Hillary as Veep a Bad Move for Women

There's one good reason not to offer Hillary Clinton the vice presidential spot. Sabotage, thy name is Bill.

Hillary Clinton would make a great vice president. And the veep spot would put her in line to be the first woman to lead the nation, which she would do quite ably. Yet, if the past is any measure, inherent in a Hillary Clinton vice presidential bid lies the prospect of setting women back another few decades. The one reason Barack Obama should not, under any circumstances, give her the nod, is her husband.

On the very day that Barack Obama planned to mark his presumed nomination to the Democratic Party's presidential ticket with a major speech, Hillary Clinton signaled to New York politicians that she was interested in the vice presidential spot on the Obama presidential ticket. Then, just minutes before Barack Obama claimed the nomination (a claim backed up by the delegate math) Clinton dug in, congratulating Obama, but refusing to concede the nomination-- a pressure play, perhaps, for the Number 2 spot.

For the sake of women, this pressure must be resisted. Given Bill Clinton's performance on the campaign trail in the Hillary for president campaign, the volatile, vituperative and prevaricating former president could only bring stain and conflict to an Obama candidacy. Commentators ask if Hillary could take orders and be a good helpmeet to a president Obama. With her legendary discipline, I have no doubt that she could. But could Bill Clinton keep from meddling? Only the most naive among us would believe that he would. Such spousal sabotage in one race could keep women off the national Democratic ticket for another decade or so.

A complex thing

As Hillary Clinton gave her non-concession speech in Manhattan last night, it was hard not to feel for her. For Clinton, it's not simply the loss of the nomination that must smart, but also the role her husband played in wrecking her chances of success. She came so close, and in many ways (stamina not the least of them), proved to be an excellent candidate.

For feminists, the range of emotions felt about the end of Hillary Clinton's presidential quest is a layered and complex thing.

Hillary Clinton's heart is that of a feminist, and yet she's attached to a husband with predatory attributes (most recently outlined in Todd Purdum's cautionary Vanity Fair piece. Whether it was Bill's conscious intention or not (I suspect not), this time he preyed on her. He used what should have been her moment in the sun to grab beams not intended for him, converting them to hailstones of resentment and vitriol. And she apparently never asked him to stay home.

Other missteps

There are, of course, many more reasons than Bill Clinton's bad behavior -- his regular disparagement of Barack Obama in terms that were sometimes racial, his looseness with the facts in defending his wife after she told a tall tail about a perilous landing in Bosnia, his finger-wagging at reporters -- for Hillary Clinton's loss of a nomination for which she began as the all-out frontrunner. There was bad campaign strategy by the infamous Mark Penn, which included a poor decision not to compete in caucus states, and the scorched-earth approach of senior adviser Harold Ickes.

There was Hillary Clinton's own rhetorical missteps, such as when she tried to cast herself in Lyndon Johnson's role at the signing of the 1964 Civil Rights Act, and instead seemed to be saying that the white president was more responsible for bringing civil rights to African Americans than the Rev. Martin Luther King. It was a compound injury: in conjuring that construction, she cast the lyrical Obama in the role of the inspirational leader, and herself in the shoes of a man who went down with the legacy of an unpopular war wrapped around him.

In fact, often when Hillary Clinton tried a recounting of history, she screwed up the telling in ways that were perceived to be more malevolent than I suspect was intended, as when she noted the assassination of presumptive presidential Robert F. Kennedy in 1968.

The kryptonite narrative

Yes, there's plenty of blame to go around for the demise of Hillary's quest. But when the popular history of the campaign turns to legend, I have little doubt that Hillary's story will be that of a brilliant woman who almost made it -- but for her love of a man who sabotaged her completely. Whatever the grain (or much more) of truth in that tale, it's not a helpful ballad. Not for Hillary, not for feminists, not for the country. It's a story that says, no matter how smart or tough a woman is, she stands to be felled by love, the kryptonite of the weaker sex.

One of the ironies of being a feminist is that more than a few of us got here by loving bad men. And let me tell you, sister, recognizing the problem doesn't necessarily cure you of it. Nor is a story ever quite that simple when it's between two people. Few bad men are all bad; few good women are all good.

The starting place in the love gone wrong that propels some of us to be feminists rarely begins in adulthood. It's between fathers and daughters, brothers and sisters, schoolmates and schoolmates, and in any dyadic relationship in which the socially constructed inequality between male and female manifests itself -- that is, in virtually all male-female relationships. Accustomed to a disparity in power between men and women that rarely falls in their favor, women are often inclined to endure a good bit more abuse from men than one would expect men to take from women.

