I just read it yesterday. I suppose I can no longer post it on GD-P (the old one) but I found solace it it, especially since the paper ran really nasty political cartoons on her.
StarTribune.com
Commentary: For Clinton supporters, a range of emotions linger
By KRISTIN TILLOTSON, Star Tribune
June 6, 2008
Call it the Hillary Hangover.
(snip)
Everyone who feels a strong sense of sorrow and frustration needn't be assigned to the bitter brigade. Surely even women who were casting their votes elsewhere must feel a twinge of regret -- especially those of her time. They marched for the Equal Rights Amendment and saw women's rights leap forward, then plateau in the face of backlash, then progress and regress as they struggle to remind new generations who have never heard of Ms. magazine that the equal status they take for granted is still tenuous.
"There's a kind of a mean-spiritedness toward anyone who's reflecting on Hillary right now, and that's been a bit of a surprise," said state Rep. Alice Hausman, DFL-St. Paul. "Every time I hear about this 'great historic moment' with Obama, it's like the dagger goes a little deeper. We were longing for this historic moment, too. Some see that history because he's a person of color. But some of us still see a man, and that looks a lot more like more of the same than if it were a woman." The stereotype of the Clinton supporter is that of a white baby boomer woman, but Clinton has her younger backers as well.
"This isn't as simple as a candidate no longer in the race," said DawnMarie Vihrachoff, 30, a Clintonite who works as the foundation and membership manager at Wellstone Action. "I don't feel like people my age understand what was lost here. The bottom line for me is that women make up more than 50 percent of the country's population, and that's not represented in Congress. Obama says, 'Elect me, and we'll all go do it together.' I want my leader to go out there and do it. Clinton has been leading her whole life. To me, she gets it done.'" If Clinton is offered the vice presidency, Hausman hopes she won't accept. "She'd be better off staying in the Senate, where she could lead on critical issues," she said. Vihrachoff feels differently: "If not now, when?"
Clinton's fans also continue to harbor resentment toward media treatment of their candidate, with good reason. Many media analysts believe that from early on, the press was much harder on Clinton than Obama, so much so that it became a running joke on "Saturday Night Live." The Washington, D.C.-based Center for Media and Public Affairs found that from Dec. 16 to Jan. 27, five out of six on-air analyses of Obama were positive, while only half of Clinton were. After the announcement last week that Clinton would step down, the bashing continued. "Kicking and screaming, Hillary ends quest for prez," barked the cover of the New York Post. (Wha'? The Clinton I saw on television was gracious, congratulating Obama before turning her attention to her supporters.) George Will wasted no time in declaring that Obama would weaken his chances if he chose her as his vice president. Even Barbara Walters committed an unforgivable woman-on-woman hate crime when she remarked on "The View" that pantsuits were best for Clinton because of her disproportionately larger bottom half.
(snip)
As for Clinton, she proved she was tough enough to withstand a daily mix of unfair onslaughts to the end, capping her achievement with a tenacious refusal to back away like a good little girl and let the boys have their treehouse back. If this were the 1980s, the heyday of gender-specific self-help books, the bestseller of the year would be "Women Who Just Won't Quit and the Men Who Shame Them." Thankfully, we've moved on. (Sorry, Chris Matthews, but we have.) Clinton might have bowed out, but she never curtsied. And after the Hillary Hangover fades, that will be the legacy of this chapter in a career that her 18 million supporters hope is far from over.
http://www.startribune.com/politics/national/president/19610344.html?location_refer=$sectionName
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