Maybe you've been a Republican all your life.

Maybe you listen to Sean Hannity.  Maybe you watch Bill O'Reilly.  Maybe you're one of Rush Limbaugh's Dittoheads.

Maybe you're like ex VRWC:

ROTC Cadet, Air Force Captain, Free Republic diarist, James Dobson quoting conservative, 2 time Bush voter.  Church worship leader.

Maybe your parents were Republicans.  Your grandparents too.

Maybe you never, ever, ever imagined you would vote for a Democrat.

Maybe you think that, on the issues, you are more politically aligned with John McCain.  Or Sarah Palin.

But that doesn't matter.  We still need you.

You can help save this country.

We live in red states and blue states.  We go to churches, shuls, and mosques.  Or none of the above.

We are young married women.  Old single men.  College students.  Crazy cat ladies.  

Some of us make a lot of money and have benefited from Bush's tax cuts.  Some of us live paycheck to paycheck, one accident away from catastrophe.  Some of us have nothing at all.

Some of us went to Ivy League universities.  We are lawyers and doctors.

Some of us have GEDs.  We work in factories and cubicles.

Some of us wear the uniform and serve our country proudly.

Some of us marched in the streets, demanding an end to the Viet Nam War.  And the Gulf War.  And Occupation Iraqi Freedom.

Some of us believe in a woman's right to make any and all decisions about her body.  Some of us believe life begins at conception.  Some of us believe both.

Some of us were born into Democratic families.  We voted for FDR.  We voted for Clinton.  For both Clintons.

Some of us were born into Republican families.  We voted for Nixon.  Twice.  We voted for Reagan.  Twice.  

We are not all the same.  We took different journeys to come here.  But we are all here, and we all want the same thing.

We want to change our country.  

We want to save our country.  We want to be the beacon of hope and greatness in the world that we once were and can be again.

We want to end the war in Iraq and bring our troops home.

We want an end to the corruption and incompetence of our government.

We want health care for every American.

We want air that is clean and safe to breathe.

We want to follow our hopes instead of our fears.  

We know it won't be easy.  We know it will take a long time to repair the damage done, not just by the current administration, but by past administrations as well.  George W. Bush is not solely to blame; we know that.

But we must fix it.  We know that too.

And we know that we must change.  We must.  We cannot continue the same policies that have led us to this dark moment in history.  And we cannot continue to give in to hate.  We cannot continue this cycle of red against blue, liberals against conservatives, us against them.  

We cannot condone any more lies and hate.

We know that these words are true:

Because if you don't have any fresh ideas, then you use stale tactics to scare the voters.  If you don't have a record to run on, then you paint your opponent as someone people should run from.

You make a big election about small things.

And this election is too big and too important to be about small, petty, hateful, dishonest things.

We know it is scary.  Change is scary.  And this election is scary.  Because we all understand that we are on the brink of destiny -- and the man we choose to lead us will determine our fate.

This is our moment.  We must act.  We must vote for change.  We must believe in hope.  

And we cannot do it alone.

We need you -- every Republican, evangelical, pro-life Dittohead.  Every red state stay-at-home hockey mom.  Every American who isn't sure what the answer is but knows, deep in their soul, that it begins with change.

This is not about party.  This is not even about politics.  This is about our country and our future.

So please, help us.  Help us turn our nation around.  Help us to make it better.  

We've been waiting for you.

Join us.

Cross-posted at DailyKos

You think I'm stupid.

You think I'm going to fall for it.

You think that because I loved Hillary Clinton, gave money to Hillary Clinton, stood in the freezing rain for two hours to see her speak, put a sticker on my car, wore my pin around town, and supported Hillary Clinton to the very end, that I will vote for you.

You think I will forget every single one of my personal and political values just because there's a vagina on your pro-war, anti-woman, anti-science ticket.

You, Senator McCain, are wrong.

I'd love to see a woman in the White House. I would have loved to see a woman on Obama's ticket.

But not this woman.

Not a woman who thinks decisions about my body should be made by hateful old men in Washington.

Not a woman who thinks science is a myth.

Not a woman who thinks the Republican party has anything to offer besides more war, higher taxes, oil dependency, and hate.

I am not falling for it, Senator McCain.  

