The Real Feminist Thing To Do is Acknowledge Hillary's Failures as a Candidate and Move On

[housewolf]

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/morra-aaronsmele/the-real-feminist-thing-t_b_96832.html

The Real Feminist Thing To Do is Acknowledge Hillary's Failures as a Candidate and Move On
Morra Aarons-Mele, Posted April 15, 2008 | 04:03 PM (EST)


When wise pundits in 1987 asked potential candidate Pat Schroeder whether the Democratic Party should let a woman run again for Vice-President or President since the 1984 Mondale-Ferraro ticket had performed so poorly she said, ''The ticket was already down 19 points when she was put on it,'' adding ''perhaps they should not have put a man on the ticket; it was he who lost.''

I interviewed Elizabeth Edwards last week, and we touched on the effect of gender politics on this election, because 28 years later, we're still second guessing Hillary's presumed demise and wondering if it was because she was a woman. I asked Elizabeth, what do you think of the whole "bitch is the new black" approach- is that an effective strategy?

"No...I am concerned with the way in which the percentage of women voting for Hillary, the percentage of African Americans voting for Obama, will change. I'm afraid -- as many Democrats are -- of disaffection in these groups when their candidate is no longer in the race. Because the appeal has been made -- not so much by the candidates-- but certainly by surrogates and others -- this pitch has been made that this is important, for your gender, for your race. In a way it is important for them. But I'm concerned about the disaffection when the candidate is no longer in the race. That's the real argument for the forced marriage between them, is the possibility of disaffection."

I'd love an Obama-Clinton ticket. Gender is a hugely important consideration for me when considering who to vote for. But I completely disagree with Elizabeth on this point. If Hillary doesn't win the nomination women voters won't feel disaffected because the woman is out of the race. Do you really think those who say they won't vote for Obama if Clinton's out will show up on Election Day and pull the lever for McCain?? I feel Clinton's candidacy has opened the door for other women candidates, maybe even for Obama's (hat-tip to Donna Good).

I do feel disaffected by Hillary's campaign management, however, and I have changed my thinking on supporting Clinton. I feel disaffected that she ran a lousy campaign, she let Mark Penn make an ass of himself, she pursued a grassroots strategy stuck in 2000, and while proved she was tough, she failed to read her audience. I've no doubt sexism played a role. Do I want another woman presidential candidate in 2012? Absolutely! I want thousands of women candidates. I don't want Hillary anymore.

If feminists want Clinton to be seen as anything other than a token we need to recognize Clinton's merits, analyze her campaign's faults, and swiftly move on, as if a woman losing were the most normal thing in the world. Men lose all the time. Dwelling doth a token make, and then we'll be back in 1984, all over again.

[aquart]

1. Well, isn't she just the sweetest thing.

Telling me what a "real" feminist is.

But I do want to meet the woman who would be willing to run this gauntlet after the appalling treatment of Senator Clinton. It is the biggest delusion of the "feminist" defectors that the "right" woman will be treated fairly and that what has happened is all on Hillary's head. That's always the carrot, isn't it?

"Feminist," my ass. Quisling.

[AX10]

3. And this crap comes from Huffingtonpost, no less.

[Liberal Gramma]

4. One of the problems with perceived sexism is that it is perceived

There are a lot of people who dislike Hillary the person, not because of her gender. If you are forging a new path, some of the resistance you meet will be sexism, or racism, or xenophobia, but you have to realize that some of it also just resistance to who you are. My resistance to Clinton is due to the negative personal-attack way she has been running her campaign. Today someone posted a long list of her accomplishments, and if she'd run on those instead of trying to belittle and tear down her opponent, she would have the support of many. I cannot vote for someone simply on the basis of sharing a gender, or a racial heritage, or church membership or any other irrevalent commonality. In my view, that is the worst sort of "affirmative action,"

[NanceGreggs]

6. WOW!

You nailed it, Liberal Gramma!

:hi:

[aquart]

8. Good freaking grief.

Is this a cut and paste paragraph? Do you all individually think of the exact same thing all by yourselves?

You don't know "Hillary the person." God knows what the hobgoblin in your mind is that has her name.

You are NOT forging a "new path." You are ultra-congratulating yourself for not being a racist. That's all. There is nothing else new happening.

BUT WHAT PISSES ME OFF IS THIS AIRY FAIRY ASSUMPTION THAT HILLARY CLINTON IS THE ONLY WOMAN ON THE PLANET WHO WOULDN'T BE ABLE TO BE ELECTED PRESIDENT! God, the self-deception of the women at DU.

