As many of Hillary’s true believers will have us believe; this country is irredeemably misogynist and this is the primary reason she’s about to be defeated in the Democratic Primary. 

Since the 2004 election, she’s been the prohibitive favorite to win the Democratic nomination.  She started this campaign out with a sense of inevitability, $200+ million in the bank and around 200 superdelegate endorsements – not to mention worldwide name recognition and the backings of her husband, a popular former president.  The race was hers to lose, and this is exactly what she did.

She chose her campaign staff based on loyalty, not competence (remind you of somebody?).  Given this; it’s not really surprising that they didn’t pour enough resources into Iowa and didn’t have any real plan for taking this thing past Super Tuesday.  Christ, seeing that Mark Penn didn’t even realize California’s delegates were to be awarded proportionally; you could make the argument that they didn’t even have a plan for Super Tuesday! 

Worse yet, her bumbling campaign put absolutely no effort into the caucus states, which enabled Obama to ring-up 11 straight victories and allowed him to build momentum. 

When Hillary first started losing and then really fell behind, it’s not at all surprising that the press jumped all over this.  The story of a charismatic underdog taking down the most powerful political family in the Democratic Party is practically porn to them!

Not only did the Clinton campaign not plan for the caucus states; they’ve also managed to piss off a huge chunk of the Democratic base.  Their involvement in the DLC, their strategy of political triangulation, which created Republican-lite economic policies (which personally I agree with) did not sit well in Democratic circles.

AND LET’S NOT FORGET HER VOTE TO AUTHORIZE THE WAR IN IRAQ and her complete and total refusal to own-up to this horrible error in judgment.  At the risk of not wanting to look weak on national security; she later voted to designate the Iranian Revolutionary Guards as a terrorist organization – a position many believe might be used by Dubya (or perhaps McCain if he’s elected) to start a 3rd war with Iran. 

Is it any surprise at all that so much of the Democratic base turned against her and that she was absolutely pummeled by Obama in states she hardly paid attention to?

Let’s not also forget how many people the Clintons pissed off in the Democratic Party.  1992-98 was good for the Clintons, but it was not good for the Democratic Party.   True, the Republicans did launch an unforgiving war, but Republicans are douches and this was to be expected.  The Clinton’s practiced an extremely heavy-handed style of governing, perfectly exemplified by their ham-fisted attempt at universal healthcare during Bill’s first term.  This is seen by many as a key factor in the Republican electoral landslide in 1994. Throw in Bill’s extracurricular activities and his idiotic attempt to cover it up and it’s not surprising that the Democrats lost both houses of Congress, a huge number of governorships and many state legislatures.  This is remembered well in Democratic circles and this goes a long way in explaining why so many in the party were quick to move towards Obama.  It’s not because they didn’t want a woman in the White House. 

When Hillary started to run into trouble around South Carolina, her campaign really started to get ugly and the Clinton’s started playing the race card and we started hearing incredibly scummy statements (and I’m paraphrasing here) such as: “Obama’s not a Muslim…that I know of.”  Let’s also not forget the incredibly cynical move of leaving her name on the Michigan ballot, when all the candidates had early pledged to keep them off.  Worse yet, she starts pushing to have the MI and FL delegations seated, even though it was her campaign that played an instrumental role in having their primaries disqualified in the first place.  I believe it was Terry Mcauliffe (if I’m wrong, I’m sure someone will let me know about it in the comments section) who personally lobbied to do so!  This is also the time where we started hearing crap about how the caucus states shouldn’t count, or were otherwise unimportant. 

For good many people, this was interpreted – rightly in my opinion – as: If at first you don’t succeed; try changing the rules. 

Let’s not get started on Clinton’s attempts to paint Obama as a scary black man.  This is a subject I find beneath contempt and don’t even want to go into…

For an entire generation of young voters who’s only experience with politics has been the disastrous Bush Presidency, the scandals of the Clinton year and their incredibly cynical 2008 campaign; Obama represents a hope that politics can be a vehicle for good.  For many of us who are a little older; he’s a refreshing reminder.  Regardless of whether or not you think it’s a good reason to vote for somebody; hope is a powerful motivational force!  It’s not ONE of the many good reasons to support Obama, but it’s a very powerful reason which generates a lot of passionate support. 

And yes; African Americans played a major role in Obama’s success – in the same way that female support has played a major role in Hillary’s.  I can completely see why both groups are so passionately behind their respective candidate and don’t begrudge them for doing so.  It would be great if someday we create a society where we don’t discriminate based on race or gender, but sadly, we’re not anywhere near that point.  As such, the symbolic nature of both candidacies is HUGE. 

Given all of Hillary’s weaknesses listed above; the incredible support of African Americans was enough to put Obama over the top.  Had Hillary planned her campaign better and not resulted to low-ball tactics, the female vote would have done the same for her. 

I’ve only begun to scratch the surface (and not very articulately at that), of the many reasons the Clinton’s campaign is going to fail.  While sexism certainly may play a role for some, I think it’s obvious it was a minor one.

Feel free to flame away and call me a Kool-Aid drinking simpleton…