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Hillary '92 on stay-home moms: "I suppose I could have stayed home and backed cookies and had teas"
Hillary Clinton, 1992, dismissing stay-at-home moms:
"Those of us who have tried to have a career, tried to have an independent life, certainly somebody like myself...you know, I suppose I could have stayed home and baked cookies and had teas but what I decided to do was fulfill my profession which I entered before my husband was in public life."And there's video -- video that every single Pennsylvanian should see by next Tuesday.
Talk about hypocrisy.
Clinton's comments were indeed dismissive, but I understand where
they were coming from. I was raised by a single mom (though I did spend
time with my dad). Obviously, my mom worked for a living, and she
raised me to be a feminist (I'm a guy who proudly accepts the label).
And for ten years, I worked for a strong woman who is now a U.S.
Senator. So I know where Hillary was coming from.
But that's not the issue. The issue is Hillary Clinton's utter hypocrisy -- and her utter "me-first" selfishness.
When Clinton made her comments, the conservative media trashed her harshly. Here's a relatively mild criticism from William Safire (the conservative former NYT columnist):
The cookies-and-tea stereotype is elitism in action. Even the columnist Ellen Goodman, a grass-roots feminist, was moved to comment: "Ouch."
My point isn't that I agree with William Safire. Rather, my point is that $109 million later, Hillary Clinton has become William Safire.
And now she is says Barack Obama as an elitist. Absurd.
Is there anything she will not say or do?
::Also posted at The Jed Report, with video (you can digg it there here).
Comments (14)
ARGH. Typo. Meant to say baked cookies! Not BACKED.
April 14, 2008 5:00 AM | Reply | Permalink
Backed makes just as much sense.
Hillary Clinton was ridiculed for NOT staying home and baking cookies when Bill was governor of Arkansas. In fact, she was harrassed for many things like working and using her maiden name.
I wish people would provide the complete transcripts of these comments as she likely was defending her reasons for not being a typical, stay at home, political wife. Something she had to do pretty much constantly.
It doesn't surprise me the right wing would then trash her for it as they trashed her for it from day one.
What this post proves is that any soundbyte on Youtube is enough to convince an echo chamber of what it is they believe already.
It's irresponsible to post this without the original transcript, period.
April 14, 2008 6:19 AM | Reply | Permalink
I am a stay at home mom now, (kind of) but had no intention of being one in '92. I fall under the 'self-employed' category now, doesn't feel like work because I set my own hours though. My mother did not stay at home, (she's told me she liked it that way, staying home would have made her go bat shit) my dad did stay home with us kids while finishing grad school though.
I was not offended then, but I am now... I'd like to see her clarify her position on this.
Her 'career' was on the corporate board of Walmart and with the Rose Law Firm, she wasn't a community activist/organizer she'd like people to think, she was out to make money.
I don't think it's elitism on Hillary's part, but I do think its 60's feminism... of a generation that I am not, (work and act like a man to be equal mentality).
I don't know many Susie Homemaker types that stay at home these days, its usually a financial decision (i.e. the cost of working is more than staying home/economizing).
April 14, 2008 6:47 AM | Reply | Permalink
Susie Homemaker?
How insulting.
April 14, 2008 8:25 AM | Reply | Permalink
Isn't the issue not that HRC was burned by the right for her comment in '92, but that she's using the SAME right-wing criticism to hassle a fellow Democrat? What a raging hypocrite.
April 14, 2008 8:59 AM | Reply | Permalink
Where is she accusing Obama or McCain of dissing stay at home Mothers?
April 14, 2008 9:11 AM | Reply | Permalink
burnedoutdem was refering to the fact that Republicans accused her of being elitist after these comments. She is now taking a que from the GOP by accusing Barack of being elitist.
April 14, 2008 9:33 AM | Reply | Permalink
Stay at home mothers are elitist? Or aren't they? I'd say they could be either. Odd argument isn't it?
I think both candidates are elitist, and so what? Maybe that makes me an "elitist." Maybe we all are in some form or another. Looking down on our fellows is something that's been ridiculed since at least Shakespeare.
Can we move on to issues of substance?
April 14, 2008 9:42 AM | Reply | Permalink
I remember being disgusted by those comments in 92, and I was working toward a JD myself at the time, with no intention of ever becoming an at-hone mother. She didn't need to rag on at-home mothers in order to justify her decision to continue working as an attorney. And this comment was made to a nationwide audience during a Presidential campaign year, not just in a moment of pique in Arkansas.
Unlike Obama's comments, HRC wasn't even trying to understand why people do what they do--she was just slamming on at-home mothers.
