The Media Is Erasing A Woman Running For President, Are We Surprised?

I’m team “vote blue no matter who,” and I will support any candidate running against the president. For real, I would vote for a dirty, pus-covered poisonous mushroom over him.

But I do happen to have a soft spot for Elizabeth Warren. I was with her from the first time I saw her talk about her struggle to find childcare for her children—and how her Aunt Bea came to rescue her.

I believe her when she says that all women deserve an Aunt Bea—that issues like childcare, healthcare, maternity leave, and canceling student loan debt are issues of our time.

As a proud mom and a feminist, this woman speaks to me. I would love to see her become the next Democratic presidential candidate.

But it seems like the media doesn’t even think of her as a presidential candidate anymore. Because they seem to be completely erasing the prospect of her candidacy from our radar.

Case in point, last week, after the debacle of the Iowa caucuses were sorted out, it turned out that Elizabeth Warren came in third place, after Sanders and Buttigieg, who were tied in a dead heat.

It wasn’t a measly third place. The final results have Buttigieg with 26.2%, Sanders with 26.1% of the vote, and Warren with 18%. Biden is the straggler, coming in fourth, with 15.8%. Current polls also have Amy Klobuchar and Mike Bloomberg among the top six candidates.

As this news was breaking, I kept noticing something. All everyone was talking about was the race between Sanders and Buttigieg—that, and what was going become of Biden, who was trailing all three of the top contenders quite a bit.

For example, a few days ago, I was scrolling through Twitter and found this, from the New York Times:

“Despite messy results,” the post reads, “the Iowa caucuses scrambled the 2020 campaign, with Pete Buttigieg and Bernie Sanders pulling ahead and Joe Biden trailing in fourth place. How will this outcome affect the dynamics on today’s debate stage?”

I shit you not, this is what was written. Where the fuck is Warren—who, by the way, the Times had just endorsed for president (along with Amy Klobuchar) about two weeks ago? Yes, Biden was the Vice President and everyone wants to know where he stands now. And yes, Sanders and Buttigieg were super close. Yadda, yadda, yadda.

But anyone with a mind and a soul (and who can freaking count) would have to notice that the person who came in third—a solid third at that—is completely erased from the post.

Oh, and she happens to be a strong, successful, badass woman too. Yeah, that.

And listen up, it wasn’t just this Times’ tweet doing this. I’m an MSNBC junkie, and I have noticed the omission about Warren’s candidacy in just about every program I’ve watched over the last week. It’s all out three white men and their amazing (or abysmal) prospects.

“From the moment cable networks switched from her caucus night rally speech to Biden’s, Warren has been virtually erased,” writes Joan Walsh in The Nation. “As the fight for first place continued into Thursday, I have watched cable news panels mention Warren only in passing, if at all (MSNBC’s Lawrence O’Donnell had been one exception, featuring an interview with Warren Wednesday night, and then on Thursday night she was hosted by Chris Hayes).”

The media is erasing a female political candidate who has as decent a chance as any of the front runners to win the candidacy and beat our current president to a pulp. (Seriously: have you seen this woman debate? She is dynamite.)

Now, obviously, part of what makes me so upset about this is that I would like Warren to win, as she’s my top choice right now. But it’s definitely more than that.

I want misogyny to get burnt to the ground. Burnt to a crisp.

I want every little girl growing up in America today to believe that she can be whatever she wants to be and do whatever she wants to do. I want every little girl to have a voice, and to use it. I want every little girl to believe what she says means something—that what she says and does has the potential to change the world.

We are not there yet. Far from it. It’s depressing as fuck.

I thought we were past erasing women. I thought we were all going to start taking women seriously, counting them equally, embracing their power.

It’s 2020 and it seems like the world still isn’t ready for this.

I know I’m ready. Are you?