Drift away from Clinton pains, angers many women

DALLAS — Darlene Ewing is a Democratic activist, longtime feminist and very frustrated supporter of Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton.

Like many who have dreamed of seeing a female in the Oval Office, Ewing doesn't understand why women are drifting in ever-greater numbers away from Clinton — once considered a shoo-in for her party's nomination — toward her rival, Sen. Barack Obama.

"They're running to the rock star, to the momentum, to the excitement," said Ewing, a family-law attorney who chairs the Dallas County Democratic Party. "And I am worried that if Hillary doesn't get elected, I am never going to see a woman president in my lifetime. I do think her chances are slipping away, and it [ticks] me off."

This sentiment is being expressed around the country — in testy dinner-party conversations, around the water cooler and in the public square. As Clinton's shot at the nomination boils down to two primary contests Tuesday — in the delegate-rich states of Texas and Ohio, where she is running neck and neck with Obama — many women who support the New York senator are angry and saddened by their sisters' desertion to the other side.

Old-school feminists have lined up against each other. Some chapters of the National Organization for Women are supporting Clinton, others are for Obama. There have been unseemly arguments about which candidate is more pro-choice than the other. Some women experience the rise of Obama as they might the ripping open of a persistent wound: An older, more experienced woman is pushed aside to make way for a younger male colleague.

One of the most passionate "cris de coeur" came from the feminist poet and novelist Robin Morgan, 67, in an essay that became something of a cyberspace sensation after she posted it Feb. 5 on the Women's Media Center Web site (and it was forwarded by many people, including Chelsea Clinton). Morgan decried the casual acceptance of sexism on the campaign trail this season — from the two young men who shouted "Iron my shirt!" at Clinton to the Hillary-themed nutcrackers available in airport gift shops.

But Morgan reserved her greatest ire for women who won't support Clinton "while wringing their hands because Hillary isn't as likable as they've been warned they must be. ... Grow the hell up. She is not running for Ms. Perfect-pure-queen-icon of the feminist movement. She's running to be president of the United States."

Recent polls support the suspicion of many women that they are a gender divided. Last week's Los Angeles Times/Bloomberg poll found Clinton's solid support from women to be dwindling. Women are now evenly divided between the two Democratic candidates, although Clinton still enjoys a sizable advantage among women 65 and older, who prefer her 3-to-1 over Obama.

Gloria Steinem, a Clinton supporter, weighed in with an essay in The New York Times in which she claimed that, in public and private spheres alike, women have a tougher time than black men.

"Gender," wrote Steinem, "is probably the most restricting force in American life, whether the question is who must be in the kitchen or who could be in the White House. ... Black men were given the vote a half-century before women of any race were allowed to mark a ballot and generally have ascended to positions of power ... before any women."

Even "Saturday Night Live" recently got into the act when guest host Tina Fey expressed her outrage that feminists have deserted Clinton.

"We have our first serious female presidential candidate in Hillary Clinton," Fey said. "And yet women have come so far as feminists that they don't feel obligated to vote for a candidate just because she is a woman. Women today feel perfectly free to make whatever choice Oprah tells them to."

Many women who support Obama say they were torn but are unapologetic about their choice. For many, the decision turns on one vote cast by Clinton in 2002: the bill authorizing President Bush to invade Iraq.

Katha Pollitt, an author and columnist for The Nation magazine, was among signers of a petition deploring sexist attacks against Clinton but saying Obama's "support for gender equality has been unwavering."

"I think Hillary has been the target of a great big set of double standards, and in the end, I do know people who are supporting her because of the misogynistic attacks against her," Pollitt said.

But she took issue with Steinem's comparison. "And even if it were true that white women were more oppressed than black men" — as Steinem suggested — "that still doesn't mean you should vote for Hillary Clinton," Pollitt said. "It might mean you should fight for better enforcement of anti-sex-discrimination rules, but it doesn't mean you should vote for the candidate most likely to wage a war."