Wednesday, April 09, 2008

We're All Losers


Yesterday at the office, as part of the daily luncheon roundtable discussions, the LLWL* chatted about the issue of Hillary Clinton & how she has squandered much of the support of her "base" -- that is, women like us (liberal, professional women of her generation) who would otherwise be strong allies in her race for the presidency.

When the contest first began, I started out favoring Clinton (not that I thought it mattered that much, since I thought the primary would be decided long before it got to Pennsylvania). After all, she said she preferred diamonds & pearls. In fact, my initial view was that it was exciting that the black guy and the woman were doing better than the white guy. See Are You Ready?. Then, as time when on, despite myself, I began leaning towards John Edwards based upon his position on the issues. Of course, he made things easy by dropping out.

At that point, surprise of surprises, Pennsylvania actually became part of the equation in the Democratic primary race. So, that meant I really had to pick one. I was still somewhat undecided, but pleased with both of the remaining candidates. See Do I Follow My Sex or My Heart?. I enjoyed seeing Hillary open her Pennsylvania campaign in Scranton, my home town. Then, I began having concerns about the manner in which Clinton was conducting her campaign, The Tipping Point and Ferraro & the Furies. The fact that she was a bit too moderate for my liking, along with the increasingly negative tactics waged by her campaign, finally swayed me to commit against her. This was especially true in light of the fact that her chances of winning the primary in the end are nil to worse, and her negativity seem to be helping He Who Shall Be Nameless. The Breaking Point.

This morning I read an op-ed piece by Ann Rosen Spector, a Center City psychologist, which may well have been me writing her column in the Philadelphia Daily News. As she put it, in How Hillary lost my vote:

I really wanted you to be the Democratic candidate and the next president of the United States.

In order to do that, I needed you to be the person I felt you were capable of being. I knew you were smart, funny and kind to your friends and family - I wanted you to demonstrate fairer play in the political arena.

I identified with you because we have some very important things in common.

I, too, am a baby boomer who came of age when women were just starting to enter the professions. I didn't know how I was going to do it, but, like you and so many others, I believed I had the ability, motivation and the perseverance to be successful.

It has never been easy.

Like so many women in our generation, I was often blindsided by the condescension of men toward women, regardless of our credentials (and theirs!) simply on the basis of gender.

She too (like Hillary & me) has a Scranton connection. And has raised daughters and has been in a long term marriage. Our background and sentiments are similar:

I believe you felt you could outrun all the boys in this race - if the others were Joe Biden, Bill Richardson and Chris Dodd.

You were blindsided by Barack Obama - and felt he needed more seasoning, that it wasn't "his turn." And I stayed with you, rooted for you (even though I've admired Obama for four years).

Perhaps I could have continued to hold on, if only you'd stayed on the moral high ground and told the truth.

I don't expect politicians to deliver on all their initiatives. You are a policy wonk, in a way that - even with all my education - I'm not. I don't expect to ever read or understand every detail in your health-care plan. But I'm almost as old as you, and I know that initiatives don't necessarily translate into law, that politicians have to cut deals or they will get nothing done.

I thought it was unfair that likability was considered so much more important in a president than brains. Perhaps I'd enjoy a barbecue at the ranch with President Bush, but what would we talk about? I need someone who can, at least occasionally, use three-syllable words accurately.

To a great extent, I have to vote for the person of greater integrity, who will try to do the right thing most of the time - and I've lost faith in you. You finally lost me at Bosnia. Your claim to have been there during active hostilities has been roundly disproved, and your explanation that you misspoke or were too tired is, at best, lame.

And I'm sad. I wanted you to be what I think is the best part of you.

But, perhaps even more than that, I don't want John McCain. Don't get me wrong, I wish he (or anyone) had beaten Bush in 2000.

But after eight years of ineptitude, lack of moral rectitude and incompetence, I can't think of any reason that a Republican who has cuddled often enough with the Bush administration should be allowed to continue its missteps.

I will cast my vote in the primary for Obama, and hope that, while not perfect, he can unite the red and the blue into a purple nation.

I tried, Hillary. I just wish you had fulfilled your incredible potential.

The fact that she didn't makes us all losers.

(Cartoon via Joe Heller, Green Bay Press-Gazette)

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

I read that column last night and disliked it - it was another indication of how much women have yet to learn when it comes to identifying con artists. Spector says "Like so many women in our generation, I was.. blindsided by the condescension of men toward women, regardless of our credentials simply on the basis of gender." She fails to see she still is blindsided. .Hillary has been lying all along and has always been a manipulator - Bosnia was just one item in a long list of train wrecks (insider trading- remember that?) Women ignored it in their rush to idolize this very dangerous woman. She's never been for women and mothers, she's trashed the women Bill slept with in a vicious anti female manner, yet Spector hides behind the 'all marriages are different' cliche to explain Hillary's power lust for staying with an abuser like Bill. No wonder men laugh at us. This need to see a reproductive system like ours in the White House has shut down rational thinking. HIllary has NEVER been honest, she is like Eliot Spitzer - lying and assuming he won't get caught. It's called narcissistic personality disorder. . With Bosnia the scales have dropped off and you can see. Welcome back to reality and let's end the fluff of, "she's my demographic." Who cares? Me too..and it has disgusted me to see women falling for her lies..I thought we were smarter than that. Women believing in HIllary remind me of all those who voted for Bush. I want to scream, "Are you out of your minds believing in this BS?" It looks to me like women are still believing in fairy tales and ignoring red flags. Didn't we teach our daughters to be careful in who they chose in a partner? Why did we ignore our own advice with Hillary?

