SYMPATHY FOR THE SISTERS
Email This Post
- 
Print This Post
-
If you have a bone of compassion in your body, you gotta feel for the women. This was their year, dude! Finally, finally, 88 years after getting the right to vote, one of their own was poised, on the brink, an easy primary season and a walkover general election away from the presidency.
This was big. This was huge. A woman president. Not Vice President, not Ladies’ Auxiliary President, not Presidentette, but President of The United States of America. The biggest job in the world.
Now, almost certainly, it’s not gonna happen. Looks like we’re gonna have a black man, instead.
So, what went wrong? Does race trump sex? Feminist friends of mine, including the one I’m married to, say it’s just the opposite. They say that sexism is much more deeply entrenched than racism in America, and not only in America. Sexism is the way of the world.
I agree. Race is an artificial construct anyway. Races mix, blend, merge, shade into one another until race and color become indistinguishable. Barack Obama is called a black man, but he’s no more black than he is white, he’s no more black than, for instance, Tiger Woods. And, apparently, a whole lot of Americans are real anxious to at least start putting the “race question” behind us.
But sex is real. With apologies to the transgender community, the sexes don’t merge, blur and become indistinguishable. They can’t. Unlike race, sex is a fundamental, biological split, right down the middle of the human condition. And for most of the time since humans have had a condition, women have had it worse. Sexism is real too.
We’ve been making good progress against sexism, lately. We’re not there yet, but women in America are catching up, the glass ceiling is shattering, pretty much everywhere. So why not a woman president?
Because you don’t elect a sex president or a race president, you elect a person president, and Barack Obama is an infinitely more appealing person than Hillary Clinton.
When feminists say that a woman is called “shrill” when a man is called “aggressive,” they’re right. Men are “competitive” and women are “bitchy?” Right too. But these truths confer no immunity, and therein lies the rub.
Hillary Clinton is shrill, she is bitchy, she acts tough as nails and then cries “poor me” when she thinks “vulnerable” plays better. Hillary Clinton is a 60 year-old woman who had—let’s just say it—the balls to claim she “found her voice” in New Hampshire. Last month.
Hillary’s greatest asset is also her greatest liability, and it has nothing to do with her sex. She is ambitious to a San Andreas fault. She will say and do—has said and done—almost anything to get what she wants. She wants this thing so bad she can taste it. It must be extremely painful to feel that taste turning to ashes. I actually feel bad for her.
But not as bad as I feel for the sisters. They needed a champion and they got her. The African-American community gets the second coming of JFK and women get the feminist equivalent of Al Sharpton.
I’m not saying she’d make a bad president, but I don’t think she’s going to get the chance, and she shouldn’t. Not this year. There is a better person running.
Comment by Eileen Jackson on 20 February 2008:
A better person or an American Idol. Hillary has been saying the same thing since the beginning. Have you followed Obama from the beginning. That’s the problem with sensitive new age guys. You just don’t get it. Hillary IS tough and she IS vulnerable. That’s how real women are. That’s not hypocracy bud. Hypocracy is pretending you’re African American when you’re African and White. Obama is not AS white as he is Black he is MORE white than he is black. He was raised in the white community. In Hawaii, in Indonesia. And look at his CV. What has he done? Not much. Its those of us who have tried to become like the boys or slept their ways to power who have broken the glass ceiling. Women are still getting .78 on the dollar across the board. Don’t feel too sorry for Hillary. She’s just like the rest of us. We’re tough and we’re in it for the long haul. She’ll go back to being one of the most influential senators and hopefully speaker of the house. Then we’ll see who has the power. I never thought I’d see the day when I had more in common with republicans than dems. But I’ve heard more truth coming out of Pat Buchanan and McCain than any of the so called liberal media. Hillary will be fine, we’re the ones who are getting sick. Sexism has reared its ugly head and we’re not going to be quiet any more. You ain’t seen nothin’ yet.
Comment by Daisy on 20 February 2008:
Being tough and vulnerable is not hypocrisy. However, if you truly look at her life in general, before she became a Senator and when Bill was President, you can see a lot of hypocrisy in her now since then. As women we need to stop looking at her being our next president and really look at her as a person, a politician if you will. You can be tough without being nasty and without bullying tactics. She has shown these two traits a lot during her campaign. Don’t forget what her and her hubby got away with in the White House. She hasn’t changed, she just changed political offices.
Hypocrisy: a pretense of having a virtuous character, moral or religious beliefs or principles, etc., that one does not really possess.
Looking at the definition, I can see hypocrisy in Hillary and so can you and everybody else. In fact, I can see hypocrisy in all of the candidates. Take Hillary off the way too high pedestal you have put her on and then you will truly be able to see her for who she truly is and not who she wants all of us to see and believe.
I am all for a woman president if she really qualifies in all areas in politics, and in her personal life. If Hillary ever gets back into the White House, it will be a disaster.
Comment by jessica on 20 February 2008:
Hillary (in my opinion) is not capable of relating appropriately to those of us who are at the bottom. She cannot understand the things poor people have to go through, like loosing their home due to the businesses who are running our country, selling Chineese-made goods poisoned with slave labor. Media does tend to raise, sometimes, extraneous questions that tend to blur out the really important matters, like how can we create strong small businesses capable of withstanding time and tax? Women will continue to proove themselves by relying on inner strengths and displaying level-minded decisions throughout life. For the sake of longsuffering women, display your patience and wisdom, and find a way to make your voices heard!
Comment by anxious08 on 24 February 2008:
I agree with Eileen. Hillary has never had a chance in this media run primary. I think it is very strange the way people are following Obama - creepy. You know what the Bible says about this. She cannot seem to please anyone when it comes to being too aggressive or too vulnerable. She would be the BEST president. I believe in her. I am a life long democrat. I cannot understand why so many people hate her so. She is smart, kind, caring, and did I say SMART. I do not think it would be a bad thing to have two great minds in the White House. The republican were out to get Bill Clinton from DAY 1. It didn’t matter what they could get him on they were going to impeach him. While the leader of the witch hunt was having an affair of his own (Newt). Talk about a hypocrite. Talk about someone who should be IMPEACHED “BUSH”. He lied to everyoneabout the war and not one person has done anything about it. If Bush were a democrat the roof would be off the White House. All the republicans would have demanded he be imnpeached. This country does need a CHANGE and HILLARY is the change we need. It is not to late. I cannot understand why ALL WOMEN don’t see this as a great thing. The first Woman President shame on you for not seeing this as the great thing it would be. I guess you still want to make less for doing the same job as a man. I hope this ends in Hillary’s favor - it still can. If we can get the word out like they did tonight on Saturday NIght Live - it was awesome!!!