Déjà vu

And so it is that I feel a sense of déjà vu as Hillary Clinton angles for the vice presidency.

On a hot day 24 years ago, I stood in a crowd in Times Square, straining for a glimpse at Geraldine Ferraro, who had just been named the Democratic vice presidential candidate. The rally was only blocks from my desk at Ms. Magazine, where the joy at Ferraro's nomination had been overwhelming. Our editors had waited breathlessly for advance word of the Ferraro pick to write the coverlines on a magazine cover that featured the face of a smiling Gerry. It all timed out beautifully for our October 1984 issue.

The sight of Ferraro on the platform in Times Square was electrifying. I don't remember a word she said. (And, oh, how I wish I could forget the things she has said on Hillary Clinton's behalf.) I just remember thinking, the spell has been broken. Sure, Reagan's gonna win and that's why they gave us this one, but, so what? The spell has been broken. The next time the Dems have a shot at winning, a woman will be on the ticket.

Yet, only a few weeks after that rally, Ferraro would face a mob of photographers and reporters who brutally grilled her on the business dealings of her husband, John Zaccaro, who had taken part in some questionable real estate deals. Zaccaro was little help to his wife as she faced down the press corps. And while Zaccaro's deals had virtually nothing to do with Walter Mondale's landslide loss to Ronald Reagan and his vice presidential candidate, George H.W. Bush, they did, I believe, take the heat off the party for the nomination of another woman.

It's been more than two decades since the Democrats put a woman on their presidential ticket. Perhaps Barack Obama will break that curse by naming a woman other than HIllary Clinton as his vice presidential candidate. (Hopefully one with an impeccable spouse or, better yet, none at all.) That would be one way to put an end to the story of smart women candidates felled by foolish spouses.

Related:
Read more from Huffington Post bloggers on Barack Obama clinching the Democratic nomination for president

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Comments

[XME]

You are SO right. After Bill's comments on a rope line where he slandered Obama, claiming he was behind the priest who mocked Hillary, Bill has proven that he's not trustable. He only cares about himself, and will say anything. My biggest problem with Hillary has always been Bill. He cannot be trusted, and that makes Hillary unfit to be Obama's VP. He needs someone he can trust, not someone he needs to worry is only out for themselves and who may even try to sabotage him in an effort to help themselves.

[tuttlemsm]

How about a little feminist assignment of responsibility to Hillary Clinton for her own mistakes rather than blaming it on the peripheral gaffes of her husband?

Hillary Clinton's own mistakes are legion without Bill Clinton. She's the one who is out there campaigning for the "hard-working Americans, white Americans," remember. Bill Clinton didn't say that.

She's the one pandering with a phony gas-tax stunt and pretending to be a beer-swilling redneck (even though she doesn't know how to pump gas into a car). Hillary did that all by herself.

Hillary is the one who said she was sticking around in the race because of Robert Kennedy. Bill didn't say that either.

Hillary is the one who said John McCain and she--- but not Barack Obama--- pass the "commander-in-chief threshhold," to the detriment of her own party's general election chances. Bill Clinton didn't do that.

Hillary is the one who commissioned the fear-mongering 3 a.m. ad, and, when roundly criticized for this fear-mongering, proved that she could top it by putting Osama bin Laden in the next ad. She's Hillary Clinton, and she approved those messages. Not Bill.

Saying that Hillary Clinton owes her defeat to Bill Clinton is just as anti-feminist an insult as those who would have said Hillary Clinton owes her success to Bill Clinton. It's her defeat and hers alone, well-earned. How dare you try to take it away from her.

[Veneita]

Yep, if she had divorced the most powerful man in America, I would have been far more inclined to support her. I felt like she kept him to ride on his success and he just didn't know how to get out of the way.

[photochick]

She is attached to that husband by choice. You could have kick his woman-disrepecting ass to the curb years ago. I may have garnered more respect for her if she had. As to being a feminist and all these woman behind her screaming sexism -- phewy -- the feminist movement was in large part to learn how to fend for ourselves and not be victims anymore. All Hillary her and her "gals" have done these last few months is moan and grown about thir victimization. That's not the feminism that I fought for many year ago and not the feminism I'm ever going to support and thank to that movement have never been.

[preatorius]

Some feminist, she has been standing behind him , and propping up his his cheating a** for too long!

[philinburb]

Think about it this way. Where would Hillary be if not for Bill? Would she be on the national scene on her own accord? Probably not. Bill's coattails all the way, so you've got a double edged sword here. She has definitely run one of the slimiest campaigns I've ever seen, now it looks like she's trying to strongarm Obama into the veep slot. I hope he runs for the hills on that one.

