Numerous times during this race the Clinton campaign has attempted to make Obama the Black Candidate.

Obama waited until SC to make himself the Black Candidate. Wouldn't have worked well in IA and NH but worked wonders in SC, GA, LA, AL and MS.

I'm sad to say this, but a lot of Hillary's supporters have spent the better part of this campaign damaging feminism. I've lost track of how many times I've heard Hillary backersindicate that they're voting for her because they want a woman to be elected President. I guess, for some, any woman will do. She's just not my first choice. True feminism is about making gender a non-issue in the political realm. She seems to represent the ideals of feminism when they meet her ultimate agenda of getting elected, and to disregard them when they don't. In other words, she doesn't represent the ideals of feminism at all.

Mitchell Aboulafia:

Current use of the term "gender" is uninformed, bogus.

The correct term is "sex"; but "feminists" don't want to use that word because, though accurate, they want to avoid being direct in preference for being oblique, indirect, and vague.

"Gender" is different: it is "sexual identity". "Sex" and "sexual identity" are not necessarily the same thing. One's biological sex can be male, while one "sexual identity" -- one's gender -- is homosexual/"female".*

The first problem with an ideology is self-promoting oversimplification -- which is an immediate distortion of accuracy and truth at the point at which truth is made subordinate to the drive for power. At which point it becomes no different than the ideologies against which it purports to contend.
_____

See Nancy Chodorow, Mothering.

"Why aren’t Hillary’s feminist supporters taking her to task for these comments?"

Because white supremacism and racism are not confined to white males?

I read this comment at over at taylormarch.com It’s from a Hillary supporter who is making get-out-the-vote calls to WVA. I wonder if this approach is considered an example of promoting feminist ideals.

http://www.taylormarsh.com/comments.php?postID=27645

“One guy said, "some Obama fellar told me the race was over"....he didn't say if it was by call or what and I didn't press him on it. Instead of calling the Obamabot a scum sucking liar in case he was friends with the person I appealed to the man's ego...I giggled like a school girl and said in my sweetest Southern drawl, "like you would even fall for that! He must not realize you are smart enough to know that's not true! Well, just in case he told anyone else that, you be sure and let them know what the real story is because like Bill Clinton says, they are just trying to discourage you is all" I could almost see his ego puff up over the phone signal...lol”

PS - if you have a vague feeling you read this comment before - I posted it on another thread. It fits better here, I think. And so bad it's worthy of repetition.

So Hillary and Bill are the racists now? Is that the idea that Obama and his supporters are trying to leave us with? That anything that they may have done for this country has always been done through the view lens of racism? That any support that they might have garnered in the past surely wasn't right. What a load of BS. You people shouldn't lie to yourselves so much.

...as their have been MANY before Obama, but none successful. I know......you have NO idea who those people have been and are.

None successful? I'd certainly disagree. I registered as a democrat in 1988 to vote for Jesse Jackson in our primary. (Yes. We actually counted votes back then.) He narrowly lost here but it didn't matter since WI sealed the deal for Dukakis.

It almost seems as if Obama is ashamed to be compared to Jackson. Why?

I just want to know, MITCHELL,who and what gave you the right to speak for feminists, feminism.?

Me ..I was a founder of the first Woman's Group in Boston. I marched . i tabled. I lobbied. I work for prochoice lelgislation to protect the right of woman to be free and equal. WTF do you do that you arrogate to yourseld the right to even make such an unjustifed and wrongheaded demand.?

This is just a screed and a rant to once more unfairly trash Hillary Clinton.

This entire camoaign season has been one trashing a woman candidate in sexist terms...And I don't see or hear Obama supporters angry at the perpetrators of that ugly strain of bigotry,

The proprietor of this blog said in the most Freudian slip one can imagine when Mark Penn was removed that he had been "gelded" by Hillary Clinton. Gelding for those who don't know is castration? How revealing! Does this not tell you just what is the underlying psychology of the time of smear that you and your kind generate.

Oh and did you, the feminist, post something when Steve Cohen compared Hillary Clinton to the Glenn Close character in Fatal Attraction....a sexist movie to start with and a horrendously sexost analogy.

You're just like all those Republicans who found feminism valuable for ken Starr and Paula Jones.

Fie on you. You are completely illegitimate.

You're correct about that --- and the question he was responding to was (not exact words, but close enough) "So what do you say that it takes two of you to campaign against one of him?" (In short, WJC was asked to comment on the fact that Obama won despite the fact that he was up against not one but two Clintons.)

Now HOW is his Jesse Jackson response to **that** question, anything but an attempt to minimize and marginalize Obama's victory and explain it away as simply "black candidates win in SC - it doesn't say anything about REAL merit or REAL electability" It was, I suppose, a direct response, as you say: it was a response that said "his win doesn't matter because he's black".