They sold it. You bought it. Now, you're going to have to keep up the payments. And keep congratulating yourself for your lack of bigotry. What you are is a woman who blew the chance.

[rAVES]

11. Angry much? face the music, Hillary is a shit candidate.. man or Woman.

[Liberal Gramma]

12. That's rather a rude answer to an honest explanation of my position

I don't know Hillary the person any more than you do. I do know what I see her do and say, and I don't like it. I never said that "I" was forging a new path. She is. She has taken her political career farther than any woman has taken it before. Some of the voters will never vote for a woman as president. That is sexism. Some of the voters will never vote for Clinton as president. That is because they don't like what the see in her. It has nothing to do with her gender. She is not the only woman on the planet who can't be elected president. She is ONE woman on the planet who can't be elected president. My point was, and is, that not all voters who won't vote for Clinton are sexist, any more than all voters who won't vote for Obama are racist. Some see him as unprepared, some doubt his sincerity. Some don't like his message. Race doesn't enter in to the equation for those voters. Bigotry is not the only reason for not supporting a candidate, whether that candidate is yours or mine.

[rAVES]

10. Rec for this post!!!

[NanceGreggs]

5. Ah, yes, here we go again ...

... delusional feminists are "defectors" because they refuse to support the candidacy of a woman they don't feel qualified for the presidency.

Where have all the good little Stepford voters gone - you know, the real women who are willing to vote based on gender alone, without any other consideration clouding their strong and independent minds?

[defendandprotect]

2. Whaat? HRC is DLC . . . corporate-sponsored wing of Dem party, intended to move party to right ---!

So -- there's something wrong with the notions you're describing from the very outset.

Additionally, I think that HRC is an embarrassment to me as a female/feminist ---

and an embarrassment to the Democratic Party.

It's time for her to get out of the race ---

[Ellen Forradalom]

7. I love being told what to do as a feminist.

:eyes:

If everyone remembered that our candidates are both elected U.S. Senators and accord them proper respect, we'd be a hell of a lot better off. Vote for whom you wish; there is no need to heap abuse on their heads.

[Divernan]

9. Pittsburgh Post-Gazette endorsement of Obama addresses HRC's link to Bill

Barack Obama: Democrats deserve a nominee for change
Wednesday, April 16, 2008
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
On Tuesday, Pennsylvanians will have the unusual luxury of voting in a Democratic presidential primary that promises to be truly relevant. Like two opposing armies marching to a new Gettysburg, the forces of Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton come to this latest battlefield symbolizing two views of America -- one of the past, one of the future. Pennsylvania Democrats need to rise to the historic moment. For us it is the candidates' vision and character that loom as the decisive factors in this race. Americans, not a power that shrinks from regulating or directing for fear of offending a core ideology.

EXCERPT:
This editorial began by observing that one candidate is of the past and one of the future. The litany of criticisms heaped on Sen. Obama by the Clinton camp, simultaneously doing the work of the Republicans, is as illustrative as anything of which one is which. These are the cynical responses of the old politics to the new.

Sen. Obama has captured much of the nation's imagination for a reason. He offers real change, a vision of an America that can move past not only racial tensions but also the political partisanship that has so bedeviled it.

•
To be sure, Sen. Clinton carries the aspirations of women in particular, but even in this she is something of a throwback, a woman whose identity and public position are indelibly linked to her husband, her own considerable talents notwithstanding. It does not help that the Clinton brand is seen by many in the country as suspect and shifty, bearing the grimy stamp of political calculation counting as much as principle.

Pennsylvania -- this encrusted, change-averse commonwealth where a state liquor monopoly holds on against all reason and where municipal fiefdoms shrink from sensible consolidation -- needs to take a strong look at the new face and the new hope in this race. Because political business-as-usual is more likely to bring the usual disappointment for the Democrats this fall, the Post-Gazette endorses the nomination of Barack Obama, who has brought an excitement and an electricity to American politics not seen since the days of John F. Kennedy.

First published on April 16, 2008 at 12:00 am
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[Doctor_J]

13. True, but which woman WOULD make a good candidate at this moment?

This is a question which I as a feminist have been pondering as I watched Hillary's campaign execute a death spiral. I personally think that her "experience", esp that as 1st lady, has been as much a detriment as an advantage, as it brings along all the nightmares & flashbacks from the 8-year smear conducted by the GOP/media fascists on her and Bill.