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How Hillary Got Her Women BackPosted on Jan 9, 2008ROCHESTER, N.H.—By Wednesday, the headlines that had blared “Panic” and “On the Edge” were as infamous as “Dewey Beats Truman.” The advance stories written to explain Hillary’s defeat had all been sacrificed to the delete button. The irrepressible Tim Russert, who had delivered her obit in ringing tones of certainty just a day earlier, sounded like a real estate agent digging through a ruined landscape for explanations: “Women, women, women.” It was New Hampshire women who came to Hillary’s rescue after the near-death experience of Iowa. The 57 percent of Democratic voters who were women chose Clinton over Obama by 12 points. And she won with women over 65 by a stunning 30-point margin. I never saw it coming. In dozens of interviews over the last days, I found women who were still waffling, still wavering, undecided. In a long buffet line at a Democratic Party dinner in Milford, a 66-year-old woman told me she was torn between her heart and her head. If Obama had won the heart of this long-term-care insurance saleswoman, Hillary was in trouble. What happened? The story line is as divided—dare I say polarized?—as every other Hillary narrative. One line credits the strength she showed in the last debate and in her endless question-and-answer appearances. Another credits the “humanizing” moments, when she responded emotionally, especially to a woman who asked: “How do you do it?” Advertisement Or was it because she pulled back the mantle of change that had slipped so precariously off her tailored shoulders? A year ago when Clinton announced her candidacy, the big question was whether the country was “ready for a woman.” But when the first woman to ever have a serious shot at the White House arrived in New Hampshire, she was tagged as the shopworn goods of “old politics.” At the final debate, John Edwards attacked her as the embodiment of the “status quo.” At the Rochester Opera House, Obama preached against her as more of the “same old, same old.” She was more Clinton and less Hillary. It was if we had raced past history, without ever making it. I don’t think the Hillary campaign saw this coming. After all, Hillary had been an icon of change since her Wellesley graduation speech. “While Bill talked about social change, I embodied it,” she once wrote. As a law student, as Arkansas’ first lady, as the candidate’s wife who didn’t “bake cookies,” she said, “I had been turned into a symbol for women of my generation.” It must have seemed wholly fanciful to believe that Rush Limbaugh’s favorite target, the author of “Hillarycare,” would get labeled as old politics. As they planned the presidential run, the Hillary campaign read the female playbook that says women have to prove—and prove—their experience and strength. She was cast as the most seasoned candidate, the commander in chief, the tough guy in the race. And then experience became a liability. How many times have we been told that if you are seen as a woman you aren’t seen as strong; if you’re seen as strong, you aren’t seen as womanly? The tough guy nearly lost her place as a female change agent. Then the moderator at the debate said: People “seem to like Barack Obama more.” And that empathetic Portsmouth woman asked: “How do you do it?” Is this when women’s heads shot up? When, exhausted and touched, she answered: “It’s not easy, and I couldn’t do it if I didn’t passionately believe it was the right thing to do.” On election eve, I was in the Rochester Opera House listening to an eloquent Obama. But many New Hampshire women were at home, as the television endlessly reran Hillary’s answers and emotions. How many women had a change of, well, heart? How many women-of-a-certain-age who’ve lived through vast social change remembered being told they could lead or be liked? How many had their wrinkles and cleavage and cackles and feelings dissected at every move? For that matter, do any of them still work with men like the one in Salem who yelled at Hillary: “Iron my shirt!” Status quo? Same old, same old? I don’t think so. Hillary said she found her voice in New Hampshire. But she also found that very narrow line that women still have to walk. Hillary got her groove back. Ellen Goodman’s e-mail address is ellengoodman(at)globe.com. © 2008, Washington Post Writers Group Elsewhere: . CommentsAre you a Truthdig member yet? Login now, or register with Truthdig. Add Your Comment
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By Douglas Chalmers, January 12, 2008 at 7:25 pm #
Re: Odd, given a campaign known
By Marjorie L. Swanson, January 12: ”...and the woman who asked “how do you do it” was on Countdown and said that while she was touched by Hillary’s honest emotion, she went and voted for Obama…”
Strange how she saw Hillary at her most human and then failed to appreciate that. Instead, she went off and voted for vague promises of hope and change from a relative novice.
I guess some women are as bad as many men in refusing to accept emotion as a positive human trait. Denying it in others means that one denies it in oneself too. I wonder why she asked the question?
