Like Most Victims of Abuse, Hillary will Submit
Jun 7, 2008 Opinion, Political
Women who suffer abuse at the hands of the men in their lives usually end up blaming the men’s behavior on a plethora of other things and ultimately themselves. They then turn back to the men and in an effort to reconcile only to be abused again and again. Hillary Clinton has been through this before with her husband. His sexcapades were abusive to their relationship (and threatened her political aspirations) and she stuck by his side. She blamed the problems they were having on everything from Republican dirty tricks to the Vast Right Wing Conspiracy. Hillary Clinton stuck by Bill when many women were saying she should dump him. They failed to understand the psychological aspect of abuse.
And so we now have the end, or at least it looks like the end, of the Democratic primary season with Barack Hussein Obama snatching victory from Hillary. I am no Hillary supporter (I don’t support either of them) but I agree with her and many others that the campaign was sexist and that sexism was tolerated and even participated in by the media. Obama had a condescending attitude toward Hillary (your likable enough) and the media scrutinized aspects of Clinton that no male candidate endured. What Hillary wore, her cleavage, her make up and how she acted were common themes. The only mention of Obama’s clothing was the clamor of fawning reporters who were sexually aroused by Mr. Obama’s tight jeans. Those clothes were used to portray him as some kind of sex symbol with whom the lady reporters were enthralled.
After all the sexism that took place in this campaign Hillary Clinton was reduced to a victim who turned back to her abuser. Today she suspended her campaign and threw her support behind Obama and she called for all her supporters, many of whom are women, to get behind Obama as well. She asked them to turn a blind eye to the sexism many of them remain furious about. Hillary, instead of shunning her abuser, went to him.m And though I am sure she made few excuses for what happened she still ignored the open attacks on her sex and backed the man responsible. Her actions are no different than what she did with her husband after his abuse. The idea that she would be selected as VP is nothing more than continued sexism. She is not good enough to be on top of the ticket even after winning the most votes but she can play second fiddle to a man. It is like they are telling her that if she does not make a stink about the way she was treated and helps her abuser they will give her a reward (honey, here is a necklace. I am sorry I beat you up last night, you know I really love you).
Hillary could break the cycle of abuse and strike out on her own. She could either decide that she is not going to support Obama and go back to her duties or she could fight back by running as an Independent. Hillary Clinton received more of the popular vote than Obama did and she could hold her own in a general election. She could break the cycle of sexism and be beholden to no one in the Democratic party. She could demonstrate to the Democrats that she and her supporters did not appreciate the sexist attitudes and the way that she was treated and she could tell them she refuses to continue being a victim of the cycle of abuse that is common in those types of relationships.
It will take strength to do this but no one accuses Clinton of lacking strength. She could break from the party and turn Independent and announce her intention of running for the presidency. She could do this just after the convention where they anoint Obama and take advantage of the emotional state of the women who supported her. She would have to change party affiliation which would be another dig at the Democrats who would lose strength in the Senate but it would be necessary for her to run.
Hillary has thrown her support to her abuser but it is not too late for her to break the cycle. She can make her plans and then announce after the convention. She has people who would continue to work for her and she could get public funding for the election. It takes one step at a time in order for the abused to break the cycle and get away from the abuser.
Hillary can take that step by running as an Independent.
Sources:
Herald Tribune
al-Reuters
Washington Post
Tags: abuse, Clinton, concession, independent, Obama, sexism
The Hillary Beast Lives Another Day
Jan 8, 2008 Political
The New Hampshire Primary is now in the books and while the votes are still being counted the major networks have called this one for Hillary Clinton. It would appear as if all the pundits were wrong on this one as they (I included) were predicting Clinton would lose this race by 10 points. There were two things involved here and they probably combined to change things a bit. Remember when Bill Clinton lost this race and went on to be the “comeback kid”? Well he remembers it too and he has mentioned it since Iowa.
It is likely that the polls in NH were exaggerated to show Obama with a huge lead so that if she came close or won she could be dubbed the second comeback kid. The people and the media of NH have always been Clinton friendly so it is not beyond reason that some things were exaggerated to help her out.
I think what was involved more than anything is that John McCain energized the Independent voters so much that he siphoned them away from Obama. In NH the Independents are allowed to in which ever primary they wish but only one). I believe that early polling showed Obama ahead and much of it was the Independents who were committed to voting for him. Then Hillary went on the attack over the weekend when she did Hillary redux and had her millionth make over. Her attacks made people wary of Obama but they also realized that there was no way in hell they could vote for Hilary so they migrated to John McCain who has always had great support in the state.
It is likely that some combination of these two events took place. However, while the Clintons probably played with the polls and the news to some small degree, it is much more likely that the voters in NH were in favor of Obama until Hillary counter punched and then they became worried about him and abandoned him for McCain.
If this is the case it shows that the Independent voters are afraid of Obama and will not vote for Clinton. This should make little difference in the upcoming primaries because I don’t think there are other states that allows Independents to vote for members of other parties. In this respect, Hilary and Obama will be fighting it out head to head while staying strictly in their party. They also cannot discount John Edwards. As long as he stays in he will split someone’s votes (he might have done a little of that tonight).
Where this issue of going for McCain hurts Democrats is in the general election where people can vote for any party they want. Conservatives will come out in droves to vote against Hillary. We have seen tonight the possibility that Independents will vote Republican rather than cote for the Democrats.
This could spell disaster for them in the general election. However, I am looking forward to Hillary getting knocked out of the primaries so we do not have to deal with her in the general election.
She is Satan.
Tags: comeback, Hillary, independent, new hampshire, satan, winner