Like Most Victims of Abuse, Hillary will Submit
by Big Dog on Jun 7, 2008 at 22:35 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
Good post Doggie! This was a sexist campaign, but she could have set that to rights early on. Instead, she brought in Bill to bolster her campaign and sealed her fate methinks.
Indeed — but if Democrats are one thing, they’re blindly loyal to the party over everything else. I doubt that Clinton will be any different.
I don’t like her either, but my heart went out to her yesterday. She was in pain and you could see it. It was okay to attack her, but if you attacked Obama you were racist. I went to her blog after the speech – her cadre of women didn’t buy it either and I saw a lot of McCain 08 / Clinton 12 on the comments.
Jos last blog post..Week END Wrap
While the overall post was good you lost me towards the end when you mentioned that Hillary should run as an independent. This would do nothing but continue to divide the country and show just how racist this country still is thanks to all the statistics about the “white vote” that Obama has to capture (of which he has about 42%).
I also visited Hillary’s site and saw the 20+ page blog thread with people saying they support Hillary but not when it comes to Obama. So much for backing her up 100%.
This campaign was like no other and really showed where this country is when it comes to sexism and racism. And now that Hillary has (sort of) dropped out we’ll see just how far we’ve come from removing racism from not only public places (like water fountains only for “coloreds”) but, more importantly, in our hearts. And I don’t buy that people won’t vote for Obama because “they don’t trust him” because from an issue standpoint they’re pretty much on the same path with a few differences in how that path is shaped.
If they don’t trust Obama then they probably didn’t really trust Hillary or even support Democrats at all if they’re willing to throw their support behind McCain.
Lastly, if Hillary does run as an Independent it will show that she doesn’t care what party she falls under, so long as she wins. And if she does run as an Independent will she change her position on certain issues? If not then what separates an Independent from a Democrat? And what’s to stop Obama from filing as a Democrat and taking all of his supporters with him?
Mark, Thanks for the comment.
It has been evident all along that neither Bill nor Hillary care about the party as much as they care about power. They quietly sabotaged Gore so she could run this year and she has demonstrated a lack of party unity for quite some time.
I do not agree with your claim of racism. Yes, there was certainly some racism (from blacks and whites) and his getting over 90% of the black vote is partly racist. The fact is, he does need the white vote because whites make up about 55% of the population where as blacks make up about 12%. He cannot win with just the black vote.
It is also important to note that this was a democratic primary so all this racism that people claim and all the sexism that happened took place among Democrats. The so called party of diversity is full of racists and sexists.
I oppose the idea that if whites do not vote for Obama they are racists. Most conservatives (white or black) will not vote for him because of his policies and positions and it has nothing to do with race. The black Republicans have completely denounced him and it would be hard to prove racism.
I will not vote for him and I ma not a racist. I would vote for any qualified man or woman, black or white so long as I agree with their views and they represent what I believe in. Obama (and Clinton) do not meet those standards. I am not a racist (or sexist) if I fail to vote for one of them. Anyone who claims otherwise is a race baiter who is trumpeting race to win an election.
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Okay BigDog, I’ll admit that my remarks were a bit shortsighted in suggesting that a non-vote for Obama is a clear sign of racism. And I violently agree that in order for Obama to win he’ll need the white vote just as much as he’ll need the black, Latino, Mexican, Asian-American, etc vote.
And after giving it more thought I think my fear of Hillary supporters voting for McCain will soon be put to rest. Once Obama and McCain start squaring off the decision will be easy.
While Obama has a lot to prove he has an energy and magnetism about him that McCain has never had in his entire life. Truth is that we vote with our hearts not our heads and if Obama can tug at those strings he’ll have us on his side, for better or worse.