:: Silencing Women

I just caught the following from Salon:

DENVER -- Some supporters of Hillary Clinton have been pushing all summer to have a roll-call vote in which Clinton is included as a candidate at the convention in Denver. As of right now, that vote will happen, but according to a new Associated Press report, it might not happen in quite the way that Clinton's backers had envisioned.

The Clinton and Obama camps "are working on a deal to give her some votes in the roll call for the Democratic presidential nomination, but quickly end the divided balloting in unanimous consent for Obama," the AP says. "The idea is that at the start of the state-by-state vote for the presidential nomination Wednesday night, delegates would cast their votes for Clinton or Obama.

"But the voting would be cut off after a couple of states, the officials said, perhaps ending with New York, when Clinton herself would call for unanimous backing for Obama from the convention floor."

Its not enough that she conceded the nomination. Its not enough that she's releasing her delegates. They want to pretend the campaign never happened. And why? Is there any doubt Obama is going to be the nominee? Kennedy's votes were counted. Why not Clinton's?

Here's my prediction.

In the end, the mostly male political establishment will silence Hillary just as women leaders down through the centuries were silenced and then erased from the history books.

It is stunning to see this historical pattern unfold in real time.

Why is it so important to bury the proof of Senator Clinton's extraordinary achievement? Why is it so important to pretend her campaign never happened? Why is it so important to prevent - on the 88th anniversary of woman's suffrage - a celebration and full reckoning of what she - of what we - have accomplished?

Why is it so important to some people that she - that we - be silenced ? Why is it necessary that we be erased?

Would that Obama, Dean, and everyone else involved in this ugly display of force and privilege stop for a moment to ask themselves:

Am I on the right side of history?

Am I walking beside my sister, or am I holding her down?

Am I listening to her voice, or am I shouting over her?

Do I honor liberty, or do I wield my freedom as a cudgel?

This is a watershed moment. Eighty-eight years after we first won the right to vote, that right is still contested. We still have a cabal of powerful and not so powerful men who will fight tooth and nail to keep us less than equal.

This is not abstract. These men and women have names. They are in Denver. They are making this decision right now. They are deciding whether or not our votes will be counted. They are fighting the same fight that was fought a century ago.

When this is over, we will know who the heroes are.