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…#MichelleObama didn’t hold back, & her speech in #Kalamazoo might go down as one of the most powerful of this entire #election.
She began by pointing out that #KamalaHarris was being held to a #DoubleStandard, asked “to dazzle us at every turn,” as Obama put it, versus #Trump, from whom, she said, “we expect nothing at all: no understanding of #policy, no ability to put together a #coherent argument, no #honesty, no #decency, no #morals.”
#HarrisWalz2024
https://www.newyorker.com/news/the-lede/the-obamas-campaign-for-kamala-harris
In a campaign season in which the subject of #PoliceViolence against #Black men—& the protests that followed the murder of #GeorgeFloyd in 2020—has rarely been mentioned, #MichelleObama dared to address it: “If you are a mother who has lost sleep worrying if your son could be the victim of a nightmare traffic stop going bad, if you’ve ever been out there marching & weeping for #justice, who do you think is going to have your back?” she asked.
But then… [#MichelleObama], Without recrimination, …evoked the irony that in an #election to potentially elect the first #woman President, in which #WomensHealth care & very lives are at stake, so much of recent discourse has focussed on how to uphold the #ego of the American #man, & which vision of #masculinity should prevail in the nation.
Obama brought it back to the intimate matter of the body.
“I want the men in the arena to bear w/me on this,” #MichelleObama said, “because there’s more at stake than just protecting a woman’s choice to give birth.” She described a #woman’s body as a “complicated business,” & spoke about abnormal #PapSmears, #mammograms, infections, & #miscarriages; about #menstrual problems & #menopause; & about inequities in funding for research into #WomensHealth.
#MichelleObama suggested that restrictions on #abortion have reverberations that go far beyond abortion itself. “We will see more doctors hesitating or shying away from providing life-saving treatments because they are worried about being arrested; more #medical students reconsidering even pursuing #WomensHealth at all; more #OBGYN clinics w/o enough doctors to meet demand closing their doors.”
#MichelleObama evoked worst-case scenarios, addressing men in particular:
“If your wife is shivering & bleeding on the operating-room table during a routine delivery gone bad, her pressure dropping as she loses more & more blood, or some unforeseen infection spreads & her doctors aren’t sure if they can act, you will be the one praying that it’s not too late.
“You will be the one pleading for somebody, anybody, to do something. And then there is the tragic but very real possibility that in the worst-case scenario, you just might be the one holding flowers at the funeral. You might be the one left to raise your children alone.
“See, these are just some of the ways #women die during #childbirth, & I don’t want to be a downer y’all, but in many cases, there is no warning, & things go bad very quickly, & when it happens, every second of hesitation or delay can lead to devastating outcomes.”
#MichelleObama had the arena’s attention. And then she made a plea to #men — “from the core of my being”—to take #women’s lives seriously. “Please, please do not hand our fates over to the likes of #Trump, who knows nothing about us, who has shown deep contempt for us, because a #vote for him is a vote against us, against our #health,” she said.
“Let me tell you all, to think that the #men that we love could be either #unaware or #indifferent to our plight is simply heartbreaking. It is a sad statement about our #value as #women…. It is both a setback in our quest for #equity & a huge blow to our country’s standing as a world leader on issues of #WomensHealth & #gender #equality. So fellows, before you cast your votes, ask yourselves, what side of history do you want to be on?”
This was a big speech to follow, but… #KamalaHarris held the room’s attention. This time nobody was leaving. It was hard to tell what was different—maybe it was the more intimate venue,…or maybe it was that after the gravity of #MichelleObama’s speech #Harris’s arrival gave the crowd a chance to relax again, but she seemed more at ease. There were ten days left until the #election. “This is going to be a tight race to the end so we’ve got a lot of work to do,” she said.
Well, that wasn't the way to share that post, but oh well.
@Nonilex
I’ve been saying this since the first rumblings of overturning Roe. Add to this less medical care available for ANYONE (except the very rich, of course) as people turn away from medical training, so overall the number of medical professionals decreases.
Oh wait…tfg wants to get rid of all those pesky regulations so anyone can hang up a shingle that says “Docktor Heer”