Women own Day Two of the Democratic National Convention. Fittingly, today is Women’s Equality Day and the 88th anniversary of ratification of the Nineteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which gave women the right to vote.
From the midmorning meeting of the Women's Caucus to Hillary Clinton's prime time speech, the Obama camp will be asking: What do women want?
Prominent Clinton backer and fundraiser Susie Tompkins Buell told the New York Times:
I don’t think that Senator Obama understands how deep this commitment goes to Hillary, and where this passion comes from.
And it's deep. From my conversations with delegates, convention guests and party activists, many are still angry that Clinton’s historic race was given short shrift by the mainstream media and the Democratic Party.
Kathleen Kennedy Townsend, the eldest child of the late Robert F. Kennedy and a former lieutenant governor of Maryland, told the AP that some Clinton delegates are just not ready to embrace Barack Obama:
There's a moment that you want to enjoy your bitterness.
And it’s not just white women who are clinging to their bitterness. Eula Tate, a former lobbyist with the UAW and Clinton delegate from Virginia, told me:
At the roll call, I'm obligated to support Hillary Clinton. I have not been released as a delegate. If she releases me, I will then have to make a decision about whether I want to be part of the Obama camp.
Tate is “real upset with Joe Biden”:
Hillary Clinton was the best qualified person to be president…I’m a yellow dog Democrat. I will not support the Republican, but it doesn’t mean that I will vote for Obama in November.
So, what do Clinton’s supporters want? They want more than catharsis. According to a new Rasmussen poll, nearly half of Democratic women want Clinton on the ticket.
The bottom line: Women want respect.
