In response to my earlier post about dropping the TGW and the Obama-Clinton race, regular reader (and new poster) ContraltoDelete offers the following commentary, which I thought was too good NOT to share:
Not so fast on the morning column.
I don't think anybody has a wide-lens, tolerant grasp of what went on here. Not you, not the guerilla women.
I am filled with joy, sadness, and apprehension this morning. Joy for Obama's victory, sadness for Hillary. Apprehension for what may happen next.
Deciding for whom to vote in the Tennessee primary was one of the most difficult decisions I've made. I think a lot of people felt that way, and I don't think that it can be said that Hillary lost because she ran a bad campaign, or that it's all her fault. Her one early blunder was thinking it would be all over after Super Tuesday, and not planning for the aftermath. Barack Obama was blessed to have David Axelrod, who may be the smartest organizer in America, and Axelrod was blessed with what may be a once-in-a-lifetime candidate.
As mentioned before, I'm in Hillary's demographic. It saddened me to see her demonized. There was a lot of unfair criticism of her (the Robin Morgan piece made some good points, even though RM goes off the deep end sometimes).
I don't think you can be a white male in America and totally "get it." Just as I don't think you can be a white person in America and totally get what racism is. The best each of us can do is to try to bridge gaps and exercise empathy.
I really think Hillary's defeat is due to a lot of factors, and I think that Obama still needs to bring her into the fold in some manner. I also think it's as impossible to quantify the "Bill Clinton" factor as a plus/minus as it is to quantify whether black males or white women have lost election campaigns more for status reasons (and what about black women, for heaven's sake?). I don't think 60-plus women have forgotten their reproductive and career losses because they're that age--most of them, like Hillary, are still working or trying to, and most of them are sad that their daughters and granddaughters take these rights for granted. The granddaughters may be the ones who don't recall a world without Roe v. Wade and don't know it can happen again via McCain.
Anyway, I think a lot of people voted for Hillary because they want a return to the economics of the Clinton years, or against her because they don't want Bill roaming the White House, or don't want Bush/Clinton/Bush/Clinton.
I'm hoping Obama is as good bridging gaps as we think he is, because otherwise we could lose this thing.
Joy, sadness, apprehension.
9 comments:
"Heaven has no rage like love to hatred turned/ Nor hell a fury like a woman scorned." by William Congreve in The Mourning Bride of 1697.
Go cry about it, crybaby: http://tinyurl.com/5qpfch
Exile -
Are you addressing that comment to me? I was referring to TGW and others sharing their feelings/views. Personally, I do not.
Go bully them, bully.
I would suggest that "getting it" needs to be defined rather than just uttered as some sort of finalized truth. Whether "it is gotten" or on either race or gender or other issues that have been used to divide, the "it" does not give anyone a right or perogative to continue to use it or make excuses for those who do.
We are, in short, all in this together and a recognition of our common humanity is the one way we have to possibly--and I mean this literally--prevent Western civilization from collapsing into the sort of world seen in _Children of Men_. That's not a pun either--
echo, was not at all addressing my comments to you! Sorry if they were misconstrued as such. My apologies for any confusion or hurt feelings.
More positively: http://tinyurl.com/6cxodd
Exile, in that case, have to say I'm sorry for calling you a bully. I'm so vain.
Cracker, I owe you an apology too. I'm sorry I called you a "kiss ass", a while back. In truth, you're just a nice guy.
I think maybe that whole, "BITCH IS THE NEW BLACK" thing rubbed off on me. ;-)
Anyway, yeah, let's do this thing!
wow, this is grest stuff here!
Meanwhile, over there, Hillary is being deified.
If those folks ever come back to this planet, you may reinstate them on your blogroll. Till then, I endorse your decision.
This has less to do with Hillary than it does for the TGW crowd; I suspect some of them will be looking for signs of stigmata when she speaks on Saturday.
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