[sanjuro]

June 05, 2008

My daughters don't remember much about the 2004 presidential election, except for the "ReDefeat Bush" sign that decorated our lawn for two years. Now 12 and 15, they've been watching this long and unprecedented nomination battle between Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama, the frontrunners for their party's nod.

What their mother sees as historic and groundbreaking, they see as normal and everyday, and I'm now realizing that they'll never even remember a time when the only conceivable frontrunners were white and male. Hillary and Barack were their introduction to presidential politics, and that will be one of the great legacies of this primary season.

Not to say that I've been entirely sanguine about their watching the television coverage. I had hoped they would be inspired to watch these historic campaigns unfold, but as the blight of unspeakable media sexism has grown stronger with each passing primary, I started turning off the "news." The unprecedented level of misogyny unleashed by heretofore unlabeled sexists is another of the season's legacies.

Indeed, Hillary Clinton's campaign inspired millions of women across the country, and the increased female voter turnout has helped many women running for Congress or local office in those primaries - but will those women candidates now face a media gauntlet that is more about their gender than their qualifications?

Yes, Hillary Clinton persevered to win contest after contest, despite the ridicule, scorn and derision that was heaped on her by the frat-boy commentariat, and we salute her courage and determination not to allow the self-important pundit class to drum her out of the race with their endless name-calling. But will that treatment be the norm for women who run in the future? Has it become acceptable?

Television commentary on her voice, her laugh, her clapping, her clothing, even her ankles - not to mention calling her a bitch and a she-devil, and comparing her to a crazed murderer, a hated ex-wife or a scolding mother - became so commonplace that we came to expect it. And Hillary rose above it, as we knew she would, but it took a toll on her campaign and on all of us. We should vow today, here and now, that we will not allow the media to do it to any woman ever again.

The worst offenders, NBC and CNN, have been hearing from women who are fed up with their bias and sexism, but that's not enough. For my next column, I'm working on the sexist media "Hall of Shame" - and yes, you'll have an opportunity to weigh in with your own nominations.

Until then, a salute to Hillary Clinton, who said on Tuesday: "I made you -- and everyone who supported me -- a promise: to stand up for our shared values and to never back down. I'm going to keep that promise today, tomorrow, and for the rest of my life."

Hillary, you have made a mark on history for eternity, giving little girls and little boys the full knowledge that women can compete, take risks, take the heat, make hard decisions, and be strong leaders. Whether you are President, Vice President, on the Supreme Court, serving as the Senate Majority Leader or just plain being the best-ever senator for New York and for ALL of us, we will be with you -- as we work together for equality for all, and a better, safer, more peaceful world for everyone, not just the privileged few. Yes, we will. Thank you, Hillary.

I thought a lot about this, particularly since I used a very derogatory term to describe her in an earlier thread.

I never liked Hillary, but being a woman has little to do with it. I didn't care for how she handled the Health Care Plan, the Monica Lewinsky scandal, how she carpetbagged her way into NYC, and this is all before she declared her candidacy.

She was a proven liar, had problems managing her staff, and is massive debt. Hardly the stuff of someone I want to vote for.

I believe NOW is using the media as an excuse for Hillary's loss. Obama is more dynamic and ran a better campaign, which got him the nomination. He never mentioned Hillary's sex (unlike her appeal to "white voters"), which is critical.

Yes it is easy to insult Hillary because she is unpleasant and a woman, an easy combination to target with misogynist comments. But this is the current media state, and if she was not prepared to deal with it (btw, indignation is not exactly a good defense), then she was not ready to run for President.

Ultimately, when women stop looking for excuses, then a woman candidate is equal to a male one.

 

[Silver]

Quite simply, any sexism that Hilary encountered (and she did) was offset by the racism Obama encountered (and he did) in the primary.

 

[sanjuro]

Quite simply, any sexism that Hilary encountered (and she did) was offset by the racism Obama encountered (and he did) in the primary.

I think the big difference was that Obama did not use sexism but Hillary did use racism.

 

[eaterofdog]

My dislike of Hillary has nothing to do with her being female. It is the same dislike I have for every politician who is so blatantly for sale and is willing to say and do anything to get their way. Like the fact that "Ms. Universal Healthcare" is now taking gobs of cash from the healthcare lobby. Sellout much? A scumbag is a scumbag.

 

[Westy]

Quite simply, any sexism that Hilary encountered (and she did) was offset by the racism Obama encountered (and he did) in the primary.

Funny thing is that Obama is a minority. Hillary is the majority in every way. Isn't gender distribution about 1% in favor of women?

Edit: According to this site the population in this country favors women by 3%.
http://www.xist.org/earth/pop_gender.aspx

The UAE must have a lot of blue balls.

 

[BurlyShirley]

Well people can make up excuses all day, and where will it get them? She still lost. Had she been a bit more honest over the years, she would've walked away with the nomination easily.
To be honest, she actually kind of grew on me over the last few months. The "sniper-fire" thing never bothered me a bit, and the fact that she could intelligently answer most any questions quickly and decisively, unlike Obama, made me think she was clearly more intelligent.
I think, and I told my wife this, that her problem is that she doesn't embrace her femininity at all. She's always in the pant suit, trying to look and talk tough. I get no sense of the caring or softness you expect from a female personality, so, it just makes her come off more abrasive than a man would saying the same things. If it's sexist, it's half her fault IMO.

 

[sanjuro]

Well people can make up excuses all day, and where will it get them? She still lost. Had she been a bit more honest over the years, she would've walked away with the nomination easily.
To be honest, she actually kind of grew on me over the last few months. The "sniper-fire" thing never bothered me a bit, and the fact that she could intelligently answer most any questions quickly and decisively, unlike Obama, made me think she was clearly more intelligent.
I think, and I told my wife this, that her problem is that she doesn't embrace her femininity at all. She's always in the pant suit, trying to look and talk tough. I get no sense of the caring or softness you expect from a female personality, so, it just makes her come off more abrasive than a man would saying the same things. If it's sexist, it's half her fault IMO.

My only comment is that Obama wrote "A More Perfect Union" speech himself, which I thought was pretty good.

 

[eaterofdog]

I think, and I told my wife this, that her problem is that she doesn't embrace her femininity at all.

A satin thong and a tramp stamp showing over the back of her slacks would be a good start.

 

[dante]

the story I take out of this (aside from Kim's lunatic rant) is that Kim's daughter's don't see anything groundbreaking about Hillary's run. they don't see her being a woman as a detriment, but they don't see it as an attribute either. it's one candidate versus another, and among the young people who feel this way, they prefer Obama's message, his vision, and his personality (their stand on the issues is almost identical).

that's also why young people don't see this "media bias against her," as the media is always cruel to candidates, that's what drives ratings. yes, they picked on her. but they also ran the Wright stuff 24/7, made fun of McCain in that he can't read a teleprompter, and are now going after Obama's wife... hello, it's politics.

 

[J-Dubs]

All of the above posts are right on time in my opinion.

One thing that I just can't stand is that people like Kim are conflating the dislike for Hillary into a dislike for women. That parallel can not be logically drawn given her public history, yet they do it anyway.

 

[Westy]

All of the above posts are right on time in my opinion.

One thing that I just can't stand is that people like Kim are conflating the dislike for Hillary into a dislike for women. That parallel can not be logically drawn given her public history, yet they do it anyway.

A satin thong and a tramp stamp showing over the back of her slacks would be a good start.

Eww.
123