The Honor Roll
Representative Tammy Duckworth
After an interminable slog, the US Senate has inched up to “the historic high” (!) of having 20 women Senators. Women replaced the Republithug knuckledraggers (Akin, Mourdock, Walsh) who had declared war on the concept of women as human beings. The gender gap, 12% in the 2008 election, was up to 18% this time, with unmarried women voting 78% for Democrat candidates. And just like shifts in the voting patterns of other groups, it determined the outcome of the election. I hope the re-elected president doesn’t forget this when time comes for policies and cabinet appointees.
Welcome, Senators Elizabeth Warren, Tammy Baldwin, Mazie Hirono, Heidi Heitcamp. Welcome, Representatives Tulsi Gabbard, Tammy Duckworth, Grace Meng. I know you will make a difference. Some of you already have.
Perhaps I will live long enough to see a woman become the President of the United States. Perhaps the newcomers will join forces with the functioning-brain veterans in Congress to try and stop the erosion of civil rights and environmental care, stop the drone strikes and preemptive wars, try to create equitable resource distribution and humane safety nets. The percentages yesterday showed how persistent the toxic miasma of ignorance and fanaticism is, but as long as people don’t silence their cortex, we may make it. We cannot afford to yield — for the sake of our planet home and all life on it.
Senator Elizabeth Warren (Photo: Tim Pierce, Creative Commons License)
Well, in a roundabout way Obama already endorsed Hillary, didn’t he? ;3
What did he say?
http://amormundi.blogspot.de/2012/11/the-first-line-of-2016-presidential.html
I also hope things continue in this direction. Excellent post!
Thank you, dear Heather!
So Hillary is going to campaign for 4 years straight, once she steps down as Sec. of State?
The biggest problem with our two-party duopoly is that the only way one can effectively vote against a bunch of idiots is to vote for a bunch who are slightly lesser idiots. The winning party always takes their tiny percentage of victory as a mandate, pretending that everyone who voted for them supports 100% of their platform.
Anyone who believes that Obama is going to wave a magic wand and make the USA into a green eutopia (yes, I mean “eu”), is as naive as a right-wing fundy who thinks Republicans candidates care about abortion one second after their election results come in.
It is also naive to believe that the lefty euphoria (yes, I mean “eu”) is going to last much beyond the inauguration party hangover. I predict that the Republicans will come back strongly in the mid-terms once people see the D’s start raising taxes and spending even more money bailing out a select few failing businesses. Well, ok, only if the Republicans learn the lesson that people care more about having jobs and feeding their kids than they do about who marries whom and what women do with their own bodies.
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The thing about “eu” is that when I write “eutopia” = “good place” people think I am misspelling “utopia” = “no place.”
The next time is just running the gag.
I don’t think anyone expects Obama to wave a magic wand. Mind you, Obama is way right of center by global parameters — hell, he’s way to the right of Eisenhower. However, saying that hoping for him to do his best is “just as bad” as the Republithugs turning women and non-rich into slaves and chattels misses a crucial point.