Because what you do not understand is that my support for Hillary was not about anatomy.  It was about values.  Hillary Clinton articulated and represented my dreams.

You do not.  Not even with a vagina on your pathetic ticket.

This changes nothing.

No way.  No how.  No McCain.

Cross-posted at DailyKos

I laughed at them.  Silly cultists, drinking Kool-Aid, talking about The Savior, The Messiah, The One.  I laughed at the slogans they chanted.  Fired up.  Hope and Change.  Yes we can.

Bunch of nonsense.

I said I'd vote for him anyway.  He's a Democrat, and we need one in the White House.  

I said I'd vote for him anyway.  McCain is worse, a continuation of eight disastrous years, and an assault on every single one of my personal and political values.  

But this week, I stopped being just a Democrat who will vote for the party's nominee.

This week, I became an Obamabot.

I can't tell you the exact moment it happened.

I loved Michelle Obama's speech on Monday.  She was stunningly beautiful and composed, but also warm and passionate.  She spoke about her life, about her husband, about their beliefs and dreams that they want to share with the American people.  With me.

When she said the words "18 million cracks," I cried.  I couldn't help it.  I'd wanted so much for Hillary Clinton to be the nominee and take back the White House and shatter the glass ceiling once and for all.  

And there was Michelle Obama, who, with three simple words, not only acknowledged everything I felt, but said she felt the same way too.  She wanted it too.  She's a woman and a mother of two daughters, and she wants to smash that ceiling as much as I do.

And with those three words, she seemed to be promising that it will happen.  Her husband will help us continue to shatter glass ceilings everywhere across America.

And I wept with joy and, yes, with hope.

But I don't know if that wasn't the moment I became an Obamabot.

Because then there was Tuesday.  Oh, Tuesday.

When Hillary Clinton took the stage, was there any Democrat in America who would question why I and so many others supported her?  She was glorious  -- beautiful in a color few can wear, more passionate than she has ever been, gracious and sincere in her support of Obama, and clear in her message to all of us that we are Democrats, we are family, and we must work together to change this country.

And then she made me cry.

I'm a United States senator because in 1848 a group of courageous women and a few brave men gathered in Seneca Falls, New York, many traveling for days and nights -- (cheers, applause) -- to participate in the first convention on women's rights in our history.

And so dawned a struggle for the right to vote that would last 72 years, handed down by mother to daughter to granddaughter -- and a few sons and grandsons along the way.

These women and men looked into their daughters' eyes and imagined a fairer and freer world, and found the strength to fight. To rally. To picket. To endure ridicule and harassment, and brave violence and jail.

And after so many decades, 88 years ago on this very day, the 19th amendment giving women the right to vote became enshrined in our Constitution. (Cheers, applause.)

My mother was born before women could vote. My daughter got to vote for her mother for president. This is the story of America, of women and men who defy the odds and never give up.

But I don't know if that was the moment.

Because then there was Wednesday.

And on Wednesday, for the first time in eight years, I felt like maybe the Democratic Party was listening to us after all.  Because we didn't want another wimpy convention, where Democrats were too afraid to take on Republicans.  We don't want to play nice.  We don't want to bite our tongues.  

We want to win.

And they heard us.  Was there any Democrat in America who watched John Kerry's speech and didn't think that if that John Kerry had reported for duty four years ago, we'd be working for President Kerry's re-election right now?

And there were others.  The video of military service men and women telling their stories, pleading with us to end this war, bring them home, stop their friends from dying.

And there was the former Republican who proudly proclaimed he was now a Democrat because he knows his former party no longer represents anything but old, tired ideas that don't work.

And I realized in that moment that we are not just united -- we are unanimous.  We all want change -- not just Obama supporters, not just Democrats, but all of us.

And then they gave us Bill.  Bubba.  The Big Dog.  Call him what you will -- that man made me so proud to be a Democrat.  Again.  Finally.  

Bill reminded us of why we loved him.  Why we believed in him.  Why we stood by him, in spite of all of his, uh, imperfections.  

I fell in love with Bill Clinton all over again last night.  Is there any Democrat in America who can't say the same?

He passed the torch.  The man from Hope endorsed the man who gives us hope, and he did it with his trademark charm and humor and wit.

