Yeah, Let's Talk About It: It Wasn't Sexism Then or NOW
I had decided I would not post anything about the "sexism" that supposedly cost Sen. Hillary Clinton the democratic nomination for President. Then I saw Djamo's piece entitled "Can We Talk About It NOW?"
My answer: nothing much to talk about.
Hillary (pardon my familiarity) did not lose because she was a victim of sexism. She did not lose because she ran a feminist campaign. Far from it. She lost because she ran a lousy campaign.
Let's explore the "feminist" side of the argument, because if there was gender-hate, surely a "feminism-based" campaign would have triggered the desired response to bring forth the woman-hating men.
Instead, she started this campaign and ran until her Iowa loss as an androgynous (neither male nor female) candidate. She was the heir-apparent (not "heiress.")
There was a debate where she claimed to have been "piled on" by the other seven men in the race, after first claiming they were not after her because she was a woman, but the front-runner. She made a trek back to her alma mater, and claimed that the all-female institution had prepared her for the "rough and tumble world of all-male Presidential politics." But the "Piling On" web commercial undercut her case.
Then there is the famous "Iron My Shirt" incident, where two college age young men held signs with the slogan. What it meant, I have no idea. But... But... a candidate who wanted to make a "feminist" point might have said to those two young men: "Gladly! Because women in every culture and of every generation all around the world have taken in washing, ironed shirts, darned socks, sold eggs, baked bread, done whatever they could to feed and clothe their families. When times were tough, your grandmothers grew vegetables in their victory gardens, sold apples and tomatoes to make ends meet. Iron your shirts? Sure, we've ironed the shirts of fathers and husbands and sons who wore the uniforms of this country and sent them to protect our nation while we kept the home fires burning. Iron My Shirts! young men is not a put down, but a rallying cry."
But Hillary didn't say that. She claimed instead that the boys were sent by Obama (with no evidence) to disrupt her campaign. Only privileged women would take exception to having to do a little domestic housekeeping. After all, that's what maids are for.
Her husband and all of her other "defenders-in-chief" were men: Bill, Mark Penn, Howard Wolfson, Phil Singer, Terry McAuliffe, Geoff Garin, Bob Buffenbarger, Gerald McEntee. Sure there was Ann Lewis and Stephanie Tubbs Jones. But the real dirty work was done by the men in the campaign. A "real" woman puts up her dukes and fights for herself.
She relied on eight years of her husband's experience as President. Her "experience" was suspect. After being called the "face of foreign policy" and regaling us time and again with the evermore harrowing Bosnian sniper fire story, it turns out it was a blatant lie.
She flip-flopped on giving illegal immigrants driver's licenses but never decried the despicable round-ups and deportations of parents without their children. I did not hear one major speech on a woman's right to choose, although she thought nothing of lying about Obama's record on abortion rights when it suited her.
She whined about getting asked tough questions, hid behind an unbearable cackle when tough questions came her way. She threw a hissy-fit (and I mean those exact words) when David Shuster --using the common parlance -- talked about "pimping out her daughter" at the exact time, Chelsea -- not Hillary -- was calling super delegates begging for support, not talking to the media including 9-year old GIRL reporters, taking super delegates to breakfast, being auctioned off as a "date to the L.A. debates" on hillaryclinton.com. She wasn't hiring her daughter out as a physical callgirl, but certainly there is no dispute she turned her out as a political one.
There is the Tina Fey "bitch is the new black," where Fey -- calling both herself and Amy Poehler bitches, too -- talked about "bitches gittin' stuff done" and included Hillary in the list.
Hillary didn't mind showing off her ability to memorize facts and rattle off twenty-point proposals, but she couldn't be bothered being a real woman. Little wonder people didn't believe her "precious tears" moment in New Hampshire. That followed the much vaunted "The Hillary I Know" tour. We never learned much about the real Hillary.
Her campaign was based on "can you top this moments," of chugging beers and shots, Mad Mom-like, clean your room rants complete with the "Shame on you, Barack Obama!" She claimed to have learned to shoot a gun with her grandfather as a single-digit girl -- but we were loathe to believe her tale, coming as it did on the heels of "dodging snipers."
Hillary didn't run as the "wonan's candidate." That would have been a difficult pivot because far too few women would have raised their hands to authorize a war knowing it would be the death warrant for their sons and daughters. Hillary should have been "Another Mother For Peace." Her slogan could have been a reprise of " War is not healthy for children and other living things." But instead she told us of her and John McCain's lifetimes of experience which made them the only commader-in-chief material in the race. But here's the point to ponder: not one of the media types she is blaming -- well, her supporters are blaming -- now ever said anything to dispute her claim. If I wanted a "sexist" moment, I would have jumped on that one. No one ever questioned that neither she -- nor her husband, whose experience as commander-in-chief she was borrowing -- had ever served in the military.
It was only as her campaign drew to its inevitable conclusion -- not winning, but losing because she had played "coronation of the queen" a little too long -- that blaming the media for its "sexism" became the excuse du jour.
