Hillary Doing What Feminist Do Best – Blame Others

    (Part 2)

Previously I wrote how Hillary Clinton is blaming sexism and misogyny within the media and society for her decline from top presidential candidate hopeful to presidential candidate in despair.

I found her excuse typical of a person who has proselytized the feminist ideology which Hillary has confidently vocalized. Therefore, her beliefs and actions within any given situation will be filled with contradictions, hypocrisy, and blaming others for her own failures. While these behaviors may be found in any politician, one that claims adherence to feminist ideology will procure them with greater intensity than that of a non-feminist politician.
As a writer of gender issues from a male perspective, it was expected – yet still disturbing – to hear Clinton blame others for her failures when the evidenced clearly shows Hillary can only blame herself. She has shown repeatedly she cannot refrain from distorting the truth, creating a perception that misleading the public is a comfortable way of life for her.

So on the day after Barack Ombama has layed claimed to the Democratic presidential nomination, let me continue with more events that took place during the Clinton campaign which led to her downfall:

– Back in November of last year, Clinton’s staff was caught planting questions within the crowds that showed up at her speeches. It seems her staff would immerse themselves in the crowd before hand looking for individuals who would ask questions that Hillary and her staff had already prepared eloquent answers for. Those individuals would then be singled out when audience question and answer segments would take place, thus making Hillary look like a solid, informative, and unwavering candidate.

– While Hillary wants to blame the media for her failures, the evidence proves otherwise. Hillary recently stated in a Washington Post interview,
“[The] intensity of my support” was rarely reported, adding, “I think that is a disservice because we have broad coalitions of voters who have voted for me who make up the base of a winning campaign in November that I think want to see this end up with my being nominated.”

This claim is filled with half-truths and contradictions. Let’s take a look:

– Until Hillary lost the first primary election in Iowa, she and her staff treated the press as a nuisance, rarely giving them time for questions and interviews. Howard Kurtz wrote in the Washington Post:

Her campaign can still be inconsiderate toward reporters, sometimes not sending out the next day’s  schedule until 2 a.m., making it impossible even to plan what time to get up.”

“On her campaign plane, Clinton started coming back to the press section for off-the-record chats, usually harmless but sometimes including comments that contradicted what she was saying publicly, according to participants. Two weeks ago part of the media contingent revolted, saying the conversations did them no good if they couldn’t use the information.”

Only after her loss in Iowa did she open up to the press.
This decision for a presidential candidate and her staff to implement a strategy to ostracize the press for a long period of time and then complain later that the press was limited in the coverage of her campaign borders on childish behavior.

– Saying that the press has not acknowledged her broad coalition of voters is somewhat valid. But Clinton’s campaign strategy has been widely known to be overwhelmingly committed to harnessing women voters – historically the larger voting block between men and women. So why scold and blame the press for not reporting the diversity of Clinton’s voting bloc? The media is only reporting the results of the behavior, actions, and strategy put forth by Hillary and her staff.

– In killing two birds with one stone: First, Hillary claims the media did not report her broad coalition of support; second, this was the result of sexism in the media and society.
Let’s look deeper at these two accusations.
First, the media did report frequently on male support for Hillary Clinton. Fox News reported that in a Gallup poll completed at the being of the race, almost 49% of men were favoring Clinton and that male support fell very little, to just under 40% during March and April.
It was widely reported that Clinton easily had the vote of white male union workers in strong union states, and those predictions turned out to be true.
Second, while it was reported her support from the working-class white males has been weak, it should be noted that Obama has suffered the same dilemma. And it should be noted history shows John Kerry, Al Gore, Bill Clinton, Michael Dukakis, Walter Mondale, and Jimmy Carter -all white male Democratic politicians – also struggled to capture the votes of the white working class male in their bids for the presidency.
With this information, where is the sexism in society she talks about? The rejection of Clinton as a white Democrat by the white working-class male is business as usual in American politics.
Third, Clinton has been trying to stay alive in her nomination by pointing out that she exceeds Obama in popular vote. This time she is telling the truth. However, it’s contradictory to say “The majority of the population wants me as their candidate”, while at the same time complaining that sexism within that same population has diminished her chance for a presidential nomination.
So under scrutiny, her argument that her campaign was hurt by a biased media and a sexist society turns out to be completely false.

