Women's Group Condemns NOW Endorsement of Obama - WaPo

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Sat Sep-20-08 11:59 AM
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Women's Group Condemns NOW Endorsement of Obama - WaPo

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A group of Hillary Clinton supporters condemned the National Organization for Women's endorsement of Sens. Barack Obama and Joe Biden earlier this week.

"The New Agenda is concerned that NOW's recent endorsement of Barack Obama leaves many women in this country out in the cold," the nonpartisan nonprofit group said in a release Friday. "The endorsement seems all the more puzzling given the fact that the Republican Party is running its first female candidate for Vice-President, Gov. Sarah Palin."

The New Agenda points out that since its 1966 founding, NOW has previously endorsed at the presidential level only four times -- and each time there was a woman on the ticket: Shirley Chisolm in the 1972 Democratic primary; Democrats Walter Mondale and Geraldine Ferraro for the 1984 general election; Carol Mosely Braun in the 2003 Democratic primary; and Hillary Rodham Clinton in the 2008 Democratic primary.

"We find it quite perplexing that NOW has chosen to endorse an all-male ticket after not endorsing recent candidates such as Gov. Bill Clinton, Sen. Al Gore, or Sen. John Kerry," said New Agenda co-founder Amy Siskind in the statement.

The New Agenda represents the coming together of more than 30 prominent Clinton supporters, many deeply involved in the bitter Democratic primary battle, into a new post-primary initiative to fight media sexism. The group, explained Siskind in an interview, evolved from the Together for Us group of Clinton supporters founded by, among others, Lady Lynn Forester de Rothschild, who endorsed Obama rival Sen. John McCain this week. The group also has drawn members from some of the other pro-Clinton efforts, such as Cynthia Ruccia, who during the primaries was a leader of the Ohio-based group Clinton Supporters Count Too, and, later, Women for Fair Politics.

The New Agenda's commitment to being nonpartisan reflects the split among its Clinton loyalists over who to support in the general election. But it also allows the group to try to press its anti-sexism agenda with both parties. Siskind said New Agenda has found the McCain campaign more receptive to its overtures, holding meetings with McCain surrogate Carly Fiorina and senior campaign strategists.

"Through Carly, McCain had promised us he would have more women in his administration than any president in history," said Siskind, who added that she felt the group's pressure played some small role in McCain's choice of Palin as his vice presidential running mate.

Already, the group has come to Palin's aid, and it has promised to watchdog the press on her behalf. "We cannot and will not sit idly by while another qualified candidate goes through what Senator Hillary Clinton had to endure," said Siskind at the end of August.

On the Obama side, the group has met with adviser Mark Alexander, the campaign's one-time policy director, and is hoping for meetings with more central actors soon.

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Link: http://voices.washingtonpost.com/the-trail/2008/09/20/womens_group_condemns_now_endo.html

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