Hillary Clinton's Candidacy Has Done Feminism No Favours

[tekisui]

Hillary Clinton's candidacy has done feminism no favours

By Camille Paglia

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/opinion/main.jhtml?xml=/opinion/2008/05/24/do2411.xml

When the dust settles over the 2008 election, will Hillary Clinton have helped or hindered women's advance toward the US presidency?

Those who think she will withdraw gracefully in a few weeks are living in cloud cuckoo land. The Clintons are ruthless scrappers who will lock their bulldog teeth in any bloody towel.

In her raw ambition and stubborn, grinding energy, Hillary will certainly cast a long shadow on young women aspiring to high office. She is both inspiring role model and cringe-making bad example — an overtly feminist careerist who never found a way to succeed without her husband's connections, advice, and intervention.

Bill Clinton may have masterminded Hillary's runs for the Senate and for the Democratic nomination, but he has been a gross liability in recent months, as he has co-opted the hustings to maunder on about himself or to inject divisive racial overtones into the debate.

The next major female presidential candidate will be well advised to stuff any errant husband into a rucksack and chuck him down a laundry chute. If they are to be truly equal, women must fight their own fights and not rely on a borrowed spotlight.
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Hillary has tried to have it both ways: to batten on her husband's nostalgic popularity while simultaneously claiming to be a victim of sexism.

Well, which is it? Are men convenient sugar daddies or condescending oppressors?

As her presidential hopes have begun to evaporate, Hillary has upped the ante in the crusading feminist department. Her surrogates are beating the grievance drums, trying to scare every angry female out of the bush.

From that rag-tag crew, she will build her army. Let the red flags fly! Hillary is positioning herself as the Crucified One, betrayed, mocked, flogged, and shunted aside for the cause of Ultimate Womanhood. But doesn't this saccharine melodrama undermine the central goals of feminism?

For all her claims of media bias and ill treatment by her male fellow candidates, Hillary has got off absurdly softly in this campaign. No one — neither her rivals nor mainstream journalists — has had the guts to explore or even list the bursting catalogue of past Clinton scandals, in which Hillary was nearly always hip deep.

continued at link: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/opinion/main.jhtml?xml=/opinion/2008/05/24/do2411.xml

It's a good read. Randi Rhodes read excerpts from this article on her show.

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

1. I feel that the first woman president

will be one whose husband has not held high political office, or perhaps hasn't held office at all.

[tekisui]

2. I agree. Although I felt, last year, that it may be necessary for the first

woman president to have that kind of name recognition. I think Hillary took it far enough so that the first woman president will do it on her own name.

[frickaline]

3. I don't believe this for a second

While Hillary was far from an ideal role model, she has made *serious* progress for women simply by making female candidacy viable. In the end it doesn't matter how she did it because it isn't the important take-away. The relevant part is the fact that she could have made it had she run a better campaign and behaved better during the campaign.

I'm not saying she couldn't have made *better* progress, but to deny the gains she has made is to blind yourself to the reality of the situation.

Still, I'm glad that she won't be our first female president. I really don't think she is big enough of a person to fill those shoes.

[tekisui]

7. I agree with what you said.

She made progress. Yet, I believe she handicapped the next serious female contender, and they will have to be damn near perfect to get close. Hillary's behavior re-enforced a lot of negative stereotypes, unfortunately. The point is, she could have been a champion of women's advancement, even in a loss. As it is, she grabbed the mantle of the women's movement and soiled it.

[BeyondGeography]

4. I feel the need to highlight this from the OP

Hillary has tried to have it both ways: to batten on her husband's nostalgic popularity while simultaneously claiming to be a victim of sexism.

Well, which is it? Are men convenient sugar daddies or condescending oppressors?

[Medusa]

10. Hillary has tried to claim both.

That's the problem.

[Yossariant]

5. Camille Paglia?!?!

:rofl:

[MethuenProgressive]

11. The OP is basically promoting a Sean Hannity essay on liberals.

Any Hate in a storm, evidently.

[marions ghost]

6. Camille Paglia

is always kind of over-the -top but makes some good points in the midst of her hyperbole. She's hard on Hillary--eg. "stubborn grinding energy" is seen as a negative, whereas most women politicians would have to have that to make it. On the other hand, "stuff any errant husband into a rucksack and chuck him down a laundry chute"--would seem to apply to Bill pretty accurately.

[tekisui]

8. The hyperbole is a bit much.

[marions ghost]

16. yeah

she seems like the feminists' Ann Coulter. Much ado about Camille.

Not very sensitive to the issues really.

[MethuenProgressive]

9. Paglia is the "feminist that other feminists love to hate," a "post-feminist feminist,"

You're quoting a world class asshole.

[tekisui]

15. Which one, Paglia or Rhodes?

Assholes aren't ALWAYS wrong.

[Perry Logan]

12. Roe v. Wade will be overturned--and it will be the Obamites' fault.

[tekisui]

14. Now that is hyperbole!

[Cosmocat]

13. She has been a mixed bag ...

A day is a year in politics, so for all the scorched earth nonsense, when the dust settles, her run will have made it easier for the next big female candidate ... I will say this, however, woman candidates ALREADY were very formidable foes when the venture into elective politics ...

She has used it every which way - one day being the "fighter" who won't back down, the next day being the victim ...

Either way, sorry, if her last name was not Clinton, she would not be the force she is ... A LOT of the demographic she brags about "the uneducated white male" is voting for the Clinton brand ...