Further charges of sexism addressed by Clinton and her supporters can also be challenged as fatuous, and more importantly, show Hillary and her supporters are actually sexist themselves. For instance:

– One story that is used by Clinton and her supporters to validate the charges of sexism in the race is the repeated telling of an incident where a couple of men yelled out to Hillary “Iron my shirt!”
First, her supporters never mention that this was a stunt staged by a shock jock at a local radio station to gather publicity and ratings for his show.
Second, it is hard to imagine the “women’s work” statement is so offensive and sexist when Hillary has used the same image of women’s work around the house as a platform in a majority of her campaign speeches. She has repeatedly told female dominated audiences that it is time to “clean up” the White House. She uses the analogy that women must get out their brooms, mops, vacuum cleaners, and brushes because only a woman/women can clean up the mess in the White House that the men have created.
Not only is it sexist to imply that a women’s greatest asset is her homemaking skills, but it is also sexist to men, implying the ugly gender stereotype that all men are lazy and irresponsible.
Mysteriously, her supporters had no qualm about Hillary using humiliating, negative stereotypes about women on the campaign trail -they have only become upset when men have used them.

– When her husband Bill started causing controversy on the campaign trail for Hillary, she was asked by ABC News’ Cynthia McFadden during ABC News’ Nightline, “Can you control him?”
“Oh of course,” she replied with confidence.
Now change the genders. A male presidential candidate is asked if he can control his wife. He responds, “Oh of course.”
It would be the end of his career, an image from which he could never recover. But for a female candidate, saying you can “control” your husband brings no condemnation from feminist, women rights, and gender equality advocates – it brings empowerment.

– When asked by talk show host Ellen Degeneres whether Bill helped out around the house, Hillary said he does, usually by rearranging bookshelves and cleaning the kitchen. Then in a condescending manner she said, “He’s pretty handy to have around, actually.”
Imagine a male candidate speaking with such apathy about his wife, only seeing her contributions in their marriage as some low priority afterthought. Do think it would go unnoticed? Of course not.

– Another alleged example of the sexism Hillary faced on the campaign trail, which has been repeated by her supporters, involves a comment made to Republican candidate John McCain during a campaign stop. Someone asked McCain, “How do we beat the bitch?”
Also, CNN commentator Alex Castellanos said during a CNN telecast that Clinton deserves to be called a “bitch.”
I would find these comments offensive and sexist myself, however, I can’t. The fact is, Hillary’s supporters used the same term themselves during her campaign.
When Tina Fey of Saturday Night Live showed her support for Hillary by exclaiming “bitches get stuff done” during the shows Weekend Update segment, Hillary’s own husband called Tina to say THANK YOU! And Hillary’s supporters loved the comment so much they began making T-shirts that mocked Fey’s comments.
And when Elton John offered to perform a concert to raise funds for Hillary’s campaign, the printed invites mailed out to supporters ended with the saying “The bitch is back!”

I could go on and on – sadly there is still more – but I think I’ve made my point: Hillary Clinton did not lose the race for presidential nomination because of a sexist media or sexist society. The blame for her failed nomination rest squarely on the shoulders of herself, her advisors, her staff, and her supporters. And by blaming others for her failures, in my opinion, she has essentially ruined any chance of being president of this country. Nobody wants a “victim” as president. If one cannot triumph over personal adversity – real or perceived – how will one lead a nation through never ending and ever changing adversity?

Judging by how effective Hillary’s run for president was inspite of shooting herself in the foot over and over, gives validity that sexism will not play a role in the future of electing a woman as president. A more valid argument is that Hillary’s success has proven that the time is actually ripe for our nation to elect its first woman president.
Unfortunately, Hillary is just not that woman.

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