August 2008 Archives

The glass ceiling is still intact. Badly cracked by Clinton, yes, but holding firm nonetheless. It can only be shattered by a woman who gets the ceiling-shattering job because she's widely recognized as not only qualified, but the best person for the job. It can't be shattered by a man on behalf of a woman who is laughably under-qualified for the sake of politics or political correctness. That's patronizing and insulting and it does absolutely nothing for those of us who are truly qualified. Indeed, it sets us back. It's affirmative action for a woman--it says see, I wanted a woman but there just wasn't one who was qualified so here's the best I could do. Palin should have refused to run.

I haven't posted for a month, and yet, I've had so much to say. I intended to write about the canvassing I did for Barack Obama, started a post and never finished it. Last night I hosted an "Obama for America" Convention Watch party. Eleven people showed up, which wasn't bad considering how many parties were being held in Alexandria, including one a few miles from my house that was sure to be a blast and which I would have attended myself had I not already volunteered to host my own, crap crap crap. I spent about $200 on food and drink. It was good, though. A small enough group that we all had comfortable chairs to sit in while watching the speech. I ordered a cake decorated with balloons with "Yes We Can" written on it. I bought a cheese platter, a veggie platter, a fruit platter, Cajun spiced shrimp, chips (white and blue corn), salsa, guacamole, olives, wine, beer, soda, and I made a pot of good Kenya coffee, which nobody drank any of, which didn't bother me in the least because the pot of coffee was by far the least expensive stuff I poured down the sink at around midnight.

We have a chance to redeem ourselves in the eyes of the world, with this election. We have a chance to say "There really is such a thing as the American dream." And yet, I want to say "Abandon all hope, ye who enter here" (which I would have written first had Dante not beaten me to it) because I felt this way in 2004, too.