Still, many have experiences which they would rather not remember and try to seek escape from reality in pursuing illusions of hope and glory since time immemorial. It is the weakness of the human condition but it destroys any possibility of change becoming a reality.
Thus Hillary has proven that she does have normal human feelings, that she can express them and that she values that. Such a person is far more capable of making essential decisions affecting the lives of others than any person in denial about their inner feelings.
Report thisBy Paracelsus, January 12, 2008 at 1:31 pm #
“I don’t feel no ways “taird”. I come too far from where I started from.”
I think Hill should have gone to Hollywood. But then again the whole line up is really pathetic.
http://www.spike.com/profile/breitbart/video/2829104
Report thisBy Marjorie L. Swanson, January 12, 2008 at 1:16 pm #
The “iron my shirt bit” was from stupid shock jock radio program and the woman who asked “how do you do it” was on Countdown and said that while she was touched by Hillary’s honest emotion, she went and voted for Obama. So much for you take on things. Why not try the facts instead of relying on your own, and obviously flawed opinion.
Report thisBy Leefeller, January 12, 2008 at 11:33 am #
Claire W.
Are you writing this as her mother, your letter of reference is so enthralling, I now have to vote for Hillary. Substance of issues can be left for later.
Report thisBy Claire W, January 12, 2008 at 7:53 am #
(Unregistered commenter)
The swift-boating has already started, I see. I think Clinton’s the most experienced, she learns from her mistakes and also vicariously from others’ mistakes, she has excellent credentials in both education and work, and she’s dedicated, responsible, and obviously weathers very public political storms.
I think Obama might make a good president some day. I think that Clinton is the best person for the job in the current election.
Report thisBy Barbara and daughters Alicia and Janie, January 12, 2008 at 2:14 am #
(Unregistered commenter)
This nation of ours can either (a) elect a GENUINE, AUTHENTIC person ... or….. (b)be maneuvered into voting for one of the slickest, PHONIEST, most conniving candidates in all of history—Hillary Rodham. Come on, America! Thanks, Barbara and daughters Alicia and Janie
Report thisBy kath cantarella, January 12, 2008 at 1:33 am #
(Unregistered commenter)
i love your columns, Ellen. (from Australia)
Report thisBy Paracelsus, January 12, 2008 at 1:20 am #
She is a Machiavellian Arkansan from an old Rockefeller stomping ground. After the rest the world was passed out to the Rockefeller brothers they agreed that their slightly slow brother, Winthrop could have Arkansas. Billary approved and supported through Jocelyn Elders a coroner who held the deaths of two teenage boys, who had their heads and arms chopped off as suicides. In general the Democratic line up is made up of psychopaths with instructions to kill our nation. In general the Republican line are serving their masters to kill this nation. I think I have been fair here. It is Sisyphean chore to make the facts clear.
Report thisBy Frank Cajon, January 12, 2008 at 1:09 am #
It’s only a small primary in the state next door, and a narrow win. The spin doctor who told Clinton to pretend to melt down ‘from exhaustion’ after only two primaries and a year from the big prize does deserve some props. Masterful move and one that shows that female Democratic voters, at least in New Hampshire, are either idiots or want someone with the nuclear launch codes who is going to cry like a baby and take her marbles and go home when even a minor crisis confronts her. Of course if you say she was crying like a little girl who just got her Barbie doll taken away, it’s sexist; personally I just think it was deceit and we have had that from our leaders for two damn long. For God’s sake, believing her meltdown reminded me of listening to her hubby claim he wasn’t getting regular oral sex in the oval office. The Clintons will say or do anything to convince someone that they are what they are not.
Report thisBy Tricia Beem, January 11, 2008 at 6:17 pm #
(Unregistered commenter)
I’m just registering and hoping this gets me on the list to also receive the bi-weekly newsletter.
Report thisBy RdV, January 11, 2008 at 12:34 pm #
who now are establisment figures and sold out to the corrupted status quo and political connections when they gave sleazy Bill Clinton cover and trashed the women he exploited are nauseating.
Report thisThese wealthy women and their exclusive elite sisterhood became irrelevant after abortion. Now they rally around a woman whose only asset is her gender, rode in on hubby’s coattails and now exploits the poor little victim status to garner the sympathy vote. Meanwhile she sells out women’s issues in favor of corporate dictates, uses the suggestion of racism to smear opponents and suggests change is giving the peopls “false hope”. I can’t imagine a more entrenched, more status quo good old boy than Ms Clinton—whose only seemingly disadvantage has been spun to her advantage while causing not only division in partisan politics—now also in race, gender and generational issues as well.
