Monday, May 04, 2009

Hillary


My mixed feelings about Hillary Clinton running for President were compounded by the visceral anger displayed by her ardent fans, who would not accept any criticism of her abilities. One Hillary supporter recently told me that he would have accepted another four years of Republican 'rule' if it meant Hillary could win the White House in 2012. I said in response: "Are you out of your fucking mind?" And he said right back at me: "You can get out of the Popemobile now and fucking walk home, you little Proddy bastard."

(His tone and manner also suggested that Obama only became President because she graciously allowed it, rather than him beating her in the primaries as he did.)

I did not accept that she was as talented as Obama, nor did I believe she was the person ready to pick up the 3 a.m. phone call as her campaign spot argued on television.

So my feelings are inadvertantly confirmed by these words from the New York Times:

"Friends acknowledge that Mrs. Clinton herself was initially swamped by the challenge of taking over the sprawling State Department bureaucracy--management being one deficit in her career. She likens it to being 'mayor of a good-sized small city.'"

Wasn't another (vice-)presidential candidate declared unqualified, despite actually being the mayor of a small city??

Despite the endless chat about whether America would vote for a black man, I believe American misogyny against a female President would have been far worse than anything Obama faced. If one looks at the way in which the mainstream media (television especially) never warmed to her, and in fact, resorted frequently to a school playground level of misoygyny when speaking of her, a Clinton Presidency would have been constantly fighting against this misogyny as well as trying to fight all the usual battles of government.