It was 1992, and I was a freshman in high school, sitting in my parents' living room with all their friends, cheering at the television as we watched President Bush's failed administration fade into oblivion and the dawning of a new era, and we danced and we sang, "Don't stop thinking about tomorrow."

What a tremendous feeling to hear that song once again.  As if we were given permission to look into the future once more, instead of having to be afraid of what tomorrow might bring.  No more terrorist threat color wheel; no more duct tape.  It's going to be okay.  We can look forward to tomorrow again.

But I don't know if that was the moment.

Because then Joe Biden spoke.  And I'm no fan of Joe Biden.  I could write an essay on all the reasons I'm no fan.  I could, but I won't.

Because last night, I made peace with Joe Biden.  I forgave him for all the ways he has let me down.  None of that matters now.  He did the job he needed to do.  He made the case to us -- to me -- for Barack Obama.  He made the case against John McCain.  And this time, when he made one of his infamous gaffes, it was the right kind.  Because John McCain really is just more of George Bush.  

But I don't think Joe Biden's speech was the moment for me.

Because then Barack Obama himself took the stage, and I felt my heart swell and my lungs tighten and tears sting my eyes, and I realized that I wanted nothing more than to see this man, and his family, in the White House.  In my White House.

I was convinced.  After nearly two years and endless debate with my family and friends and fellow Kossacks, after my shock and disappointment at seeing my dream candidate defeated, after swallowing my pride and hopes and trying my best to be supportive of our party's nominee, and after an incredible week of seeing the all-stars of our party make the case, again and again and again, that we desperately need Barack Obama, I am convinced.

And I am fired up.

And I believe in Hope and Change.

I get it now.  I understand.

Yes We Can.

Yes We Can.

It is not just a slogan.  It is not just a silly music video made by celebrities who are want to endorse the next hip thing.

It is our truth, as Democrats and as Americans.  

Yes.  We.  Can.

So this, today, is my moment.  This is the moment I went from being a good Democrat to a proud Obamabot.  Because today, I am going to my local campaign headquarters to volunteer for Barack Obama.  Because helping to elect him may be the most important thing I've done in my thirty years so far.

Because now, I believe.

Yes We Can.

Cross-posted at Bly Space and DailyKos

I didn't vote for him in the primary.

I didn't advocate for him in the blogosphere until he won the nomination.

But damn it, I'm fired up.  I'm ready to go.  

And I'm proud to be an Obama supporter.  I'm proud to say you will hear no condemnation from me about Barack Obama between now and November.  I am proud to aspire to be Obama's biggest cheerleader on DailyKos.

I've already given three reasons for supporting Obama.

Well, here are three more:

One: Michelle Obama.  We need this woman to be our First Lady.  Brilliant, beautiful, accomplished, inspiring -- and dare I say it, as good a speaker as her husband, if not better.

The role of First Lady is a critical one, or at least it can be, with the right First Lady.  

This country's second First Lady, Abigail Adams, was credited with being a powerful influence on her husband and a voice for women in our young democracy:

I long to hear that you have declared an independency. And, by the way, in the new code of laws which I suppose it will be necessary for you to make, I desire you would remember the ladies and be more generous and favorable to them than your ancestors.

Eleanor Roosevelt damn near ran her husband's presidency toward its end.  

Jackie Kennedy brought grace, sophistication, and French food to America.

And Hillary...Hillary showed this country that behind every powerful man, you better believe there's an equally powerful woman helping him along the way.

We need Michelle Obama, and her beautiful daughters, to bring vitality and joy back into the White House and across America.

Two: Hope and Change.  I have mocked Hope and Change.  Empty rhetoric, pretty words.

But I was wrong.

After two days of the Democratic Convention, I understand that now.  I'm becoming a believer.  Some speakers have been better than others, but many have sought to lay out the clear choice in this election: the past or the future.  

McCain offers the past.  War, dependence on foreign oil, tax breaks for the rich.  And fear.  Lots of fear.  Fear of the terrorists and the Russians and Iraq and Iran and black men and free women and gay marriage and science.  

But Obama offers us the future.  He offers us the chance to believe that we can do more and be better.  I don't know if Obama can deliver all of the dreams he has dared us to dream.  I'm a pessimist by nature.  But I'd rather hope for a brilliant future than fear we are forever trapped in a dismal past.