Sure there were, are and will be some jerks out there. But Hillary lost for reasons other than sexism. She lost because she assumed she was a shoo-in. And that no one-term, tall, skinny, latte-colored, junior Senator from Illinois would have the audacity to challenge her. And be uppity enough to win.
My answer: nothing much to talk about.
Hillary (pardon my familiarity) did not lose because she was a victim of sexism. She did not lose because she ran a feminist campaign. Far from it. She lost because she ran a lousy campaign.
Let's explore the "feminist" side of the argument, because if there was gender-hate, surely a "feminism-based" campaign would have triggered the desired response to bring forth the woman-hating men.
Instead, she started this campaign and ran until her Iowa loss as an androgynous (neither male nor female) candidate. She was the heir-apparent (not "heiress.")
There was a debate where she claimed to have been "piled on" by the other seven men in the race, after first claiming they were not after her because she was a woman, but the front-runner. She made a trek back to her alma mater, and claimed that the all-female institution had prepared her for the "rough and tumble world of all-male Presidential politics." But the "Piling On" web commercial undercut her case.
Then there is the famous "Iron My Shirt" incident, where two college age young men held signs with the slogan. What it meant, I have no idea. But... But... a candidate who wanted to make a "feminist" point might have said to those two young men: "Gladly! Because women in every culture and of every generation all around the world have taken in washing, ironed shirts, darned socks, sold eggs, baked bread, done whatever they could to feed and clothe their families. When times were tough, your grandmothers grew vegetables in their victory gardens, sold apples and tomatoes to make ends meet. Iron your shirts? Sure, we've ironed the shirts of fathers and husbands and sons who wore the uniforms of this country and sent them to protect our nation while we kept the home fires burning. Iron My Shirts! young men is not a put down, but a rallying cry."
But Hillary didn't say that. She claimed instead that the boys were sent by Obama (with no evidence) to disrupt her campaign. Only privileged women would take exception to having to do a little domestic housekeeping. After all, that's what maids are for.
Her husband and all of her other "defenders-in-chief" were men: Bill, Mark Penn, Howard Wolfson, Phil Singer, Terry McAuliffe, Geoff Garin, Bob Buffenbarger, Gerald McEntee. Sure there was Ann Lewis and Stephanie Tubbs Jones. But the real dirty work was done by the men in the campaign. A "real" woman puts up her dukes and fights for herself.
She relied on eight years of her husband's experience as President. Her "experience" was suspect. After being called the "face of foreign policy" and regaling us time and again with the evermore harrowing Bosnian sniper fire story, it turns out it was a blatant lie.
She flip-flopped on giving illegal immigrants driver's licenses but never decried the despicable round-ups and deportations of parents without their children. I did not hear one major speech on a woman's right to choose, although she thought nothing of lying about Obama's record on abortion rights when it suited her.
She whined about getting asked tough questions, hid behind an unbearable cackle when tough questions came her way. She threw a hissy-fit (and I mean those exact words) when David Shuster --using the common parlance -- talked about "pimping out her daughter" at the exact time, Chelsea -- not Hillary -- was calling super delegates begging for support, not talking to the media including 9-year old GIRL reporters, taking super delegates to breakfast, being auctioned off as a "date to the L.A. debates" on hillaryclinton.com. She wasn't hiring her daughter out as a physical callgirl, but certainly there is no dispute she turned her out as a political one.
There is the Tina Fey "bitch is the new black," where Fey -- calling both herself and Amy Poehler bitches, too -- talked about "bitches gittin' stuff done" and included Hillary in the list.
Hillary didn't mind showing off her ability to memorize facts and rattle off twenty-point proposals, but she couldn't be bothered being a real woman. Little wonder people didn't believe her "precious tears" moment in New Hampshire. That followed the much vaunted "The Hillary I Know" tour. We never learned much about the real Hillary.
Her campaign was based on "can you top this moments," of chugging beers and shots, Mad Mom-like, clean your room rants complete with the "Shame on you, Barack Obama!" She claimed to have learned to shoot a gun with her grandfather as a single-digit girl -- but we were loathe to believe her tale, coming as it did on the heels of "dodging snipers."
Hillary didn't run as the "wonan's candidate." That would have been a difficult pivot because far too few women would have raised their hands to authorize a war knowing it would be the death warrant for their sons and daughters. Hillary should have been "Another Mother For Peace." Her slogan could have been a reprise of " War is not healthy for children and other living things." But instead she told us of her and John McCain's lifetimes of experience which made them the only commader-in-chief material in the race. But here's the point to ponder: not one of the media types she is blaming -- well, her supporters are blaming -- now ever said anything to dispute her claim. If I wanted a "sexist" moment, I would have jumped on that one. No one ever questioned that neither she -- nor her husband, whose experience as commander-in-chief she was borrowing -- had ever served in the military.
It was only as her campaign drew to its inevitable conclusion -- not winning, but losing because she had played "coronation of the queen" a little too long -- that blaming the media for its "sexism" became the excuse du jour.
Sure there were, are and will be some jerks out there. But Hillary lost for reasons other than sexism. She lost because she assumed she was a shoo-in. And that no one-term, tall, skinny, latte-colored, junior Senator from Illinois would have the audacity to challenge her. And be uppity enough to win.
