Hillary Clinton and Madonna: Both Unbowed and Uncowed — They're Virtually the Same, and They Will Rule!
Who knew that Hillary Clinton and Madonna were practically the same person? Here they are — both middle aged blondes in the battles of their lives. Hillary, to wrest back the Democratic nomination for president from Barack Obama and Madonna, to prove that with her 26th album, Hard Candy, she can outsing and outsell her sexy younger pop star sisters like Gwen Stefani and Fergie.
One needs to come out on top of the polls, the other needs to top the charts. Both are such deeply determined women, they continue to amaze their detractors with their refusals to throw in the towel and concede that their time has passed.
No doubt, younger fresh-faced Obama, 46, can't believe that he's still going toe to toe with a 60 year-old woman, saddled with multiple Bill issues, and now the Bosnia gaffe. And worst of all — the woman doesn't sleep. He can scoff at her claim that she's a reincarnated Rocky — "I never quit, I never give up, and neither do the American people," she insists — but she's right. Sorry Obama and Nora Ephron, she's not giving up just because you're tired of her. So there!
Then there's Madonna. Despite a $325 million personal fortune, three young kids, and a 
passel of press hounds who snap after her every controversial move, she won't go away and retire quietly on her English estate. What's wrong with her? Why won't she just put her feet up, do pilates, and leave the stripping down to next-to-nothing to the Pussycat Dolls?
But no, instead she admits to working out two to three hours every day so she can still slither into a little Dolce & Gabbana body suit, Azzedine Alaia corset belt, and over-the-knee dominatrix boots, for the new cover of Vanity Fair and then presumably for her next global concert tour. Not surprisingly, "there are no shortcuts to being Madonna. It's all about hard work. There is no easy way. If you want to look like I do, it's diet and exercise and constantly being careful..." she told British Elle in a new interview. "I'm not going to slow down, get off this ride, stay home and get fat."
And boy has she not. I don't care how much airbrushing may have been applied to the fierce new Madonna pics — she's looking 50 in the face and giving it the finger.
What makes these two petite powerhouses run right now is surprisingly similar. "Hillary gets up in the morning and she really does think she can make a difference. She does care about people. The idea that she wants power for the sake of power is wrong," insists someone who knows her, former White House Press Secretary under Bill Clinton, Dee Dee Myers, who is now the author of Why Women Should Rule the World. I believe Myers, and I believe Hillary — I can see that earnestness in her eye when she says she's not just about selling hope, she's about saving peoples' houses.
Madonna has her own cause — the plight of orphans in Malawi — and she's taken just about the same amount of heat as if she had been running in a presidential election. Imagine being accused of stealing a baby from its impoverished father, after you found that baby deathly ill in a third world orphanage? It's as equally an ugly accusation as being accused of cynically sticking by your straying husband, just because you wanted to be president.
These women have both had to develop armor-like skin. In the meantime, Madonna has doggedly continued in her children's crusade, producing a new documentary, I Am Because We Are, about the motherless children in Malawi. And Hillary continues on her dogged campaign for the Democratic nomination.
Sure, Hillary gives off good-girl vibes — you just know she was that girl in high school who ran for student council president — while Madonna was the bad girl ("I didn't fit into the popular group — I had hair growing under my arms. I refused to wear makeup," she tells Vanity Fair). But both women can elicit that visceral negative reaction that strong women get too often, even from other women (like Air America host Randi Rhodes). They're powerful, they're perfectionists, they're mothers AND career women. They take their BlackBerries with them to bed...and check them. They don't care that some people view what they do as unseemly. They stay focused on their goals.
And they don't appear femininely vulnerable. That may be what bugs some people most about them. It was only when Hillary teared up that many women finally rushed in and handed her New Hampshire.
Truthfully, Hillary and Madonna can do more than most other women. And men. Wardrobe choices and specific areas of interest aside, they are essentially the same person. Madonna should vote for Hillary. She is "absolutely voting" in the upcoming presidential election, according to her rep Liz Rosenberg. "Madonna has enormous respect for Hillary, but she is not officially endorsing anyone," Liz tells me. Too bad. But whether Madonna ends up voting Team Hillary or not, they should be best friends. They could understand each other and support each other. And you know what, I absolutely don't mind if they rule the world. Bring it on, babes!