Three: Hillary Clinton.  I didn't need her speech last night.  I was one of her strongest supporters, but when Obama wrapped up the nomination, I jumped on board.

But still...

Last night, Hillary spoke to me.  She inspired me.  She made me laugh.  She made me cry.  

She spoke about the Seneca Falls Convention, where our long struggle began.  She quoted Harriet Tubman, one of my favorite women in history.  She urged us to keep going, keep fighting, keep standing up, keep trying.

Because one day, we're not just going to put cracks in the ceiling.  We're going to shatter that damned ceiling once and for all.

And President Obama is going to help us do it.

She articulated what she stands for, which is why I voted for her, and she said -- in the clearest and plainest of words -- that Obama shares her values.  My values.  And McCain does not.  No way.  No how.  No McCain.

Hillary made me proud, last night.  Proud to have supported her, and proud to be supporting Obama now.  But most importantly, she made me proud to be a Democrat.  And that's something I haven't felt in eight years.  

Because we are the party of the future.  We are the party that put 18 million cracks in the glass ceiling.

We are the party of hope and change.

These are my three simple reasons.  I'm sure I'll think of more.

What are yours?

Cross-posted at Bly Space and DailyKos

It's over.

What started 16 months ago -- or 200 years ago, depending on how you look at it -- has come to an end.

Our party has a nominee, a phenomenal nominee, and it isn't you.  As hard as I worked, as much as I donated, as badly as I wanted it, it didn't happen.

But I want to thank you anyway.

Because you made the impossible possible.

When I saw you speak in February, there was a little girl in the audience with a sign that said I CAN BE PRESIDENT TOO.

I looked at that girl and her sign, and I fought tears of joy and relief and hope.  Because for the first time in my life, I really believed that little girl was right.

It hasn't been easy.  A lot of people don't like you.  They don't like your hair, your pantsuits, your husband, your daughter, your marriage, your ankles, your laugh, your tone.  And yet you've fought on.

It hasn't been easy.  A lot of people don't like your positions.  Your vote on Iraq, your comments about Iran, your praise of John McCain, your meetings with various right wingers.  And yet you've fought on.

Some say you've damaged our party.  Some even say you've damaged our country.

But I don't believe that.

Because you've made the impossible possible.  You've answered those ridiculous questions with an affirmative.  Is America ready to vote for a woman for president?  Hell yes.  

Hell yes.

There are women who started down this long road before you.  Victoria Woodhull and Susan B. Anthony and Alice Paul and Bella Abzug and Shirley Chisholm and Barbara Jordan and Carol Moseley Braun.  Even Elizabeth Dole.

But you, Hillary, did what none of them could do.

You made the impossible possible -- 17 million times over.

As you depart this race on Friday, I wish only the best for you.  Even as I disagree with some of your policies, even as I shake my head in wonder at some of the things you do and say, I have only admiration for you today.

You made the impossible possible.

You gave that little girl with the sign more than hope.  You showed her the way.  You showed her that a woman can be strong, and wise, and knowledgeable, and smart, and funny, and sympathetic.  

And you showed her that she can be president too.  

Yes she can.

Note: As pointed out by DWKING on DailyKos, my list of women who came before Hillary is in no way comprehensive.  But please feel free to add your favorites in the comments, and I'll amend the diary appropriately.

Congratulations.

You did it.  You came from out of nowhere to build a tremendous coalition of all colors, all ages, all religions.

And you won.

I'll admit it -- I'm a little sad today.  That dream I've had for the past eight months, the dream of finally, finally hearing those glorious words -- Madame President -- is dead.

I knew this was coming.  I acknowledged, two months ago, that Obama would be the nominee.  I have said, since then, that I will vote for him.  I have condemned those Clinton "supporters" who say they will support McCain.  They do not represent me; they do not represent their candidate.  Clinton has made it clear that she will work to elect a Democrat to the White House in November.  Anyone who claims to be a Clinton supporter must follow her lead and do the same.

It's hard, though.  It's hard to accept that the dream is dead.  It's hard to know this is another lost battle in a seemingly endless war to achieve true gender equality.  We're not there yet; we're far from it.  We have so much work to do.  Women comprise only 16% of Congress.  We have a long, long way to go.

