The Perfect Storm: Palin Provides

It is difficult to measure the strength of this movement. Usually supporters of presidential candidates who lose in the primary eventually rally around the party candidate, even if reluctantly. What is different this time?

Feminist Susan Faludi diagnoses the problem in her latest New York Times article by placing the frustration these women feel in a larger historical context. For these women, it is not just about this moment. Faludi writes, “Many Clinton supporters say no, and to understand their gloom, one has to take into account the legacy of American women’s political struggle, in which long yearned for transformational change always gives way before a chorus of ‘not now’ and ‘wait your turn,’ and in which every victory turns out to be partial or pyrrhic.” For Clinton’s supporters, her loss is just one more example of women being told to wait. For them, once again their supposed allies have blinked when it mattered most. Victory was so close, yet they interpret its elusiveness as signaling that true gender equality has not been achieved.

This Democratic discontent along with McCain’s pick of Governor Sarah Palin as his Vice Presidential candidate provide a unique opportunity for women to unite behind one candidate and vote as a block in a way that has not been expected since women won the right to vote. It is the perfect storm. At a time when many feminist women feel the weakest within American electoral politics based on Clinton’s loss, they could swing the election by uniting behind Palin. Since so many of these feminists claim they care more about electing a woman to high elective office than whether she is a Republican or Democratic, Palin gives them the chance they have been told by Democrats to “wait” a bit longer for and she provides a compelling reason (and cover) for them to reject the Democratic ticket in November. This unity and power, however, depends on if these women are willing to stand their ground, reject the deal Democrats delivered to them and embrace a Republican woman in November.