UPDATE: Oh my God! Hillary and Madonna are actually related! No wonder they are the same person. Hillary fessed up on the Ellen DeGeneres show. These two definitely need to get together — not only do they have personality traits in common, they share genes!
Now if anyone out there actually knows the chain of how they are related please tell us!
Follow Bonnie Fuller on Twitter: www.twitter.com/bonniefuller
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Wow.
I didn't even have to stick my finger down my throat to spew.
What an interesting way to package pathalogical power and money lust along with a hateful angry attitude
Like someone said before, this is an insult and a slap on the face to Madonna who for the last decade has been an advocate for peace, an activist to bring awareness to Africa's plight and to help children through her schools and her books among many other things.
Ms. Fuller, you also forget that Madonna was the first celebrity to oppose the illegal war we are in (before it was the cool thing to do) and she was the first to do an anti-Bush-anti-war song/video that was pulled from airwaves and consequently never shown in the U.S.
I dont recall seeing Hillary come close to Madonna's efforts. Hillary only voted for corruption and this mess we are in.
Soon Hillary will be washed up and Madonna who has been around since the early 80's will keep proving us wrong and she'll keep on going.
My girlfriend attends a Christian Church on Sundays-- this past Monday- she called to tell me that her Pastor in his sermon insulted Madonna----should she stop attending?
Uh, no. Most Christians would take a skeptical view of Madonna. She is not THE Madonna, after all. She is a self-created hype machine. Determined? yes. Worthy of admiration from the pulpit? I don't think so.l
It is beyond delusional, to praise someone for being a jerk just because she is a woman. These two women represent materialism at any cost. That makes them just like a lot of men. So, you praise them for being jerks in fields dominated by male jerks, simply because they have managed to be jerks in spite of being women? Stupid. That's the stupid reasoning that has infected Clinton's supporters. Women are not better people than men, and women who consciously CHOOSE to behave in a traditionally male manner in order to get what they want are lying to themselves. They are making the world worse with every action. They are not changing the world, any more than Margaret Thatcher did. They are GOING ALONG WITH a hateful world, and reaping the benefits of being harsh and hard. THAT is why we criticize them. Because they are awful people with rotten values. When will these faux feminists realize that having a vagina does not make ANYTHING YOU WANT TO DO right and good?
Amen.
Fun article......and a lot of truth to it, too.
Are you serious?
Yup. They are both kick ass women who give a fig about what people think of them. Very comfortable in their own skin.
i just very simply want to say i love this.
Another ridiculous, sexist article.
"Zeifman fired Hillary from the committee staff and refused to give her a letter of recommendation – one of only three people who earned that dubious distinction in Zeifman’s 17-year career.
Why?
'Because she was a liar,' Zeifman said in an interview last week. 'She was an unethical, dishonest lawyer. She conspired to violate the Constitution, the rules of the House, the rules of the committee and the rules of confidentiality.'"
FreedomLoverX,
What has happened to this story? I can understand the mainstream media ignoring it, but it seems to have been disappeared from the blogs as well. I would think Pennsylvania voters might want to know who it is they are voting for if they vote for Clinton.
Maybe it just takes a while for the story to catch on, I don't know.
Could it be that it's bullshit?
It doesn't get any play because people think he's crazy. Go to his Web site learn about his conversations with the dead. Even Bernstein didn't bother using him as a source when he wrote A Woman In Charge. He has no credibility.
Very nice words. Only thing is, she can "bring it on" all she wants but if she doesn't end up with the votes it's irrelevant.
What a deeply dishonest and specious argument. The essential difference between Clinton and Madonna is that the latter would not tear the Democratic Party apart in a spiteful, divisive and futile attempt to subvert the will of the majority of voters and wrest the nomination from Obama, all because of a towering sense of entitlement.
Her campaign at this point is not about ego??? Hogwash, it's all about ego: only she can beat McCain, the only voters who count are the ones who voted for her, anyone who opposes her on principle is really just a secret misogynist, Richardson is an archetypal traitor for changing his mind, Florida and Michigan should be seated as is (because it benefits her), and so on. Whatever "principle" stands to benefit her, that's what she is for; tomorrow, if it changes, she'll be against it, and arguing the new position with a straight face and an expression of earnest concern.