By Druthers, January 11, 2008 at 8:45 am #
(Unregistered commenter)
I no longer have the slightest confidence in the vote counting in our country. To turn over the control of the electoral process to private companies is suicidalto for democracy.
Citizens from both parties should wake up and count the votes they cast before it is too late.
Report thisBy vic, January 11, 2008 at 8:01 am #
tdbach, I am assuming you are sarcastic:-)
I would love to elevate the debate, but the sex, lies and scandals are unfortunately a part of what the Clintons brings with them (and Hillary has made Bill a central part of her campaign)
So, a question for all these women baby boomers who are supporting/voting for Hillary for their daughters and granddaughters…would they be willing to send these daughters and granddaughters as interns to a Billary White House?
I susoect they know that if Bill got itchy, Hillary would cover for him and let the woman take the fall…so much for Hillary being a sister…
Report thisBy Paracelsus, January 10, 2008 at 10:36 pm #
Richardson??? The guy who played bunkie with Siri Singh Sahib Harbhajan Singh Khalsa Yogi Ji, Ph.D. The guy who made way for Akal Security, a Siri Singh Sahib Company? The Repugs will send Richardson up as some sort of Rajneeshi. The fellow ran interference for a drug investigation of “Yogi” Bhajan. When will people learn to investigate these ward heelers?
Report thisBy tdbach, January 10, 2008 at 8:08 pm #
(Unregistered commenter)
Thanks, vic. You’ve elevated the debate immeasurably.
Report thisBy Jim, January 10, 2008 at 6:20 pm #
(Unregistered commenter)
I can think about is Bush and how so many regret their decision now. Hilary should not be our next President. I don’t want THE PRESIDENT being ridiculed by anyone and you can’t turn on the T.V. without someone criticising Bush. I think it has to be either Obama or Edwards.
People talk so much about change and putting a doer in Office. We need to take some personal responsibility and be a doer. This Decision is way to important to be undecided. This is life we’re talking about. This person will affect our everyday life. The President is a position of power and people will say and do ( Crying ) anything to get your vote to have that power. Don’t be fooled by what is said in a campaign thats what has to be done by some to get your vote. Enough with the big names. IF WE WANT WANT CHANGE THEN LET’S CHANGE!!!!!!
DON’T BE UNDECIDED! Our Country can’t afford to be slick talked by these people anymore. I have two BEAUTIFUL boys that i refuse to let live in a world of Debt, Gang Violence, Racism, and TERRORISM. I Refuse to leave my children this world of UNBEAREABLE burdens.
Really I think Bill wants to redeem himself and his family name through his wife. I also think they are pushing the FEMALE issue for young Chelsea who has been campaigning for mommy. I think we are ready for a female president but this lady is not the one. I hope this inspires more women to run for office but I think we have way to much at stake to settle for hilary. OUR President should not be someone who just wants to be in history. OUR President should not be someone to take office to live a lavish lifestyle and create a future for their child and not mine. The President should not leave Our Country divided while creating division around the world. I want The President to be someone who will help facilitate a place my children and their children can live in that will be PEACEFUL and EQUAL for all not just some.
We AMERICANS do more damge to ourselves than any TERRORIST could. WE have so many ways we choose to divide and seperate ourselves. We need to move past divison and be the UNITED STATES we ALL claim to be. There are AMERICANS starving, homeless, jobless, uneducated, sick, and dying at war as we speak. If we don’t UNITE NOW and put a person in office I think we’ll find the book of Revelations a reality.
Don’t be undecided. Your family and mine depend on ME AND YOU to be responsible with this so tremendously important decision.
I’m a hard working AMERICAN. I serve The COUNTRY everyday. I go to sleep at night hoping and praying to God with all my might for a better tommorrow. I want so much more for my children than I ever had as like so many others. I feel we can’t even consider electing hilary. How can we be so smart in so many areas under the sun and elect people who abuse our military, participate in sex scandels, and have their own personal agendas. Why can’t we see someone seeking power and fame until after they have cheated us. My kids or yours don’t deserve that.
