Hillary's gender bender

IW

"You’d have to have a heart of stone not to laugh." No. You'd have to have a heart of stone not to feel sorry for her. Even when you want Obama to win.

Brian O'Connor

You’d have to have a heart of stone not to laugh.

Heh.

At least, one cannot dispute the irony of it all, if your read -- that Mr. Obama is a softer, gentler soul than Ms Hillary, more feminine -- is correct. And I think there's much truth to it.

One thing at work, too, seems to be that Slick Willie's re-emergence front stage seems to have turned people off. I heard one analyst who suggested that many Dems thought of Bill as the best president ever, and wanted to keep it that way.

Other people have grasped what it might mean to have Hillary and Bill together in the White House, and worry about a dysfunctional family sharing presidential power. That's is a real turn off.

Some analysts suggest that Hillary's resounding defeat in Iowa could produce mass desertion: the idea is that many on the left supported her only because they felt she was the inevitable candidate, come hell or high water, and it was a case of "better Hillary than any Republican." But with her defeat, those folks might feel liberated, and abandon her.

Another thing going on here is age: at least in Iowa, those over 50 were strongly for the Hillster (2:1 I believe) whilst those younger than 50 were strongly for Obama (3:1, if memory serves). In American politics, this is huge: usually, when the "youth vote" and "age vote" split something like 3:2, it's considered big. So this is seismic.

But it's classic American politics: you have Barack Obama being loved for reasons other than his stance on issues.

To take but one important issue: here's a guy who boasts that he opposed the Iraq war from the get-go, but who now suggests he'd be willing to invade our semi-ally Pakistan, an unstable Islamic country armed with nukes and hundreds of thousands of wahabbi trained young men, many of whom would undoubtedly see a US invasion as provocation for some free-lance terrorism, or reason enough to start a civil war, irrespective of what position the Pak government might take.

I don't understand how the anti-war left can reconcile their vehement anti-war position with their support for a candidate who's openly advocating invading Pakistan.

Hang on folks, we're just getting started.

oystercatcher

I love a bit of cod-psychology and agree with Melanie; Hillary displays all the laughable traits of 'short-man syndrome'

Frank Pulley

Actually Melanie, she let her womanly wiles hang out today when her lip dropped and she allowed the tears to well up. That - in IMHO - was a five second yard of footage that has done for her. Every married man in America will recognise the tactic and every one of her erstwhile wimmin fans will despise her for it. And every sane person on the planet who is aware of the importance of the American finger on the nuclear button and the decision making involved will say, "Whoa! Do we need that finger to belong someone who weeps when the going gets tough?" An earlier mistake was letting her errant 'husband' join her on the stage,looking as if he's just returned from another oral exchange with Monica, with his so-called charisma looking like discarded Charissmas tinsel. every inch of him a flim-flam man. They are yesterday's people. God help America if they let 'em back into the Oval Office with switched roles. I'm sure that the majority of US voters have more sense than that.

George Steiner

Hillary's problem is not that she is a woman. But that she is a feeble candidate. Mechanical, triangulating, without strong views on anything. And of course she carries the baggage of Libidonous Clintonius. Obambi is a feeble candidate also as you will see later.

palmer

Melanie, do you have an opinion on the blog post by Stephen Pollard Xmas It caused quite a bit of discussion! Do you feel Stephen was showing poor taste or were some commenter's over-reacting. (Some were clearly nutters).

Patrick Cameron

Great post! I think you put your finger on something here.

Bruce Dunstan

Having Bill by her side and riding shotgun for her also makes her look weak, for all sorts of reasons. He overshadows her charismatically and physicially, while her camp either welcomed him as an asset or just can't get rid of him. I see him as a Bart Simpson to Hillary's President Lisa, to some extent. Who would be running the country? Most of which just shows how things are stacked against women. No I can't laugh, Melanie. Like any ambitious person she has clawed her way to the top, but it now seems more tragedy than farce.

Zardoz

Hillary's attempt to stage a courtroom drama, where a watery eyed heroine tries to curry favour with the jury, was ill judged and woefully poor. The badly scripted, under rehearsed and arboreal performance did indeed bring forth tears in the audience, but they not born of pathos. Cherie Blair did a much better job when she was hauled before the TV cameras to explain the Bristol mortgages. The youthful Obama was being tipped as "the new Tony Blair" even before he declared that he was indeed "dashing" for his country's leading role. America be warned, and may the farce be with you!

Frank Pulley

Zardoz: "Cherie Blair did a much better job when she was hauled before the TV cameras to explain the Bristol mortgages." Really? On who?

Chris (the real one)

Oh I can laugh. Man-hating feminist has to step out of the protection of her PC Bubble in order to get elected, and can't understand why men won't vote for her! This is what happens to gender warriers when they bump into the real world, and watching Mrs Clinton's attempt to invoke chivalry was absolutely delicious. Gloat factor 10!

Robert Werner (Vancouver, BC, Canada)

For the Clintons, it's all about power. You're right, Melanie, she thought she'd win because of her gender. Now that this is not working, watch for her campaign to [most cynically] appeal to the Latino voters with this pitch: "Obama is black so he won't be willing to do anything for you!" And if that doesn't work then they'll dip even deeper into the gutter. Things are going to get messy.

Michael B

"You’d have to have a heart of stone not to laugh." Ain't it so. Replete with ironies, and then some.