So, we thought that Hillary was going to concede the race and then she changed her mind. It’s like an abusive relationship. I want a clean break up, please. It’s time for closure.
This on and off again stuff isn’t serving her cause any.
Matt Yglesias writes,
I probably shouldn’t write any more about this woman and her staff.
Suffice it to say that I’ve found her behavior over the past couple of
months to be utterly unconscionable and this speech is no different. I
think if I were to try to express how I really feel about the people
who’ve been enabling her behavior, I’d say something deeply unwise.
Suffice it to say, that for quite a while now all of John McCain’s most
effective allies have been on Hillary Clinton’s payroll.
Apt. 11d 
I guess she’s angling for the VP spot. But, I don’t really get that. I fear that she thinks that the probability of an “incident” is high enough that the VP spot might be a decent political bet. But, I’ve also just started to get weirded out by her behavior.
Has anyone else seen the “Young Hillary Clinton” youtube video? My kids loved it (though only the older one understands it). But, they really want to see a “Young Barak Obama video.”
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I have a theory that Hillary has spent most of her life not listening to people who tell her she can’t do things. She spent many, many years disproving those who told her to set her sights lower, to give up, to “sit down and shut up”. And more power to her for her many accomplishments.
But now she’s in a position where she actually really does need to listen to, like, the whole world telling her she’s done. It seems she has lost the ability to recognize that message. As I said, that’s my theory.
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Jen:
That’s a useful insight. Women like Hillary got as far as they did because they ignored the “aim low” message from everyone around them.
But, as you’ve said, this time, she needs to hear the people who are telling her its over, so that she can aim differently. I would be saddened if the end result of her work was for her to retire into obscurity (in the Senate or elsewhere). I’m mad about some of what she’s done during the campaign, but I can forgive it, if she goes back to being the woman who said “Womens rights are human rights” in Beijing, and fought for voter registration in rural Texas. But if she can’t find a way to listen now, and hear from people who do actually believe in her, her future will be difficult.
As we’ve said in other threads, I worry that’s been a problem in her campaign — the “bubble” that develops around all powerful people, and prevents others from telling them the hard facts. It’s a danger for every candidate (I think everyone who becomes president eventually develops it). You combine that with someone who has always had to ignore 80% of what is said about her, and you get a toxic mix.
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I’m going to try to ignore national politics until we get closer to the election. I’ll probably go back to my main goal: The destruction of the Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board. No Two-Buck Chuck, no peace.
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Ah, MH, I had to do that in 1988. I hope that your choice means the same thing for you that it did for me that year!
(i.e. your candidate looses).
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Laura, why oh why must you keep using loaded language like “dysfunctional” and “get off the playground”? It makes my blood pressure rise. 😦 Have you read Melissa McEwan’s post at Shakesville? It’s a good one.
Just came back from a meeting at a local high school, me, our service-learning coordinator, and our liaison at the high school. The SLC is much younger than HSL and me, and she had to sit through an impromptu mourning session while HSL and I talked about being Clinton supporters.
Please, folks, the continuing drumbeat for her to “get out” really isn’t useful. Her supporters, I think, *want* her to stay in. I know I do. I can’t explain why (no, it’s NOT because I think Obama will be assassinated), but I like her even more when she stays in and fights even after everyone tells her not to. The only people it’s hurting are the Obama supporters who are screaming their throats raw for her to get out.
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I’m not a gung-ho Obama supporter, although I’m also not too thrilled with some of HRC’s policy choices. (Witness the “summer off from gas taxes” business.) But I think it’s over, and she needs to realize that.
I totally understand what you’re saying about this “exit gracefully” stuff being interpreted as another way of telling a woman to give up her dreams in order for everyone to get along. But it really is over. Sorry.
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BJ,
The election isn’t until November. How am I supposed to pay attention for that long? Also, the garage isn’t going to clean itself (unless they make a garage Roomba) and I’ve got to see if I can teach a two-year old to “swim” and to ride a trike.
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What Digby said.
Tim’s good, too.
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MH,
Get a sitter and sweet-talk your wife into helping with the garage. My husband and I did it on Monday, and it only took about two and a half hours that way.
I’m with you on the election. I suppose I’ll send McCain a check eventually, but my interest in the election has waned now that HRC is on the way out.
With all the talk of sexism vs. racism in the HRC-Obama match-up, I don’t think quite enough attention has been paid to the rather crude ageism of a lot of anti-McCain commentary that I’ve been seeing around the internet. So far I’ve seen insinuations that he has Alzheimers, plus this stuff about how he’s “propped up,” just some sort of puppet on strings. I’m not a huge McCain groupie, but that’s a really weird angle of attack. The other oddity is that (at least from conventional wisdom), Obama is the better speech-giver, while McCain is apparently very quick on his feet in spontaneous situations, which is not what one would expect if McCain really were teetering on the edge of dementia.
By the way, what is a community organizer, and how can you tell if they’ve been successful?
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I find the ageism about McCain offensive, too. Age can affect cognition, but there are plenty of 70 year olds who have no cognitive problems, and he should be judged on his abilities and plans. I also find the comments on his physical disabilities offensive (translated into statements about his stance, or his looks) offensive.
I think the video about “things older than McCain” is kind of funny, but only if you see at as a positive, too. Age does bring consequences, but also brings experience, and wisdom, and perspective.
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I find the ageism about McCain offensive, too. Age can affect cognition, but there are plenty of 70 year olds who have no cognitive problems, and he should be judged on his abilities and plans. I also find the comments on his physical disabilities offensive (translated into statements about his stance, or his looks) offensive.
I think the video about “things older than McCain” is kind of funny, but only if you see at as a positive, too. Age does bring consequences, but also brings experience, and wisdom, and perspective.
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