I refuse to let them down. I refuse to fail…
Report thisBy MichaelG7, January 10, 2008 at 5:15 pm #
(Unregistered commenter)
Odd, given a campaign known for planting questions, that few have pointed out the possibility that the “Iron my shirt” jibe (right out of Cathcart and Klein’s popular 2007 book “Plato and a Platypus”) and the “How do you do it?” question were both set-ups, and fairly obviously so, at that.
Report thisBy Douglas Chalmers, January 10, 2008 at 3:05 pm #
By Joe, January 10: “Emotions are fine but they are also irrelevant. The most important job the new President will have, by far, is managing the massive nuclear strike forces of the United States….”
Garbage, Joe. The USA’s WMD’s are easily managed - by leaving them sit where they are! Its not even necessary to have nuclear-armed submarines prowling the oceans. They are the epitome of hatred and fear and loathing, all that is unnecessary in our lives.
You have quoted Bush as an incompetent yourself but do include Nixon and a few others who saner minds in their administrations wouldn’t allow near having their finger on the nuclear button. What makes Bush any better at handling WMD’s then? He was the one who threatened to start WW3!
It IS the very situations like the New Orleans debacle that the Hillary Clintons of the world will manage successfully back into a liveable life and a worthy future. Foreign debt, climate change, infrastructure investment, social welfare are far more significant than your precious boys’ club phallic missiles.
Can you imagine an era when there will be no more wars? It can happen, it can be done, it is eminently possible. All people have to do is stop their own stupidity. Global warming has once again given us all that choice. We can either learn quickly to co-operate or we can squabble until the end of of a very temporary civilization.
As nobozos, January 10, quoted/stated: “Men should be barred from public office for 100 years in every part of the world. The men have had millions of years where we’ve been running things. We’ve screwed it up hopelessly. Let’s give it to the women.” The conservative rich white males have good reason to fear a female leader. She’s likely be driving the dozer that levels their coveted and exclusive playing field.
Report thisBy vic, January 10, 2008 at 2:52 pm #
AN OPEN LETTER TO HILLARY CLINTON,
BY JUANITA BROADDRICK
DO YOU REMEMBER?
SUNDAY OCT 15, 2000
As I watched Rick Lazios interview on Fox News this morning, I felt compelled to
write this open letter to you, Mrs. Clinton. Brit Hume asked Mr. Lazios views
regarding you as a person and how he perceived you as a candidate. Rick Lazio did
not answer the question, but I know that I can. You know it, too.
I have no doubt that you are the same conniving, self-serving person you were
twenty-two years ago when I had the misfortune to meet you. When I see you on
television, campaigning for the New York senate race, I can see the same hypocrisy
in your face that you displayed to me one evening in 1978. You have not changed.
I remember it as though it was yesterday. I only wish that it were yesterday and
maybe there would still be time to do something about what your husband, Bill
Clinton, did to me. There was a political rally for Mr. Clintons bid for governor of
Arkansas. I had obligated myself to be at this rally prior to my being assaulted by
your husband in April, 1978. I had made up my mind to make an appearance and then
leave as soon as the two of you arrived. This was a big mistake, but I was still in a
state of shock and denial. You had questioned the gentleman who drove you and Mr.
Clinton from the airport. You asked him about me and if I would be at the gathering.
Do you remember? You told the driver, Bill has talked so much about Juanita, and
that you were so anxious to meet me. Well, you wasted no time. As soon as you
entered the room, you came directly to me and grabbed my hand. Do you remember
how you thanked me, saying we want to thank you for everything that you do for
Bill. At that point, I was pretty shaken and started to walk off. Remember how you
kept a tight grip on my hand and drew closer to me? You repeated your statement,
but this time with a coldness and look that I have seen many times on television in the
last eight years. You said, Everything you do for Bill. You then released your grip
and I said nothing and left the gathering.
What did you mean, Hillary? Were you referring to my keeping quiet about the assault
I had suffered at the hands of your husband only two weeks before? Were you
warning me to continue to keep quiet? We both know the answer to that question.
Yes, I can answer Brit Humes question. You are the same Hillary that you were
twenty years ago. You are cold, calculating and self-serving. You cannot tolerate the
thought that you will soon be without the power you have wielded for the last eight
years. Your effort to stay in power will be at the expense of the state of New York. I
only hope the voters of New York will wake up in time and realize that Hillary Clinton
is not an honorable or an honest person.
I will end by asking if you believe the statements I made on NBC Dateline when Lisa
Myers asked if I had been assaulted and raped by your husband? Or perhaps, you
are like Vice-President Gore and did not see the interview.
