I’ll miss her daily presence in my life! The mooseburgers, the wolf hunts, the kids named after bays and sports and trees and airplanes and who did not seem to go to school at all, the winks and blinks, the cute Alaska accent, the witch-hunting pastor and those great little flared jackets, especially the gray stripey one…You can snipe all you want, but she was truly God’s gift: to Barack Obama, Katie Couric–notice no one’s making fun of America’s sweetheart now–Tina Fey and columnists all over America.
She was also a gift to feminism.”
Read why here.
Janie Rezner: The Journey Of The Soul Into The Mother
Word of vision from Janie “Oquawka” Rezner as we begin the New Year: