Even though I am proud to be a supporter of Obama, I support Hillary Clinton’s campaign and want to see her and Obama run as a joint ticket. We need change and action. We need his hope and vision and her experience in order to take our country back.

We need to move way from the dirty politics of fear and make change, including how we allow ourselves to have different standards for men than we do for women. I have been disappointed with John Edwards for his contributions to the anti-Hillary hate machine for his own personal gain. It is my hope that thinking Americans will see right through this and help the two who can heal this country the most rise to the top.

My friend Christy sent this Op-Ed by Gloria Steinem to me and I feel compelled to share it. Even though I still endorse Obama , I think the mob-driven Hillary hate is unproductive and is based on fear and sexism more than it is on substance. If we are talking about unifying politics and moving away from division, we need to face patriarchy and sexism head on. Race, class, and gender issues affect us all, and it is important for us to look at how we are contributing to the fight for equality for each and every one of us.

What is most important to me is that we don’t let our divisions over which candidate to choose weaken the fight for progressives. I am annoyed that right wing hardliners don’t have to deal with this. They don’t have to deal with conflicts with their intersecting values about their identities because they don’t care about equality or justice. For them, it is all about which white Christian corporate man runs the show. The situation with Hillary v. Obama is a real tug at our values as liberals and progressives… I think many of our opponents are feeding off of Obama’s victory right now in order to undermine Hillary and also to pretend that racism does not continue to be a major problem and issue in our country… I am not naive enough to feed in to that, and I hope other voters also reject this energy.

As the election cycle blazes forward, I want the best man or woman to win. Mostly, I’m ready for any of the candidates that are working against the retrograde conservative forces we have been dealing with for the last two terms.