Nancy Pelosi?
Hillary Clinton?
Sarah Palin?
Are these really the only women in the United States that are interested and capable of running for the Presidency?
You got to be fucking kidding me?!
In the entire United States is there not one woman if not several thousands of women who are more capable and electable than the current line-up of women in politics?
Guess what, I hate to break the news to you, but men and women are different.
Shocking as that may seem to people. I say it for a reason. So, I will say it again, men and women are different.
Of course, men and women should be treated equally under the law. I am not going to waste your time discussing this any further.
If you are really interested in a woman becoming a President, you would listen to me.
Focus groups do not work.
Opinion polls do not work.
PR and publicists do not work.
We women. We are really tough. We are hardest on ourselves.
If I were to run for President, you would never see me in a pantsuit. Ya, gotta be fucking kidding me, women. Pant suits?!
If I were to run for President, you would see me just as I am. I am not a carefully polished candidate. Jeans, t-shirts, shorts, thongs, skirts, evening gowns, flip-flops, cardigans, make-up on and make-up off, great hair days, and wind-blown hair. It happens. Get over it.
I believe it would be a more accepted version of a woman President.
The Kennedy era is over.
The era of picture perfect over substance is over.
No wonder there is such dissatisfaction in this great country of ours.
I have met Americans face to face. I have gone door to door, shared stories with neighbors and brought them to the polls.
I have gone door to door, canvassed neighborhoods, in the middle of summer in Florida.
Well, every day is practically summer temperatures in Florida.
I have gone door to door, sweat dripping out of every pore, stitched straight up my stomach, stitches rubbing on my clothing, sweat corroding my delicate newly-pulled together skin, walking up and down the streets without available toilet facilities as my bowels and intestines had been newly redirected, cut, cleansed, re-maneuvered, and emptied of its original design – the uterus I was born with.
I have gone with water bottle in hand, sunscreen on my skin, sunglasses and hat to have the face to face conversations that are the most important tool in politics.
The President is one person.
America is made of many persons.
Business skirts and boots, knit dresses and sandals, denim and cardigans I worked 10, 12, sometimes longer hours in a trailer with one bathroom used by the public as I and my body tried to recover from an unrecoverable loss, my brain was tired, my mind was weary, my body struggled to recover.
Some days I barely got to use the restroom more than once or twice. Some days I lived off the left-overs people brought into the trailer.
Some days I had to lie on the sofa to make phone calls because I was in too much pain to stand.
Some days I stood for hours without a break speaking to a never-ending line of people within my county looking for freebies while I convinced them I needed their help. Because Barack Obama needed their vote. Because Barack Obama needed to be President. Because Barack Obama was the President who would consider every person rather than a select few. Because Barack Obama running for President had nothing to do with his skin color and everything to do with his decision making.
Barack Obama’s skin color was only an issue for the media to get coverage and sound bites and nothing more. Do want to know why I believe so? Because I have spoken with the American public. All on my own. Without pay.
I walked the streets, I worked the phones, I worked the long hours most of the time for free, and the last few weeks for less than would imagine. The hours worked divided by the wage. For less than you would imagine.
How many Presidents have spent more than a few minutes on their campaign trail meeting and talking with real people trying to live off of the real wages?! On their own without the media?
I believe the days of public speaking as the means of politics are over.
The days where we voted for a candidate because of their speeches – are over.
The President must no longer be a figurehead alone.
The time for a President to take action and make decisions is long overdue.
Point, don’t point, look this way, blink, don’t blink. Fuck off. No one gives a shit.
Polite dinner parties as the means of creating a Presidential platform are long gone.
It’s about time politics listened.