Juanita Broaddrick
Arkansas
Categories
Report thisBy ocjim, January 10, 2008 at 1:26 pm #
Probably Hillary is the master of change in terms of re-inventing herself. Unfortunately it appears like a narcissistic exercise to the cynical like myself.
She has so completely moderated her stands to appeal to the general electorate and induced testosterone in her approach to the futile war effort that most of us see her as the opportunist who has no real principles.
What I wonder now is whether the people are a fault too in the sense that we allow this totally flawed system of electing presidents to continue and react like fickle children to personality issues rather than substantive issues.
Report thisBy rage, January 10, 2008 at 12:30 pm #
(Unregistered commenter)
Put a cork in it already! The state of New Hampshire isn’t as populated as the city of Chicago. Hillary limped away with a 3% advantage over Obama. Just how many estrogen dependent soccer moms could that have really numbered? What, a whole room full, if you include the stage hand who handed her tissues for her tears during her tantrum? Let it go. Hillary is not as inevitable as the media would have the world believe. She is just as vulnerable to be being returned to her Senate as Barak Obama. Incidentally, neither of these newbies is Predidential material.
Kucinich - Richardson 2008! For some real experience and true hope!
Report thisBy Leefeller, January 10, 2008 at 11:30 am #
Some substance coming from Hillary would be nice. Guess the media has turned the war into a well hidden non issue? Does anyone know where she stands on the war?
Report thisBy Paracelsus, January 10, 2008 at 10:51 am #
Do you really want to take your wisdom from Ted Turner?
His lordship once pronounced, “Right now there are just way too many people on the planet. A total world population of 250-300 million people, a 95% decline from present levels would be ideal.”
I don’t think the problem is that our leadership is biased toward men. No, the problem is that we have a psychopathic elite who rule over us, and feed off of us like vampires.
Report thisBy nobozos, January 10, 2008 at 7:12 am #
(Unregistered commenter)
The day Hillary Clinton walked through the door at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave., all hell broke loose in the (white male) conservative camps. Never in modern history has a First Lady been so disrespected, villified, degraded, lied about, and just plain picked on. “She has fat ankles”, “She’s homely”, “Her daughter’s even uglier”, “She’s a buttinsky”, “She (gasp) has her own career”, blah blah blah ad-nauseum. And through it all she kept her head up and her dignity intact.
That the Limbaughs, O’Reilleys and Falwells couldn’t break her made them hate her even more, but with a hatred so out of proportion I came to realize it wasn’t hatred at all. It was fear. These guys, these lord-of-their-castle types, resent letting a smart and capable women have a place at the table. It doesn’t fit with their idolized ideal of a 1950’s America where mom stayed home, baked cookies, waited on them hand and foot, often got the vapors and dad ruled the roost.
Report thisIt disgusts me when I hear a self-annointed pundit asking “Is America ready for a woman president?” India had Indira Gandhi in 1966, Golda Meir led Israel in 1969.
Women have led societies throughout history…as queens, tribal leaders, presidents, empresses, prime ministers, though rarely as dictators. It’s not our nature.
Last year Ted Turner said: “Men should be barred from public office for 100 years in every part of the world. The men have had millions of years where we’ve been running things. We’ve screwed it up hopelessly. Let’s give it to the women.”
The conservative rich white males have good reason to fear a female leader. She’s likely be driving the dozer that levels their coveted and exclusive playing field.
By Joe, January 10, 2008 at 6:01 am #
(Unregistered commenter)
Emotions are fine but they are also irrelevant. The most important job the new President will have, by far, is managing the massive nuclear strike forces of the United States. I want to see each candidate of both parties given 10 uninterupted minutes to explain his or her overall knowledge of this system and how it works. Emergencies in this realm are measured in minutes. The President, any useful President, will need to know what and why the hardware is, all options quick and plan to deal (through immediate nationwide address) with recommended citizen action and aftermath preparations.
Bush, as example, has not been capable in 2 1/2 years to repair New Orleans with even a hint of dignity, this after a simple flood.
Pick your candidate carefully. Gender, race, age or the bulk of policy positions mean nothing in this mode of thinking.
Report thisBy P. T., January 10, 2008 at 5:48 am #
. . . because she’s a white woman. She never really lost them even though they told pollsters they would vote for a black.
Report this