BAC said...

I couldn't disagree with you, or the commenter above, more. And you should be concerned that McCain might be elected president if Obama is the candidate. Because whether or not it's "fair" his ties to Tony Rezko make him vunerable, as do the problems with his pastor, and with other religious leaders he has aligned himself with.

And again, whether or not it's "fair" his patriotism will be called into question because he refused to wear a flag pin, or place his hand over his heart during the pledge. It will all be fodder for the Republican slime machine.

Getting past these challenges, his policies are simply not as strong as Sen. Clinton's. She is better on health care and economic issues, and is the only candidate who is saying she will begin bringing home troops within 60 days. Obama has started to backpeddle on this.

And when he continues to laud the economic policies of Ronald Reagan, I KNOW he's not ready for the challenges ahead. At least he doesn't have MY best interests at heart.

He doesn't have a strong record on reproductive health issues, or on lesbian and gay civil rights. Both issues of concern to me.

So Hillary made a mistake about Bosnia, so what? At least she is talking about policy issues. How far do you think Obama will actually get with his kumbaya message? Congress is a tough venue, and he hasn't been in the Senate long enough to build any relationships that he can use to help move his policy issues forward.

Sen. Clinton has forged relationships across the aisle, and will be able to move an agenda forward.

She is the strongest candidate to fix our ever increasing economic problems, she is the only candidate offering health care for every American, and she is the only candidate that has said she will begin to draw down troops within 60 days, and put us on a path to ending this war.

We have very difficult times ahead, and I want someone in office that I know will put their nose to the grindstone everyday to fix the mess left behind by Bush & Co. That person is, without question, Hillary Clinton.


BAC

JudiPhilly said...

Anon:

Although I'm at the point that I believe it may be time for Hillary Clinton to concede the race for the good of the party, because she can't prevail in any event, I am not a Hillary hater. She may be more willing to compromise on the issues that I would prefer (and who knows, Obama may do the same as well, since he often talks about compromise), but I don't agree that she is fundamentally dishonest. Truthfully, the Bosnia episode doesn't overly disturb me. And despite the fact that she got trashed about the health care story she told, it turns out that she was correct.

JudiPhilly said...

BAC:

I have spent a lot of time reading about the Rezko affair & I'm comfortable that he is clean on that issue. He can't be any more vulnerable than Hillary Clinton based upon her past relationships. Let's face it, the Republicans will try to trash either of them for anything -- real or imagined. There are still right wing sites bringing up Vince Foster against Hillary, for god's sake.

I thought that Obama came out pretty strong in favor of reproductive rights -- and is taking quite a bit of flack for it. And although the Philadelphia Gay News is giving him some problems, I also thought that he has stood up for Gay rights.

Even the Reverend Wright, who's has caused Obama no end of trouble due to his extremest talk, has been, contrary to the view of most black churches, a friend to the gay & lesbian community.

I think both Obama & Clinton's political views are too moderate for my liking, truth be told, but I could live with either (especially with McCain as the alternative). I also believe that both may be too willing to compromise on important issues that I would prefer that they (and the democrats generally) should stand firm on. Hell, I still believe we should impeach Bush, but neither one would support that!

Don't get me wrong -- no one would like to see a woman in the WH more than me, but I more so want to see the Republicans OUT of the seat of power and don't want anything to interfere with that.

BAC said...

Judiphilly, at the very least it demonstrated poor judgment that Obama decided to enter into a real estate deal with someone under investigation. And there are also still questions around the money contributed by Rezko to Obama, from his early political days. I’m not sure everything is yet known about Obama’s connection to Rezko.

And what else is lurking out there that is unknown about Obama? There is certainly nothing left to know about Sen. Clinton. The Republicans have thrown everything they can at her, and she’s still standing!

While in the IL legislature he voted present on key reproductive rights bills, when he could have voted in support of them – with no political risk. He represented a liberal district. IL NOW decided not to endorse him because of his votes on reproductive health issues. Sen. Clinton is clearly on record supporting reproductive rights.

The Philadelphia Gay News is not the only gay newspaper that Obama has refused to talk to. He also refused to have his photo taken with San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom. Gay.com reported: “During his Senate run in Illinois in 2004, Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama is said to have declined to have his picture taken with San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom, who was in the center of a national turmoil over his decision to allow same-sex marriage in the city.

The San Francisco Chronicle reported Tuesday that the snub took place at a fund-raiser hosted by former San Francisco Mayor Willie Brown.”

During his presidential campaign, Obama has shared the stage with homophobic pastor Donnie McClurkin and has as one of his spiritual advisors the stridently homophobic Rev. James T. Meeks. Obama did meet with lesbians and gays, to take money from our community for his campaign, but he would not allow press into the event. I simply don’t trust that he will protect my civil rights.

I am much more concerned about the views of Obama, than I am of Clinton. It makes me very nervous that he continues to make positive references to Ronald Reagan. And it makes me nervous that he says one thing about Iraq on the campaign trail, but has indicated that he might do something completely different if elected president.

I agree that Bush should be impeach … I think he should be in prison for war crimes and treason! But we both know that isn’t going to happen.

I sincerely believe that Sen. Clinton offers our BEST chance of electing a Democrat. It is going to take someone very tough to beat Sen. McCain, and I don’t think Obama is ready for that fight.


BAC