But today is about something else.

It's about a different dream.  An important dream.  The dream of Frederick Douglass; the dream of Harriet Tubman; the dream of Martin Luther King; and yes, the dream of a boy named Barack Obama.

Today, we are one step closer to realizing those dreams.  And for that, I am proud.  Very, very proud.

We still have a long fight ahead.  Miles to go.  There is work to be done within our own party.  This primary season has demonstrated the demons we have, even within the Democratic Party.  

And we have not won the White House yet.  We know the Republicans will not hand it over without a fight.

But we are one battle closer today.

There are some who are still frustrated and angry.  They insist upon laying blame and calling names.  Today, more than any other day, we should ignore them.  They are not part of the solution.  

Congratulations, Senator Obama.  Congratulations to his supporters.

And congratulations, America.

[Cross-posted at DailyKos.]

There's a difference, you know.

Supporters love their candidate.  They educate themselves about their candidate.  They learn about their candidate's policies, positions, background, voting record.  They work to get their candidate elected -- by voting, by calling, by donating money, by slapping that sign in the front yard and that sticker on their car.

"Supporters", on the other hand, are a little different.  They don't know much about their candidate, but that's because their candidate is irrelevant to them.

They hate the other candidate.  That's their motivation.  They trash the other candidate -- on TV, on blogs, at "rallies" and "protests."  They seek confrontation and do not care if their behavior reflects badly on their candidate, because they don't really care about their candidate to begin with.

On Saturday, at the DNC's Rules and Bylaws Committee meeting to determine the fate of Florida and Michigan's delegates, a group of Clinton "supporters" reportedly caused quite a commotion.

They chanted.  They shouted.  They booed.

They also embraced the crazed rantings of Larry Sinclair, who describes himself on his website as follows:

Larry has been threaten with death as well has many other things since coming forward with his sexual and drug use encounters with Presidential Candidate Barack Obama.  Obama and his Chief Media advisor David Axelrod have engaged in a huge internet attack against Larry in hopes of keeping the truth about Obama from making out into the Main Stream Media which would make Obama have to respond and explain his lies.  That is something Obama does not wish to do.

Got that?  This man is alleging a drug-induced gay love affair with Obama.  I didn't believe it the first time I heard it -- before he failed a polygraph test.

This man has been completely discredited and deserves no attention from the media and certainly not from Clinton supporters.  

Clinton "supporters," on the other hand, have embraced his vile lies in a desperate attempt to smear Obama.  

They do not care about Clinton; they care about destroying Obama.  They are not supporters.  They are "supporters."

It is easy, sometimes, to confuse supporters and "supporters."  After all, they look alike.  Sometimes they even sound alike.  How is one to know the difference between the woman holding the Clinton sign (who supports Clinton) and the woman holding the Clinton sign (who opposes the other candidate at all costs)?

On the internet, it is even harder to know the difference.  An anonymous blogger with an anonymous name posts a comment about opposing Obama.  Is this person sincere?  Or is this person a Republican troll trying to create disharmony among Democrats?

What is important to remember, however, is that a candidate's support does not come primarily from "supporters."  These people lack the dedication and endurance that real supporters have.  They jump on a bandwagon when it's convenient, and they will fall off just as easily.

Meanwhile, they manage to discredit the real supporters and the candidate they claim to support.  

They are an embarrassment.  They are a shame.  

Now, let me make my guarantee to you:

I am a Clinton supporter.  That means I prefer Clinton.  I prefer her policies and positions.  I admire her strength.  I think she, more than any other candidate in the race, belongs in the White House next January.

But...

I denounce "supporters."  I do not believe it is necessary or effective to smear Obama.  I do not believe that the enemy of my enemy is my friend.  I do not believe that Obama is my enemy, and I certainly do not believe that Larry Sinclair is in any way helpful to the cause of electing Clinton.

I am appalled by those "supporters" who say they will actively support McCain in November.  It's one thing to dislike the nominee and to write in a preferred candidate or vote for a third-party candidate whom you believe more closely represents your values.

But to work for the candidate who in no way shares your values -- and to do so out of spite and bitterness -- is a mistake.  It shows a lack of conviction and principles.  It harms your cause -- whatever your cause is.  