I did watch it in real time - the full thing, several times, and while I had managed to remain loyal and respectful at least about their history of support for and from the AA community, there was simply NO other way to interpret the message of his response.

Do I think they are racists? Not at all. I think they are equal opportuntity "users" - no discrimination at all. If you or a group you belong to can provide traction under the wheels of their bus headed to the mountaintop, then under you go!!

http://www.alternet.org/reproductivejustice/75648/

Two comments don't make for a "consistent" emphasis of race. They make for an occasional reference.

Why are all those Tammy Wynette fans in w va voting for hillary today? And I have never understood feminists blindness to the abusive enabling of Bill treatment she visited upon several of his victims.

HAD TO REPOST THIS.

This goes to show that there are differences in how the media treats race and gender. I’m not saying that they’re better or worse, just different. I’m just gonna say it. This country has an instinct to protect white women. It can be a burden at times (i.e., Cult of True Womanhood) but it's still there. Hillary gets her feelings hurt and voters rush to her aide. She throws a fit and we make excuses because, after all, we can’t forget those double standards, right?

Yet, at the same time, we have an instinct to fear black men.

Tell me, what would happen if Obama went on a tirade against Hillary, like she’s done ? What would happen if he (gasp) raised his voice to this white woman? What would happen if he spent all of his time talking about the “white man,” the way Hillary talks about the “boys club?”

Rick Lazio, a white man, found out when he “invaded her personal space.” If he took the fall, you can imagine what would happen to Obama the second he steps out of line.

Hillary faces a lot of obstacles through sexism, no doubt. But there are moments where she benefits as well. There are moments where she has the luxury to portray herself as the victim to garner sympathy from voters and the media. There are moments where she can, as Melissa Harris-Lacewell (a black woman, professor) notes, slip in and out of her “Scarlett O’Hara” routine. It’s a prime example of how mainstream media discusses gender bias without recognizing the white privilege that often comes with it.

You want to talk about double standards? Obama has run his campaign under the interrogation of white approval ever since he made that speech at the DNC in 2004. He knows he can’t do or say certain things because he can’t afford to make white people uncomfortable, especially when running against a white woman.

Once again, I know that we have to fight sexism as vigorously as we fight racism. And we should be doing a better job at it.

But I also know that there are many “oppressed” white women who would never trade places with a black person. All I'm saying is that it's more complicated than the media would like to suggest.

So you guys: Fine, point out the double standards. But don’t make excuses for Hillary’s poor and divisive behavior. And don’t pretend like Obama doesn’t walk a tight rope everyday as well.

Obama caught hell just for saying, “you’re likeable, enough” because people didn’t like the tone of his voice. He caught hell for the “snub” because he happened to be talking to someone else when she came by. I swear, I almost fell out of my chair late last week when I heard a pundit criticize Obama for WRITING ON HIS NOTEPAD while Hillary spoke at the debate. I guess he was being disrespectful because he wasn’t looking at her when she talked. Give me a break!

I can’t make this any clearer. Obama has to RUN AWAY from issues of race for fear of being labled the “black candidate.” It’s the only way he can win. Yet, Hillary gets to embrace “girl power” in ways Obama could NEVER embrace “black power.” Now you’ve got Tina Fey saying “Bi*ch is the new black.”

Some see Hillary as a victim. But some of us also know what discrimination is. And for a lot of us, we see Hillary as a grown woman who knows exactly what she’s doing. She conveniently plays off of gender oppression every chance she gets.

Hillary is not just any woman. She's HILLARY RODHAM CLINTON. Some of us don’t see her as a victim, and never have. What we see is a privileged person who thought the white house was her entitlement.

I don't hate Hillary, at least I try not to and yesterday, I experienced a profound sense of compassion and empathy for her and her supporters. They believe that she is the ONLY woman capable of reaching the White House and that seems to be enough for them. (Granted, others believe she is simply most qualified.) It's painful to hear this knowing that Hillary's chances of winning are slim to none, so I have no desire to demonize her or her supporters.

But admittedly, I have struggled with her candidacy because I believe it is truly unhealthy to have a former First Lady and President in the White House. No matter what she has said or done while campaigning (I can ignore all of it even if I don't approve), from the very beginning I have thought it problematic to bypass the 22nd Amendment. I just do not understand how it was thought to be good for democracy or the country. As much as I can try to understand why people support her, I question the mindset that allows her to think her candidacy is good for the country and democracy. If I delve too deeply into analyzing her motivation, I begin to loathe her because it reeks of arrogance and egomania.

"It will be me" she said about the nomination. That statement is chilling to me because, IMHO, it was based solely on her Clinton name and its accompanying power and not on her own womanhood or accomplishments and so in that sense, I think she damages both feminism and democracy.