Warren, The Incidental And Integral Feminist

[Tiggeroshii]

Senator Elizabeth Warren speaks in Elkhart, Indiana.

Have you noticed that Elizabeth Warren is not quite running as a feminist? Her feminism is, rather, integral to who she is.

For instance, Warren’s basic story tells of how her mother had to take a paid job for the first time after her father’s heart attack, and how she kept saying amid sobs, “We will not lose this house, we will not lose this house.” What kind of story could be more quintessentially female? Every woman in the audience gets what that’s about.

And in the narrative of her own rise, as a young mother desperate to attend law school, all that stands between Warren and her dream is decent day care and toilet training:

Finally, finally, less than one week before classes were starting, I found a place that seemed nice. Cheerful teachers, a good playground, it smelled good. That thing matters, you know. There was only one problem: They only took children who were "dependably potty trained." Man, I filled out that application, I said "Sure. Dependably potty trained. Got it! We are so on this." And I left there knowing I had five days to turn my not-quite-two-year-old into a ready-to-go, dependably potty-trained partner. And I just want to say that I'm here today courtesy of three bags of M&Ms and a cooperative two-year-old who loved chocolate. That's my story!

Now again, is there any working mother who cannot relate to this? Conversely, can you imagine a man telling that story?

https://prospect.org/article/warren-incidental-and-integral-feminist

[Liberty Belle]

1. Totally. We resorted to chocolate to train my son,

who was 3 and a half and nothing else had worked. Like Warren we were desperate to get him into child care and potty training was required.

Our daughter mercifully was much easier. A great aunt gave her some frilly undies when she was only 18 months old. I said we'd put them away until she was potty training. A few minutes later she paraded out and announced she was potty trained. I peeked in at her older brother's potty chair, and sure enough she'd used it. She trained herself, got her big girl undies, and nothing was ever easier!

[SleeplessinSoCal]

2. love how supporters of others champion those deserving.

[Hortensis]

3. :) Great story. You know, I can imagine a man telling it

these days. Not just any candidate to just any crowd, though.

Congressman Swalwell's wife has to be raising (including potty training) their 2-year-old son and 6-month-old daughter pretty much by herself these days. But he brought them to the historic opening of the 116th congress, and I remember him chewing on his tiny daughter's arm to give her attention while looking everywhere at what was going on. There was undoubtedly more than one reason he wanted his children there even if they were far too young to remember, but we can assume one of them was that he saw involved fatherhood as a plus for his not-yet-announced candidacy. (Yet another was likely that Nancy et al invited them all to bring their children to show America who today's real family values party is.)

[Politicub]

5. That's adorable!

It brought a smile to my face. I call those puppy bites.

[pecosbob]

4. Anyone that listens to her speak for five minutes knows her

She sort of reminds me of a line from that Townes Van Zandt song...

"He wore his gun outside his pants for all the honest world to feel"

I'm from Texas and know what political dancing looks like. This woman sidesteps nothing. Very rare in a political candidate, particularly in one who has been in DC long enough to have gone over to the dark side. She doesn't back down in the Senate.