OK, Lady, I love you, bye bye

(if you get that reference, excellent on you - brag in the comments and I shall pronounce you cool)

So I had a weird dream last night but it was so real that I had to check with J this morning to make sure it wasn't something I'd actually experienced. I dreamed we were in the car listening to NPR (definitely a regular occurrence) and we heard Hillary's concession speech. She had won the states yesterday, like most people thought she would, but she had decided that it was time to drop out and stop the party in-fighting. And just like that, she was the bigger person and everybody really respected her. And it was just so vivid and realistic - I suppose because it was what I've heard commentators saying she should do all week - that I really honestly woke up thinking she was out of the race.

Now I wouldn't necessarily not like Hillary in the White House, although some of her entrenched politics don't appeal to me. I do think that fresh blood is needed, and fresh ideas, and I'm just not sure she would make the changes I wish our country would make (not that Obama necessarily will either - he might not have the power). I was so disappointed when she backed off universal health care, for instance. But you know that's my pet issue.

Anyway, I have to admit that even though I've decided to be an Obama Mama (I really need to find a tee shirt that says that), I was a little sad about the loss of the first viable female candidate. I don't remember if I was sad in the dream or after waking up. But I felt a little twinge, because here it was the first chance we really had to make such a huge leap. Not that a half-black man isn't also a great leap forward - either way, really, history is made. But since I'm a woman, I obviously had the special affinity for the woman. It's the validation of us all being told since we were little girls that we could be president some day. It would actually make that promise real.

I do think it will happen in my lifetime, though, so I'm not anxious about making it happen now. And there's no way I'd vote for a person strictly because of her gender, no matter how historic that would be. That's the same mistake people made when they voted for Bush out of religious affinity. No way. It's about issues and what's best for the country, not about who is your buddy or most like you. I don't want someone like me but "embarrassingly superior" to me, as Jon Stewart put it.

So just so you know, the feminarian is all for women's rights, but not to the extent that we lose our sense for the principle of a thing. One of the great things about being a post-feminist feminist is that you can value your freedom of choice over the need to always make everything about women. For a time, that was necessary, but enough victories were won (not all, to be sure) that many of us now enjoy the freedom to really affect the world and to be able to think holistically. So thank you for that, you who fought before us.

I don't know when Hil will give it up, or if she won't at all and will be forced out at the convention. I don't think it would be good for the party or country for her to win the nomination at this point, though. Which is sad for me. But on another level, come on, we still get a great alternative! We should be thrilled that we had such a choice. And when the choice comes down to one or the other, either way we will have a vastly superior candidate to who we had last time, and who the other party has. At that point, then, the choice will be clear. I mean, I'm not into the 100 more years in Iraq idea.

So let's all keep our heads and not go do something stupid like abandon our greatest chance in a long time just because we're pouting about losing our candidate, ok? Thanks.