Letters to the Editor
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Maybe Hillary has a personality disorder
What makes one person elicit a visceral, negative response from others, out of proportion to "rationality?" In my business, that gut reaction of something-not-right is rarely defined by gender, but rather by personality dynamics. To me, this is the real issue with Hillary Hating- it's her, not her gender. I honestly do not believe that this type of reaction would be seen with any generic female candidate. I believe that she has personal characteristics that lead to splitting- extreme love or hate- rather than to less intense like or dislike.
I'm a 70s feminist, and I want to see a woman president as much as anyone, but not Hillary. We've had enough psychopathology in White House, thank you very much.
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facts, please
I’ll acknowledge there is some amount of sexism among democrats choosing a candidate - but a three web-page article where the only factual basis comes from anecdote? Obama maniacs may be starry-eyed, but it is because he represents hope to them. hope for better politics, better governance, justice, etc. naive, perhaps. but they aren't starry-eyed because they want the man over the woman. Some of the "support" the author cites doesn't even make sense. for instance:
"O'Brien had been openly torn between Obama and Clinton, and perhaps as a result, she received five phone calls from male friends around the country, urging her to vote for Obama... 'The presumption was that I was undecided because I was a young woman, and they could talk some sense into me if they were the last ones I spoke to before I went into the voting booth.'"
Ummm - maybe they were calling you, not because you are a young woman, but because you were "openly torn between Obama and Clinton." maybe they thought you were undecided, not because you are a young woman, but because you were "openly torn between Obama and Clinton." maybe its me, but I don't see (from the facts presented) how being a young woman had anything to do with it.
Jessica Valenti, … at almost every school she visited, young women told her, "My friends or boyfriend or father are progressive guys, but when they talk about Hillary, I feel like they're being sexist. But I can't put my finger on what it is..."
Kristen Phillips, 28, …, said, "Sexism does not have to be 100 percent of what's going on. It might not even be 80 percent…You would hope that people would at least realize that that's what they're saying, … they're so adamantly not acknowledging that that's going on. They're busy patting themselves on the back for supporting a black man: Aren't we cool?"
Valenti continued, "I pinpoint sexism for a living. You'd think I'd be able to find an example. And I hate to rely on this hokey notion that there's some woman's way of knowing, and that I just fucking know. But I do. I just know."
I am overwhelmed with the evidence presented. So not only am I a sexist, I am only voting for the black guy ‘cause its cool. Man, I had no idea how superficial and thoughtless I was until I read this article. I mean, I thought I was concerned with the Constitutional separation of powers, executive overreaching, habeas and 4th amendment rights (all good things calling for a Con Law professor/president), not to mention my anti-Iraq war and progressive domestic values. Also, my desire for an outsider, (hopefully) not beholden to corrupt political machines and friends, who represents real change and can put forth a different face to the world, is but a cover for my true feelings. Furthermore, my innate instinct to reject a dynastocracy in a democracy (especially since I did not like Bill Clinton very much, and his horrible policies like ignoring the cost side of free trade or the abysmal freedom to farm act) must have had nothing to do with it – I just hate women, and fear their control.
(And seriously – “I just know?” That’s the best evidence we can get? Like the Justice Potter Stuart “I know obscenity when I see it” theory of jurisprudence? Salon is going to hit a broad swath of men in this country with the sexist label on the authority of the Valenti “I just know” doctrine? I don’t know if there could be a counter argument to this article more convincing that this simple statement contained within it. The irony is, of course, the article basically claims the allegedly most liberal groups in the country – educated, wealthier folk and students – are sexist. This is most certainly against the conventional wisdom, but with evidence like “I just know,” I don’t see how Traister’s article can be rebutted.
"Maggie Merrill… is a Clinton supporter who told me that she will happily vote for Obama in the general election. But, she said, "There is this Obama-mania, where these young men get glassy eyes and start spitting out vague things about how Barack Obama is going to save humanity. Really, have you seen their eyes? It's this faraway look. It's scary."
I have seen that look and wondered if, in the minds of some of his adherents, the thing Barack Obama might be saving humanity from is Hillary Clinton."
Here's my mea culpa. I do think (and hope) that Obama will save us from Clinton. I couldn't care less that she is a woman; I just feel Obama may not be beholden to the party and corporate interests that Bill Clinton and Senator Clinton seem to be. Right or wrong, I feel Obama has principles and isn’t going pander to special interests. He did a little of it with nafta (by failing to argue a nuanced position of why free trade can be good), which was disappointing (though he has improved his message since.) This issue is very important to me. Tell me why I’m wrong, but don’t claim I’m sexist. I consider myself an independent liberal, so when I don’t know anything about the candidates in an election, I put my check mark next to the democrat. When it is local (without party affiliation or more than one democrat) or a primary and I don’t know anything about the candidates – I check the woman, just ‘cause. She may end up being more conservative than someone else, or have policies I am very strongly against, but that’s just the way I roll. (I’m not necessarily proud of my ignorance, but when you are already in the booth, and you gotta make a choice, I figure supporting the under-represented gender is as good of a reason as any, when you got nothing else to go on).