It took me far too long to work up the enthusiasm to watch this video I just posted about Joe Biden’s and the VAWA. It was 6 minutes, and I thought I knew all I needed to know, and so I didn’t watch it until today. That was a mistake. I did learn some things from it (mostly how Biden had worked much harder on this legislation than even I realized), but mostly I was impressed at how much they managed to accomplish in 6 minutes—-the video humanizes the issues, addresses the common objection to law enforcement interfering with domestic abuse (which is that the responsibility belongs to victims to leave), promotes the Obama/Biden ticket, and more interestingly, makes an argument for the good that government can do when politicians take their job to work for the people seriously. In the face of the power-mad blitzkrieg of bullshit coming from McCain/Palin, I can honestly say this video felt refreshing.
It was also a stern reminder, which I hoped I didn’t need, of what should be feminist priorities when it comes to engaging in electoral politics. Luckily, McCain’s gamble with Sarah Palin—-that she would be a shiny distraction from his viciously anti-woman policies for Clinton supporters with hurt feelings—-mostly failed. (Luckily, Palin was also picked apparently to pander to right wing illusions, and especially right wing men’s fantasies, and she’s succeeded amply at that.) Still, a few women have been lured by the “Ooooh, shiny” effect. Unfortunately, one of them is Elaine Lafferty, who wrote an article she apparently thinks is feminist, but is actually stunningly condescending.