[Recent Entries][Archive][Friends][User Info]

January 28th, 2008

January 28th, 2008
09:06 am [Link]	The Scoop On Hillary The biggest complaint you'll hear about Hillary is that she's too ambitious. I'm always a little reluctant to say that, though, since the Presidential game is tilted against women. Let's be honest: While it's gotten a lot better as of late, women still have an uphill climb in this country, and particularly in national politics. Women aren't encouraged to get into politics, they're looked at harder by the press; if a woman had the slightest doubt in her mind about not wanting to be President, it wasn't gonna happen. Hence, our first serious candidate was guaranteed to be nothing but ambition. Anything less and she never would have made it. What we have, of course, is the first female candidate who nakedly wants the power the same way that Giuliani or Romney or Huckabee wants it. And it feels vaguely unfair to snark at a woman for being so openly ambitious when she pretty much has to be in order to get where she is today. If Hillary had shrugged at any point and said, "You know, it's okay if I don't get it," I assure you that she wouldn't have. So why am I uncomfortable with her? Am I secretly some sort of misogynist? Or worse, do I buy into the old "It's okay to be scummy if we like you" dumbness? After all, I don't fault the original Clinton for his ambition, and he's at least as bad. Fortunately, just as I was wrestling with the question, emmycantbemeeko put her finger on it for me. And what she she said was this: "I get the same vibe, and I've long thought that it comes from her method of arriving in power - as a young, wickedly bright, extremely ambitious woman, she chose to throw that potential behind the future ofa charismatic man, rather than seek direct achievement for herself, when that was what she so obviously really wanted. Having spent her life tagging along and working for someone else's benefit, she now expects to be rewarded with the power and credit as though she had been the successful candidate all along. "Was being a governor/president's wife (and devoting herself to his campaigns) an effective strategy to become politically important? Yeah. But it's got an old-fashioned attitude behind it - the way to gain power and influence is to make sure you have a powerful and influential husband, and stick by him no matter what - that is creeptastic.... I think it's the root of my intense dislike for her." I don't dislike Hillary myself, but I think that's an accurate sum-up of my concerns. She wanted the power without getting elected, and found the most convenient path to get there. She didn't work her way up the ranks politically, she attached herself to a popular guy to cultivate him, and then rode his coattails until she could fly (at least partially) on her own. I don't mind a strong first wife in theory. But the fact remains that I didn't vote for Hillary to be a political mugwump, I voted for Bill, and the fact that she immediately transformed the office of First Lady into some sort of erzatz vice-presidential suite is a part of what turns me off about her. Plus, her first project failed because (as I linked to before) she didn't talk to anybody or try to achieve consensus - she just did what she thought was right, and to heck with anyone else. Which is, in its own way, a kind of Bushian thinking. I'm right. Shut up. Let me drive. I think she'd probably make a good President. I'd vote for her if I couldn't get Obama. But I also think she'll say whatever I want to hear, and she'll make whatever compromises it takes to get her agenda across.... And her refusal to refute or defend her vote on Iraq still troubles me. In the end, I think of her as a politician's politician - willing to do whatever it takes to get to where she can do the most good. That's kind of fine, because I agree with what she wants to do... But if she was a Republican front-runner, she'd probably terrify me the same way that, well, she actually does terrify Republicans. Like I said, I'd vote for her - but she doesn't make me feel good about it. And the reasons I'm a little concerned about her go beyond sexist rhetoric and right to that most essential Presidential issue: character. I'm not sure about Hillary herself, and that's why I'm not big on her. (125 shouts of denial | tell me I'm full of it)
Time	Event
11:55 am [Link]	God, Please Shoot Me With all of the other projects on my plate, now I want to do a podcast. HALP HALP HALP Also, my X-Box appears to be dying. HALP HALP HALP (24 shouts of denial | tell me I'm full of it)