illusionofjoy | No, we will not "return to the fold"

In the course of the Democratic primary, I have gone through many emotions and changed my mind about a lot of things. Yesterday, I came to the decision that unless something truly impressive happens, if Barack Obama is the nominee I will not vote for him in the general election. Obama is going to declare himself the winner of the primary on May 20^th regardless of whether it is true or not, so I figure that he doesn't really need my vote to do exactly the same thing on November 5^th.

I also don't believe that the party will "heal" and "come together" if Obama is the nominee - there are just too many deep wounds coming from members of his camp. Regarding other votes that Obama doesn't "need," I'd like to point out the extreme misogyny surrounding the Obama campaign. Actually, I won't point it out, I'll allow Reclusive Leftist to do it for me:

The Obamabots are under the delusion that if Obama wins the nomination (which he hasn’t yet, by the way), all of us in the Hillary camp will forget about the misogyny and come over to their side. Make nice for the sake of party unity. Forgive all the abuse.

Several of us have tried over the past couple of months to explain why that won’t happen, but the Obamabots don’t seem to understand. And I know why: it’s because they don’t take sexism seriously. When women say we will not reward misogyny, we’re laughed off. The only “ism” the Obamabots take seriously is racism.

Imagine this scenario:

The shoe is on the other foot, and Obama, not Hillary, is the punching bag of the media — a media that is blatantly and unapologetically racist. And I do mean blatant. Jokes every night on the cable news shows about Obama’s hair and his fondness for fried chicken. Pundits laughing about what a problem uppity Negroes are.

Across the country, racists openly ridicule Obama and his candidacy. In mainstream stores there are gag gifts playing on racist themes: maybe a (water)Melon Baller with Obama’s head on the handle, maybe a Barack Obama Shoeshine Set — you get the picture. 501c groups invoke the most grotesque racist slurs with their advertising; T-shirts say “Quit Running for President and Shine My Shoes!” Anybody who protests is branded a fool and a spoilsport.

Online, Hillary’s supporters constantly refer to Obama and his supporters as n—–s and c— -s and all the other epithets I refuse to type out. Blogger Boyz blog about those stupid lazy Negroes who are still wallowing in memories of the Civil Rights era, too dumb to get with the program and vote for Hillary.

There have been claims that Hillary supporters have been just as nasty, and yet...I haven't found any evidence of it. The Obama misogyny is pervasive, however, becoming prevalent enough that it was even written about in Salon. "Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned," goes the cliché, and it has been my experience that women have very long memories. Also, females outnumber males in this country...so, it just might not be a good idea to piss them off, you know?

And any self-respecting woman who gets assaulted or abused does not come crawling back to whoever did it in the first place.