[JonathanDS2U]

Back in the '90s I was all about defending the Clintons. But for those of us who have been paying attention, something has Seriously changed, or maybe it was there and we just didn't see it before. I feel like I've witnessed Annette Benning and Warren Beatty transform into Bonnie and Clyde.

[Dalicious]

Why blame Bill? Hillary's only real accomplishment was marrying well. If she had not married him, she never would have once entered the White House or the Senate chambers. He gets away with cheating on her because she owes him everything.

[stonepier]

No. Not V.P.

And furthermore, she took what "should have been [Obama's] moment in the sun" last night - her speech was an insult to him, as was her lukewarm effort "to recognize him and his supporters for all they've accomplish­ed." That's the sort of thing winners say about losers, not the other way around.

She did NOT win the popular vote; she did NOT win the most states; most importantly, she did NOT win the most delegates. In short, she did not win. She will not win. She needs to realize it.

[WIpatriot]

Hillary would be the worst VP ever, for two simple reasons: 1 - She would upstage whoever is the president at every opportunity, and 2 - she comes attached with WJC.

[JennyJay]

It has always been a HUGE PUZZLE to me why in the world she would have stayed with him all these years. He is such a horrid low-life, and now he has brought her down with him. We all become the company we keep.

[SadVoter]

This is just another attempt to blame men (or in this case, a particular man) for Clinton's loss. The sole reason Senator Clinton would make a bad VP choice is SENATOR HILLARY CLINTON. Enough with the sexist rationalizations.

[DinOhio]

How about this for a "first" for Hillary? Let's put her in a rocket and send her to the moon. She'd be the first woman to walk the surface of the orb. She could also take credit for her biggest moon of Obama to date.

[dogtowndennis]

If Hillary's worst enemy is her husband, she is a close second. If you are going to blackmail somebody, don't do it on national television. Hillary' has combined a clumsy public threat to sink Obama's chances with a job application for the vice presidency.

The shrewdest and toughest woman in American politics (and at least the second most powerful in the American government ain't Hillary. Months ago, Nancy Pelosi made it clear that Hillary disqualified herself from the ticket as soon as she said McCain was more qualified to be president than Obama. Hillary's latest stunt, then, is both a slap in Pelosi's face and worse, another stab in the back of the Democratic party.
Hillary is already overmatched by Obama. Pelosi will run rings around her.

[jfrankfort]

It's odd: Bill's legacy seems to be that of an unhinged political has been who's gaffs cost his wife her campaign and with it the unfulfilled dreams of feminists everywhere. Looking back at this campaign, as unseemly as his comments were, every time he made them, Hillary won. Further, we have to face the fact that Hillary is not Hillary without Bill. No question, her intelligence, tenacity and ability are all self made, but her name recognition (which was the oxygen of her resilience in this campaign) came from Bill. Even the experience that she continues to tout, is a result of her husband.

Give Bill some credit, he played dirty hardball politics and played them well. If she had won (and she came very close) would this story not be about his tireless support? The fact is, they both lost to a different kind of politics. Obama presented a softer image and called for an end of divisiveness. Perhaps it was posturing, but he upheld that promise (for his part) by forgiving her RFK remarks, not harping on the sniper fire, congratulating her at his victory. He sold change and America responded. Bill, Hillary, Mark Penn, Ickes etc. were outmaneuvered, no more no less.

[jeanwny]

Is it love or ambition, whichever, it does not appear to have worked. She came to NYS with the express intention of running for this election, a plan that was hatched long before the ML thing. Her record here is not appreciated, no matter what her rabid supporters say, ask a person from upstate and WNY where she made the same campaign promises that she made to the rust belt states,Ky, Pa, Oh. W Va and it worked again, fooled once ,shame on you, fooled twice, shame on me. The people who can't bring themselves to vote for anyone but HRC should really assess their thoughts and get the facts.

[StephenDedalus82]

Let's get one thing straight. Bill Clinton is not deranged. He's a human being who's been the most powerful person on earth and who has helped millions of people in his post-presidency. He is a human being with a famous temper. He is a human being toward whom cameras and tape recorders have been aimed every moment he is in public. So he's had a few moments of anger. It's impossible not to have caught moments like these when everything he ever says in public is recorded.

Bill Clinton was Hillary's secret weapon. We forget that the blogosphere and the TV news media are not reality. Reality is the place where millions of Americans still have a deep respect for Bill Clinton and were perfectly wiling to give him a 3rd term via his wife. Bill Clinton won the presidency twice. He is no liability except in the minds of TV analysts and bloggers who think they know everything but probably never even talk to anyone who lives in flyover states.