Madonna would know when an act is not succeeding, pack it in and spare herself and the audience further embarassment and humiliation. Clinton will keep on flailing until we all have to say, "hello, President McCain". If she and her husband are in this to shape a better America, then I'm the Pope of Pastafarianism.
Back in 2007, Madonna came out in support of Hillary Clinton. I wonder what she now thinks after Hillary has gone hyper aggressive. Does anybody know? Does anybody care?
Yea, we're all falling apart. Hillary is that kind of powerful. Please...
If you've been paying attention lat all ately, you'd notice that her hyper-negative attacks have benefitted no one but John McCain. They haven't brought the superdelegates flocking to her side, her own poll numbers have gotten worse, and she has managed to inflict some damage on Obama. This argument may be totally new to you, but it actually has been all over the intertubes lately. So by all means, snark on, and continue to miss the point...
Gender-before-country Hillary supporters make as much sense as party-over-country Republicans and as far as I can tell, they will sink us just as quickly.
Concise and well-said.
Yes. They both are like the dinner guests who don't know when the host is getting tired and wants them to leave. Madonna: cover up already. Hillary: best of luck in the U.S. Senate.
The problem is not that these two uber-femmes display qualities typically attributed to power-males (i.e. strength, determination, a seemingly bizarre lack of emotion) but rather that Madonna and Hillary have seem to believe the hype around them. No, it's not their fault that their hard-work has paid off, but with both there is a sense that reality has no bearing on their lives. Hillary may believe that she really can make a difference but she'll say anything to do it. Likewise, Madonna really is the first of her kind of pop-star but she literally views herself as pop-royalty (accent included). As a young woman, their lack of earnestness is hard to relate to and they have removed themselves from a realm of encouraging young 'uns to emulate their success because it's pretty much all hype these days.
Their both sooo last century.
Reality has no bearing on their lives--I agree. They had enough success early enough to be convinced that they were very special (both of them by changing their hair and clothes and anything as needed to be appealing--Madonna wore fluffy little girl outfits and altered her voice on albums to sound like a child--so they can drop the big talk about being rebels). Madonna brags that she and her children do not read magazines or news. Come on. You're so afraid of gossip about your oh-so-important self that you force your entire family to remain ignorant of daily developments in politics and world news? That's CRAZY. Not bold or strong. It's deeply neurotic and narcissistic. That degree of self-love is ugly in men and women.
To the Madge and Hill-haters: Puh-lease. Did you record 26 successful albums or get elected to the Senate?? These ladies took what they were given, and ran with it--changing not just their lives, but the world. They may not be Mother Theresas, but they are great role models for striving for success. I think women can learn life lessons from both of them.
Like how to help start a ruinous war so you can look "hawkish" enough to be potus? Puh-lease, indeed!
I'd vote for Madonna over that neo-con in progressive clothing, any day.
Yes in the case of Hillary, what not to do to your political career 101 would be a great course. Don't lie. Don't waffle. Don't use race as a divisive tool. Don't underestimate the voter. Don't distort your resume. Don't fake emotion(especially crying). Don't stab your political party in the back.
Absolutely... her story would exemplify what not to do!
“Took what they were given,” Hmmm
You mean like leveraging your position as first lady of Arkansas to be a board member of Wal-Mart, and then doing nothing to change their anti-union policy? Or leveraging her position as first lady in the White House to become a U.S. senator, where her most important vote has been to authorize an immoral war that has killed untold (literally untold) thousands? Sorry thunderbox, but this is not the sort of “changing not just their lives, but the world” that I can support.
I fear that Hillary is far closer to Margaret Thatcher than Mother Teresa.
Why is power the measure of success? This is the most destructive ideology in America and it is not a principle we should be passing on to our children.
If my husband were the outgoing, popular President and I had unlimited resources, then I bet I could win an empty Senate seat in a Democratic state.
Please give me a list of things that she accomplished on her own. No Clinton supporter ever does this because they cannot offer any program she created. She's a barnacle pure and simple.
Well to start Wellesly College and Yale Law School. Two pretty good schools for someone on the road to success.
Similar indeed. Both did some of their best work many years ago. Both have an insatiable appetite for attention. Both become more irrelevant with each passing day. Both have excellent hairdos.
Nicely said.
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