What was most satisfying to me about Barack Obama's National Women's Leadership Issues Conference in Chicago this past weekend was the way women's issues were defined. Yes, we had a panel on the Supreme Court with a focus on abortions right and equal pay for equal wor, and an appearance by the dignified, compelling, and heartbreaking Lilly Ledbetter. Yes, Suze Orman spoke to us about personal finance, and her reasons for supporting Obama (to avoid being "personally responsible for the downfall of the entire world."). Yes, none other than Oprah Winfrey gave a rousing speech in which she cautioned that, while we Americans have been deceived before, we are not in the mood to be deceived again, and that it is our job as women to "midwife" this election into a new kind of America. And yes, we were graced with the elegant and inspiring presence of the lovely Michelle Obama. All that is true, but what got me, what made me the happiest, was that among the "women's issues" we talked about at this conference were the economic crisis, the opportunities available in a "green" economy, and national security, with a particular emphasis on Iraq and Afghanistan.
For far too long politicians have been under the mistaken impression that women's issues begin and end with reproductive choice. Don't get me wrong, even at a moment when our economy appears to be swirling down the drain of a filthy public toilet, abortion is still in and of itself a good enough reason for every woman to devote herself to the cause of electing Barack Obama. The next president will most likely appoint three justices, and Roe v. Wade is hanging on by a single vote. But even as a woman with a decidedly personal devotion to the cause of abortion rights, I relish the widening of perspective. National security is a woman's issue. We give birth to the children who die in these misbegotten, miserably-managed wars. The economy is a women's issue; women have traditionally been the first to find their jobs disappear, their earnings collapse, and their families threatened with economic ruin. Healthcare is most certainly a women's issue. It feels good to have all that acknowledged by a candidate and a campaign.
At this stage of the campaign, when we've been in the trenches for a long time and some of us (particularly those with four small children giving us vast quantities of guilt-gilded grief for spending our time raising money and knocking on doors instead of perfecting our recipes for the perfect "no waste" school lunch) are getting really really tired. It was a much needed shot in the arm to be surrounded by 1500 equally passionate Obama supporters. I don't know about the rest of you, but after the past month I needed my batteries recharged by a good dose of Amy Klobuchar (if all my money hadn't disappeared over the last couple of weeks I'd be putting it on her as the likeliest candidate for first woman president).
After what I wrote on this site about the democratic national convention, you can probably imagine the reception Barack received when he came to speak to us. The usual pandemonium, all of us taking indiscernible photographs with our iphones ("See that little washed out blur at the far end of the room? That's the next president of the United States!"). The usual generalized zeal -- Barack told a story about stopping at a diner for dessert and I actually found myself cheering at his order. (I was hungry, and he got the coconut cream pie!). But his speech, while inspiring, was also sobering. Things have gotten really ugly and they're only going to get uglier. Tiny Fey's less intelligent twin sister is out there accusing Obama of being a terrorist. She's stoking the fires of the crazy fringe of her party (should we even call it a fringe when it seems to be swallowing a good proportion of the entire GOP? I think we're beyond bangs here. They've got themselves a whole haircut worth of wingnuts). It's going to take a strong stomach to get through the next few weeks. Luckily, he has one.
As much as this election has come at times to seem like a pie-eating contest where the prize is a pie made not of coconut cream but of a heady concoction of dog excrement and rat poison, when it's over, Barack Obama will be president. Thank god, because he's the only one who can lead us out of this nightmare.
