How Apathy Destroyed the Dream

I've been wanting to write this for sometime but held off due to my fear of women and more importantly, my fear of offending old friends.

Please don't kick me too hard and promise that if what I say smacks of sexism, you'll educate me rather than hate me.  I'm an old, dirty old, guy and I'm trying to learn but I have a problem with PC and a worse problem with tact.

This post is more an observation than a theory.  It is my view of what happened to Hillary that should never have happened.  Something I hope people learn from should she or another woman run in 2012.

Women, you really are your own worst enemy.

I've been blogging for democrats off and on since sometime in 2003.  I've been an active proponent of Senator Clinton since the day she announced her candidacy.  DU probably deleted but I know my old diaries still live on Daily Kos.  I give you permission to go read them, particularly the older field diaries.

All that was just to try and establish my creds as a Clinton supporter.  But then there's more.

I started canvasssing my home town in late May of 2007 and continued up to the New Hampshire Primary.  I initially went into the State HQ in Manchester for phone banking one or two days a week then moved to the Salem office along with all of "Team Katie".  They were some incredble staffers.  The 3 Kates, Art and Jeremy were my handlers.  We canvassed Saturdays and Sundays and they got me into the office for phoning at least one night a week.

The day of the Primary was my day at the polls from 5:30 AM until the votes were counted at 10 PM or so.

I busted my hump and I'm proud of me and my co-volunteers like masslib because we won New Hampshire.  Yes We Did.

But it didn't stop for those of us who had the bug.  I phoned Vermont, Maine and countless other states from the comfort of home and I went on my first out of state trip to the Rhode Island Primary where I met the now famous Sheri Tag.  We canvassed for a Sunday and we won Rhode Island too.

Then my wife almost left me when I took my first vacation in years and got my butt to Scranton, PA for the 5 days leading up to the Penn. Primary.  Yeah we won that too and damned I met some nice people.  TeresaInPA, UlsterDem and many others.  I lost count of the doors I knocked on that week but we got out the vote for Hillary.

I'm not bragging.  Well maybe a little, but I am not retired and my job takes most of my waking hours.  The others are spent wasting more time writing things like this online.  Virtually every night for the last year I have written a letter to the editor, story, diary, post or comments in support of Hillary Clinton.

Because I had seen what apathy almost did in New Hampshire.

We were sitting at the first statewide meeting of Clinton Supporters.  May or June, I can't remember.  Me a couple of staffers and 3 or 4 other volunteers.  I forget the conversation but one of the women volunteers said "well Hillary's going to win anyway".  I went ballistic
before the experienced staff could.  I said as clearly as I could that the "enevitability" the media was pushing is Hillary's worst enemy. 

Nothing is a given and we volunteers need to know that and impress upon voters that every vote counts.  I saw that woman exactly once again between that meeting and election day.  We both live in the same small town and yet I never saw her at the phone bank.  I do know she wrote a few letters to the editor.

Yes, just as many men are guilty as women but damn it this was your opportunity and women let it slip away.  Read my dKos primary day post for an idea of when I started to become nervous. 

All day long people noticed that women were walking by and giving us Hillary sign holders the thunbs up.  But they were doing it behind their husband's back.  They would look our way and give a wink and a little thumbs up down by their waist.  Volunteers saw this all over the state.  Those were the women who beat the polsters that day.  The invisible women.  The un-polled.

We were fighting the rock the vote campaign that David Axelrove took to it's first low at the New Hampshire Democratic Party 100 Club Dinner the weekend before the primary.  The polls had Obama ahead but we actually won because those women listened to Hillary and came out in force that day.

So where am I going already?  First let me put my athletic cup on.

I've been a part of 4 online support groups and Yahoo groups for Hillary supporters.  Many, many of the women in those groups worked their butts off writing for Hillary.  A couple have their own blogs and my favorite lady blogger also made a shitload more phone calls than I ever did.

But most of the women sat on the sidelines of our groups.  They'd converse extensively within the group and once in awhile post a comment or three in someone elses diary.  I assume they hit the phones too.  But they rarely if ever wrote a diary, blog post of their own.  They didn't put their stamp on a statement of support.  They were buddies and backed up the rest of us, gave us support and comfort when the bots attacked.  But I realized they were holding back.  They weren't going all in for Hillary.

Then June came and all hell broke loose.

I think and I might be off base, but I think women were truly in shock.  How could this happen?  How could the Inevitable Hillary be forced to give up?

They were in shock and then they got pissed.  They started PUMA, they made plans for Denver.  They started calling supers and writing letters to Howard Dean.  They started thousands of new websites and blogs dedicated to bringing Hillary back from her loss. 
They started doing everything they should have done six months earlier, not when it's too late.

I'm sorry ladies and I may regret this but damn it all, I want that woman to be President in 2012.  If it means saying it like I see it then that's what I have to do.  Please Please Please learn from this campaign.  Don't be apathetic next time.  Don't believe the polls and don't believe the media. 

If you have a candidate you believe in, jump in with both feet and don't look back.  Win or lose you'll know you did your best.