FTR, I do know many at-home mothers...I've been at home for a few years myself, after many years of practicing law...and I can tell you that it is just as often *not* a financially-driven decision. For a lot of families, it's driven primarily by the current working climate that requires people to work more hours for less money, to the point at which it is nearly impossible to balance work and family life in any meaningful way, and completely impossible to contribute to the community in other ways...I don't remember either of my parents ever having to work nearly as many hours as either dh or I had to, and studies regarding lawyers show that billable hour requirements have increased greatly in the last 30 years.
This is especially true with the advent of BlackBerries and wireless laptops, because the office can follow you anywhere, anytime.
Bottom line, HRC's 1992 words will not resonate well with a generation of professionally-educated, politically active women who have chosen to become at-home mothers (not to mention a rapidly-growing segment of at-home fathers). So I hope they get thrown in her face in light of her ridiculous exploitation of BitterGate.
April 14, 2008 9:21 AM | Reply | Permalink
Then I'd argue you shouldn't complain about HRC's "exploitation" of "bittergate."
Personally, I think it's all a bunch of hogwash. I'm sure someone will come up with some disparaging comment (or one that can be twisted that way) to make Senator Obama look anti-Mother.. Then someone will come up with a comment that can be construed to be anti-working class by HRC, and so on and so on. Just wallowing with the pigs in the mud and getting ever sucked in deeper and deeper.
It's not productive and your angst is most certainly a double-edged sword. Try not to cut yourself.
April 14, 2008 9:30 AM | Reply | Permalink
I agree that its not always a financial decision, I was trying to avoid the larger family dynamic discussion.
I'm not surprised Hillary plays 'gotcha' - her premise for remaining in the campaign is based solely on Obama making a fatal error - like, say... engaging in sexual acts with a subordinate and lying about it in civil court.
Like jwhipple said, she learned the approach from the best - the vast right wing conspiracy.
April 14, 2008 3:04 PM | Reply | Permalink
To put the statement in context, she was asked a question about leaving her job at the law firm (there was some conflict of interest, or alleged conflict of interest between her working there and her husband as governor). This was her response, and she went on to say that feminism means choosing to work, or stay home, or both.
She was attacked for being an elitist, which I don't really see as the case based on this statement. Which is now what she's attacking Obama for. The biggest problem here is that while this of course is a political opportunity to attack her opponent, it is a course of action she should not be taking so severely and intensely, precisely because her chances of victory are so small. Passing out "I'm not bitter" stickers? That's just too much. And I'm one who hasn't thought she should get out of the race.
As far as the cookies and tea statement? Still offending, even in context. It implies that those women who do choose to stay home are spending their time baking cookies and having tea. Ridiculous. It is condescending and shows a complete lack of understanding of the many reasons women do choose to stay home. She might as well have said "stayed home and eat bon-bons and watch soap operas." Many women stay home because the cost of daycare is higher than their own salaries. My mom stayed home with us, four children, and I cannot remember her drinking a single cup of tea. She cooked, sewed, cleaned, did carpentry, plumbing, and remodeling around the house, took care of us, took care of the yard, did constant laundry, ironed, etc, etc, etc. I really can't remember her ever even sitting down. So the reason it's condescending is because it's passing judgment on a lifestyle she's never lived. No one should partake in that.
But, I don't think it's a reason not to vote for her. She apologized for it later and that's fine. We should all get some free passes for misspeaking. I'm just tired of seeing her attack him for the same things she's asked for forgiveness for in the past.
April 14, 2008 9:25 AM | Reply | Permalink
Actually, most of the stay at home mothers I know do so because they CAN afford to.
That is their choice and that's fine.
Hillary was explaining her choice and maybe some people took offense, but it was silly then as now.
She's entitled to her opinion, last time I checked.
A local columnist in my town described the stay-at-home moms as women who jogged around town looking for eyesores to complain to the Aldermen about.
Most folks laughed.
Some were offended. (Guess which ones, the ones that did exactly that)
Frankly, the threshold for getting "offended" around here offends me. People really need to get out more.
Now, I gotta go to work. Good luck with the latest painful hand-wringing display of pique yet in the every continuing drama of Obama vs. Clinton.
I thought this was a presidential primary. My bad.
April 14, 2008 9:37 AM | Reply | Permalink
Hellooo? Excuse me, but a lot of seem not to have read the diary you're supposedly replying to.
The point of this diary is NOT to criticize Hillary's stay-home comment per se but to criticize her use of the same "gotcha" approach against Obama that she suffered so memorably after she made that comment. As Obama said, she should know better.
April 14, 2008 9:59 AM | Reply | Permalink
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