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Obama A Feminist, Sister Tells Tampa

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By WILLIAM MARCH

The Tampa Tribune

Published: July 18, 2008

TAMPA - Barack Obama is a dedicated feminist who "lives surrounded by women," his half-sister, Maya Soetoro-Ng, told a mostly female crowd at a Women For Obama event in downtown Tampa on Thursday.

Soetoro-Ng told the crowd that Obama helped rear her and now is rearing two daughters. "Those girls are what make him a feminist," she said.

She's campaigning for him during her summer break from her job as a high school teacher and university lecturer in Hawaii, and made her first visit to Florida for stops in Tampa's Mise en Place restaurant Thursday and today in Largo, where she will meet with a group of educators.

Her mission with the campaign clearly is to help reconcile Obama with women who supported Hillary Rodham Clinton in the primary race, and may be reluctant to transfer their loyalty, or at least their enthusiasm, to him.

"I want to focus a little bit on women because that's one of the reasons I'm here is to remind women that he is their advocate," she told the crowd. "I want to tell you about some of the strong women in our lives.

"I really want you to be able to get to know the man."

She did that largely by telling family stories.

Her older brother "really was the man in our lives" after their parents divorced, when the two were growing up in Hawaii and Indonesia, she said.

She said he taught her to ride a bicycle, made her practice harder math problems and start an exercise program, took her on college visits and even gave her her first women's health book - "Our Bodies, Ourselves," a 1973 guide that came out of the women's movement and focused on female sexuality, health and hygiene.

Soetoro-Ng - pronounced "sootoro ing" - is 39, seven years younger than Obama, and said they are very close.

She said in an interview that she was a typical little sister as a child. "I climbed on him, I messed up his afro, I stood in front of the TV during critical points in the basketball game."

When she was older, she said, he scrutinized her dates.

"He definitely gave them a hard time. He definitely counseled me on which to discard and which to keep."

She said Obama approved of the man she married. "I don't think I could have otherwise."

Soetoro-Ng is the daughter of Obama's mother and her second husband, an Indonesian, and the only other child of their mother. Obama has other half-siblings from his father, a Kenyan who went back to Africa after leaving Obama and his mother.

When Obama grew older, she said, he went to Africa to reacquaint himself with his father, "a really important journey for him."

She told the crowd he "dared to love his father despite his father's imperfections," and wrote about it in his memoir, "Dreams From My Father."

Soetoro-Ng said the racially mixed crowd in a small meeting room at a downtown restaurant "looks a little bit like my family," a racial mix of blacks, Asians and whites.

She acknowledged the need for the campaign to reach out to women, Clinton supporters in particular, saying she wants to "invite them into the dialogue and reassure them that Barack is going to be a very strong advocate for women."

Some former Clinton supporters, angry at what they thought was sexism by Clinton critics and pundits during the campaign, have said Obama should have spoken out against it as he did against racism.

But Soetoro-Ng said he has "pretty continuously made strong statements on behalf of women" and backed legislation that particularly helps women, including the earned income tax credit and the Title IX legislation aimed at equalizing treatment of men's and women's college sports teams.

"It is just a matter of getting to know him and his policies better - in this case, familiarity will breed love," she said.

That's clearly true for women who are dedicated Democrats.

"I was upset at how Hillary's scenario turned out, but once he became the nominee, we all have to rally behind him," said Jennifer Fenn, a former Clinton supporter who attended the gathering.

But some former Clinton women still feel upset over what they say was unfair treatment of the first major female contender for the presidency.

"It's kind of like a wound," said Janet Rifkin, a long-time Tampa Democratic activist and fundraiser. "You just kind of have to get over it and move on."

Reporter William March can be reached at (813) 259-7761 or wmarch@tampatrib.com.

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