Hillary Clinton's candidacy has done feminism no favours

[jaysunb]

Right now, Hillary is in Godzilla mode, refusing to accept Barack Obama's looming nomination and threatening to tie the Democratic party in legal knots until the August convention and beyond.

Those who think she will withdraw gracefully in a few weeks are living in cloud cuckoo land. The Clintons are ruthless scrappers who will lock their bulldog teeth in any bloody towel.

In her raw ambition and stubborn, grinding energy, Hillary will certainly cast a long shadow on young women aspiring to high office. She is both inspiring role model and cringe-making bad example — an overtly feminist careerist who never found a way to succeed without her husband's connections, advice, and intervention.

Bill Clinton may have masterminded Hillary's runs for the Senate and for the Democratic nomination, but he has been a gross liability in recent months, as he has co-opted the hustings to maunder on about himself or to inject divisive racial overtones into the debate.

The next major female presidential candidate will be well advised to stuff any errant husband into a rucksack and chuck him down a laundry chute. If they are to be truly equal, women must fight their own fights and not rely on a borrowed spotlight

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/opinion/main.jhtml?xml=/opinion/2008/05/24/do2411.xml


This story seems to be at great odds of this viewpoint.
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=103x361352

[polichick]

1. Moving the goal posts in an effort of fake a win doesn't help.

[Kablooie]

2. Oh my lord! What would Miss Manners say? Pass the tea cakes please.

[pansypoo53219]

3. kitchen sink to

bathroom toilet strategy.

[cbayer]

4. It should be prominently noted here that this was written by Camille Paglia

'nuf said.

[Unvanguard]

5. Indeed. Nice catch. n/t

[noamnety]

8. I think she has special credibility here.

Who knows more than she does about women who do feminism no favours? ;)

[BeautifulHyperwolf]

6. Yeah. Calling Hillary "Godzilla" on the first paragraph will sure help your case n/t

[Don Davis]

7. Hillary’s ‘Exit Strategy’ Becomes Clear: Yelling ‘Fire’ in a Crowded Theater

http://satiricalpolitical.com/?p=1813

[madmusic]

9. Before dismissing Paglia, how many new-feminists agree with her?

The biggest barrier to women winning the White House is that the president must serve as commander-in-chief of the armed forces and thus convey strength and purpose to defend the nation. Hillary shrewdly tried to address this gender problem by getting herself appointed to the Senate Armed Services Committee, where she absorbed information and slowly gained the trust of high-ranking military officers.

However, the plan went awry when, servilely following polling data about national opinion, she voted for the War Resolution authorising George W Bush to invade Iraq. That fateful decision, meant to shore up her military credibility, would alienate her from the left wing of her party and ironically boost the presidential hopes of a virtual unknown, Obama, who had publicly opposed the war.

Women contemplating the Hillary precedent would do better to ignore evanescent polls and study military history instead. When women try to masquerade in the lion skin of military bravado, it leads to embarrassments like Hillary's daffy tale about running for cover under sniper fire in Bosnia — which insulted the US military by implying it would put a First Lady and her daughter in danger.

Then there was Hillary's threat to “obliterate” Iran should it attack Israel, a shocking word-choice that betrayed naivete about military options and indifference to their human consequences. Feminist ideologues sniffle about how hard the road is for women candidates. Hillary, it is alleged, has had to be both tough and soft, masculine and feminine.

So that's the rationale for her head-spinning personality changes? For every new state or region, she trots out a new tone or accent, from the crisp to the cornpone. It's crude and patronizing —which is partly why she has surprisingly lost support among her peers, educated upper-middle-class women.