Yes, this is a democracy.  Yes, we are allowed to vote however we want.  Yes, I have serious concerns about the Democratic Party, and I am routinely embarrassed by Democratic leaders.  And I'm keeping a list of complaints and demands that I will deliver to my representatives in January, when we have control over the White House and Congress.

But...

I will vote for Obama in November if he is the Democratic nominee.  I may not like him much, but I will vote for him.  I'm a Democrat.  I know the stakes.  I know that Justice Ginsburg is holding on to her Supreme Court seat with every ounce of will she can muster until a Democrat sits in the Oval Office to appoint her replacement.  

(And I know that Sandra Day O'Connor fully expects the next president to appoint more women to the Supreme Court.  And I agree with her completely.)

So.  

Here's my point:

The primary season is almost over.  And tensions are still high, and the party is still divided.  It's easy to look at the supporters of the other candidate and think they're all the same.  They're all "supporters."  They're all filled with hate and vengeance.  They don't really care about democracy, or democratic values, or Democratic values.  They don't even care about their candidate.  

But it's important to remember that there's a difference.  Many of us -- most of us -- are supporters.  

And when this fight is over, we'll all be supporting Obama.

Note: This diary was posted at DKos, in response to an "open letter" to Hillary supporters.  The open letter sat at the top of the Rec list this morning, but has since been knocked off.

Stop it.

Stop these diaries, these "open letters."  Stop explaining to me where Hillary went wrong as if you are doing me, or any of us, a favor.

And most of all, stop telling me sexism doesn't matter.

There's a diary that sat at the top of the Rec list this morning at DKos, (cross-posted at MyDD as well), in which the diarist states, as others have and surely more will do, that sexism is not the problem.  It's not even a problem.

Yes, there has been a little sexism.  Just like there has been a little racism.

But Hillary isn't losing because of sexism.  

"We hate the bitch, but not because she's a woman."  That's the meme now.  Acutally, that's been the meme for a while.  And I don't doubt there is truth to it.  Even I, someone who has supported Hillary, can point to a number of places where she and her campaign went wrong.  

But that's not the point.

I am sure that some people in this country, in this party, have voted against Hillary because she's a woman.  But I don't believe for a second that's where the majority of Obama's votes came from.  He has worked hard and run an excellent campaign; I do not deny that.

But just as we have discussed race in this campaign as something more often subliminal, something that has asserted itself through "dog whistles" and "coded language" and "innuendo" and subtle suggestions that seek to subliminally remind us that he is -- gasp! -- black, so too have we seen this happen with sexism.

But we have not seen the same reaction.

Obama's presence in this campaign has provoked a national discussion about race, a "major" speech in Philadelphia, and seemingly endless diaries around the blogosphere from white people apologizing for the sins of racism and black people finally finding the courage to point an accusatory finger and talk honestly of their experiences with "typical white Americans."

And that's a good thing.  It's healthy for our party and for our country.  We can hide our heads in the sand, or pat ourselves on the back, but the truth is that we have not eliminated racism from our culture.  

And we have not defeated sexism either.

Before the race even started, it was there.  Before a single vote was cast, before either side engaged in "race baiting," before all the -gates cited by Obama's supporters as proof that their hatred of Clinton is justified (and not about gender)...Before all of that, there was sexism.

An article in the New York Times analyzed the Clinton marriage and how many nights they spend together and whether, according to outside observers, the Clinton marriage was "good."

There was the column in the Washington Post about Clinton's cleavage.  Yes, her cleavage.  As if she'd pranced about in a Brittney Spears outfit.  And no, there was no equivalent column the following week about Obama's shapely ass.

Every talking head on every cable network -- even the supposedly less-offensive MSNBC -- feels perfectly comfortable discussing Clinton as old, as unattractive, and, of course, as someone around whom them must carefully protect their precious balls, lest she crush them with her thighs (see Hillary Clinton Nutcracker), or even with just her stern, cold, robotic, school-marm, first wife stare.

And now it is apparently acceptable to compare her to the psychotic homewrecker from "Fatal Attraction."  As if she really will kidnap our children and boil our pets.

