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Friday, January 23, 2009
In honor of Nashville …
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
It’s Friday evening again, rolling past the 5 o’clock hour, and time for a little traveling music to see you all home.
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Nashville voters reject English-only effort
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
This is mildly surprising, and in a good way. And good surprises are pretty rare these days. Good on Nashville.
From the Nashville Tennessean:
“Nashville listened to its leaders — the governor, the mayor, and a vast coalition of churches, businesses and universities — and defeated an English-only measure by nearly 10,000 votes in Thursday’s special election.
No one predicted the massive turnout on the special election, one that inspired strong emotion from voters on either side. Ultimately, opponents said, the message that diversity is a good thing came through.
“With the defeat of this amendment, the citizens of Nashville tell the rest of the country that we are an incredibly warm city with an entrepreneurial spirit,” said Tom Oreck, a vacuum cleaner company owner who worked to defeat the measure.
The final was 32,144 for English only and 41,752 against — at about 19 percent, the largest turnout for a special election in a decade.”
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Kennedy hardly a victim of bias
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
“With her abrupt exit this week from consideration for the Senate, Caroline Kennedy added her name to a growing list: women who have sought the nation’s highest offices only to face insurmountable hurdles.
Like Hillary Rodham Clinton and Sarah Palin before her, Kennedy illustrated what some say is an enduring double standard in the handling of ambitious female office-seekers. Even as more women step forward as contenders for premier political jobs, observers say, few seem able to get there.”
I’m sorry, but that’s nonsense. Kennedy’s problems began with the fact that she seemed unprepared for the job she sought, just as Palin had before her. Furthermore, it’s impossible to make Kennedy the symbol of a glass ceiling in politics because, well, she’s a Kennedy. That was the sole reason she got serious consideration in the first place, and it makes her case different from that of any other woman in America. If she symbolizes anything but herself, it’s the enduring power of celebrity, and that’s whole ‘nother story.
Is there a glass ceiling in politics? Given the numbers of women in the House and Senate, the answer is of course. Despite the presence of Barack Obama in the White House, minority candidates still face problems too. The 100-person Senate still has only one black member, and he was appointed.
But throughout the selection process, NY Gov. David Paterson was said to be seeking a woman to fill the seat left vacant by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton (the third woman in recent years to fill that powerful post).
And the NY press is now reporting that Paterson’s pick will be U.S. Rep. Kirsten Gillibrand, a woman.