When it comes to discussing sexism during this campaign, nuance gets thrown out the window.  Instead, the anti-Hillary crowd laughs, jeers, mocks.  Silly little feminists.  Silly little women.  Get out of the way.  Shut the hell up.  We don't need you anyway.

Earlier in this campaign season, the blogosphere was all in a tizzy about a Clinton ad that used a photograph of Obama that some insisted had been doctored.  It made Obama's skin look darker, and his features, particularly his mouth and nose, more prominent.  The suggestion by many was that this was a deliberate smear job to make Obama appear more "black" and therefore more "menacing."  It was a subtle reminder, a dog whistle.  It was an evil ploy by the Clinton team to remind us, by suggestion only, that Obama is black and black is scary.

And yet...

The language, the pictures, the analysis that reminds us that Clinton is a woman, and women are weak and emotional and hysterical and given to tears when they are "periodicially" feeling down -- all of this is irrelevant.  Any reaction is simply Clinton and the Clintonistas refusing to accept reality -- that people hate her for all kinds of reasons that have nothing to do with gender.

Any suggestion that the (mostly male) media has been sexist in its treatment of Hillary is dismissed as overreaction.  A protest of MSNBC, organized by Clinton supporters, was widely mocked and dismissed on this very site.  Bunch of whiners.  They're not even real feminists, anyway.  If they really cared about feminism, they'd support Obama.

This primary season is almost over, and Obama is almost certainly going to be the nominee.  And so we are seeing these diaries now from Obama supporters, explaining to the rest of us where she -- and we -- went wrong.  And these diaries want to make it very clear to the rest of us that:

sexism had nothing to do with it.  In fact, it was anything but.

But that's a lie.  And that's the problem.

We are Democrats, goddmanit.  We are the party who celebrated 1992 as the Year of the Woman.  We are the party that fights for reproductive choice, equal pay, working moms, childcare, healthcare, welfare, Head Start, Title IX, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera.

We used to take this seriously.  We use to be offended by the way the media treated women.  And now, we dismiss it.  We laugh it off.  We make excuses.  A progressive radio host refers to women in the Democratic party as "bitches" and "fucking whores," and the overwhelming response -- from Democrats! -- is to lighten up, to get over it, to even, dear god, acknowledge that this so-called progressive radio host kind of has a point.

It is a problem.  It's a problem for our party and our country.  It's a problem for every woman I know, even the ones who say it isn't a problem for them because they're not "that kind of feminist."

It's a problem for every elected woman in the Democratic party.  It's a problem for the next woman who has the audacity to throw her hat into the ring.

And casual assurances from the party that we'll get a woman in the White House "someday" or even "soon" do not assure me.  It has been centuries since Victoria Woodhull made the first courageous run for the White House.  Are we there yet?  Have we shattered that glass ceiling yet?

No.

I want more than casual assurances from the party.  I want a realization.  I want an admission.  We have veered so off course from where we are supposed to be on this issue.  Exactly how much progress has been made since the glorious Year of the Woman sixteen years ago?  How many more women are in the Senate?  The House?  The Supreme Court?

We've gone backwards.  And while it's wonderful that we have our first woman Speaker of the House, it's not enough.  It doesn't erase the damage done, it doesn't mean we do not have further to go.

Hillary will not be the nominee, and despite my wishes, Obama probably won't put her on his ticket.  That is his right.  So she will go back to the Senate, perhaps with a consolation prize, such as Majority Leader, perhaps not.

But the problem, the larger problem that this campaign should have proven to all of us does still exist, will not go away.  We can hide our heads in the sand.  We can applaud ourselves for finally breaking through one barrier, the important barrier of race.

But the problem will not be fixed.  The next time a woman runs for president, we will face it again.  Is she tough enough?  Too tough?  Are her clothes too boring or too revealing?  Is she too young?  Too old?  Are her ankles too fat?  Is her hair just right?  How often does she sleep with her husband?  Are her successes in life really her own?  Diamonds or pearls?

Don't tell me sexism isn't real.  Don't tell me it is irrelevant.  Don't tell me it isn't a problem -- a serious problem -- that the Democratic party must address.  If we have the courage to face up to our dark and disdainful history of racism, and even the courage to face the racism that exists today, even within our own party, certainly, somewhere deep within our souls, we have the courage to face up to sexism.

At least, I hope we do.