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
Loading comments…
Want to reply to a comment? Hint: Click "Reply" at the bottom of the comment; after being approved your comment will appear directly underneath the comment you replied to
Sorry, slipped and sent the message before i was done!
Cont. Hillary has sold out herself and the nation to the radical right wing hawks that back her in order to advance her political career. Too harsh? well ask the soldiers and iraqi people dying in Iraq. Look at her work to start war with Iran. Look at her cheerleading for the war with Lebanon, which was like a smaller Iraq 2 in that it was based on lies (they could NEVER acheive the goals they set out to accomplish) and only HURT israel, lebanon, and the US.
So did Madonna go to Bosnia and duck under sniper fire too?
Did she help bring peace to Northern Ireland?
Did Madonna's countless trips overseas, help her get foreign policy experience?
Has Madonna released her tax returns?
It will be good to know.
Yeah, and Madonna caught a smoke with Obama, too, when he was on his many travels around the world. :)
Yes, they are both extremely sad, pitiful cases of women who are too rich to have any hope of leaving a scene which has bypassed them with any dignity, I certainly agree. However, comparing them to one another is more insulting to both of them than anything Randi Rhodes said in jest.
They may not go away, but I have the right to vote for someone else and listen to someone else. Eventually, without an audience, their voice will dissipate. Until that audience chooses thusly, I'll have to work to ignore them both.
blech.
It is an interesting comparison to make. Unfortunately, the author is making this comparison through out dated, out moded stereotypes of women who fight for women's rights or some such thing. Most of us who do not support Hillary as the candidate are not put off by her being a woman or being a strong woman or being an unlikable woman (though I don't think she's unlikable at all). Her being a woman has nothing to do with this for me or anyone I know. For us, it is the fact that she will promise anyone anything in order to get their vote. She promises the DNC one thing and the people of FL another. She promises anti-war Democrats one thing and President Bush another. And her praise of McCain over Obama was simply disgraceful. It was a low-down tactic only to be out done by her response to the question of Obama's religion. I don't want THAT to be my leader after these atrocious years.
I like Clinton's health care plan, and I do believe you gain a level of insight, though not experience, from sharing a bed with the most powerful person on the planet. However, I genuinely do not believe she is the right person for the job at this point in history. Her methods are reprehensible and though they are no different than any politician who came before her, that's kind of the point.
Her methods are reprehensible, but yet you still consider her a likable person? My opinion is that Hillary has become unlikable for the very reason of her reprehensible behavior. Prior to these primary races, I neither loved her or dislked her intensely. However, I have always felt that her elitist strategy on Healthcare during her husbands early term was a complete disaster for the Democratic party, being that it was the main factor which lead to the 1994 rise of Newt Gingrich and the Republican majority for over a decade. Hillary is not good for the Democratic party, she is divisive and polarizing, as is being witnessed in her campaign daily. Now she is joking with Jay Leno about her lies in Bosnia, "reprehensible" is a very tame adjective to describe her pathological public persona.
Well, I happen to hate both HRC and Madonna so, tra-la-la.
It's pretty sad when Madonna is the much better woman of the two. Madonna, like her or not, made it on her own. She scratched and clawed every inch of her career and lived a very uncomfortable life in NY until she made it. She didn't find some man to ride on the back of, only to jump off to climb the last few inches on her own before falling off of the ladder and plummeting to her political death.
Oh, and Madonna REALLY supports gays, unlike the don't ask don't tell, DOMA passing Clintons. How very curious that Madge is supporting Hillary, but she has basically said that it's only because Hillary is a woman, which I guess makes Madonna even more of a feminist than Hillary, because Hillary is only out for one woman's success, that being her own.
I have to disagree with you: Madonna is a one-woman powerhouse who has men working for her. Hillary rides on the coattail of her husband--no doubt she contributes tremendously but he is in charge nonetheless and Hillary's entire "experience" would not have taken place had it not for Bill. Even now, she needs Bill to keep her buoyant.
And citing Dee Dee Myers as evidence is like quoting Cheney to support Bush.
What a bunch of bitchy comments about Hillary,
It's like eavesdropping in a junior high girls' bathroom.
I thought this entry was entertaining and thought provoking- but then Hillary doesn't have a decent jump shot like Obama so she must be, like, you know, a total loser.
I like Obama, but he's inspired legions of the most insipid, sophomoric followers in American history.
The proof is in the comments section of any blog.
Grow the fuck up, kiddies.
I've seen puerile comments among supporters of both candidates. Democrats have become polarized. To say that Obama has inspired "legions of the most insipid, sophomoric followers in American history" . . . that's . . . well . . . insipid and sophomoric. The insults go round and round and so the supporters of these candidates are either Obamabots or Clintonistas, and few can step back and see the larger mess. The best solution is probably the simple and obvious one. Democrats should pay attention to the issues, vote for the candidate we like, treat our opponents with dignity even as we criticize them, and ignore this long parade of inanity. We all need to keep our blood pressure in the 120/80 range. It's a long way until November. And then, hopefully, there will be life after that.
This is hilarious! I supported Clinton myself before switching to Obama about two months ago. One of the reasons I switched was because I became so disillusioned by my fellow Hillary supporters, most of whom were middle aged and older woman (with whom I am almost always in agreement and constantly find myself aligning with) with a major feminist chip (I am a proud third wave feminist, by the way) on their shoulder, bitching and whining and acting like jilted teenagers over the ascent of Obama.
I'm not sure what generation you belong to, but if you are older, you really need to address your ageism against young Dems who choose, well within their rights, to support Obama, and learn how to begin passing the torch to the next generation with a little grace.
Generalizations, particular insulting and incorrect ones, only make your opinion all the less credible.
Insipid and sophomoric? As an Obama supporter who considers himself up on the issues, educated and open to intelligent debate, consider this my taking major exception.
In point of fact, "Grow the fuck up, kiddies" doesn't exactly scream maturity or informed argument. Half the reason I was turned off from Hillary (the other half being her persona, a few of her discrete policy positions and the veil of secrecy surrounding her) is the fairly pervasive attitude among her supporters, evidenced by your comment, that Obama supporters are somehow wrongheaded, stupid or gullible for having the gall to support someone other than Hillary.
So please, before you accuse other commenters en masse of being insipid and sophomoric, try making an actual argument. You also might want to avoid statements like "grow the fuck up".
It's the dishonesty, secrecy, entitlement, contempt for the voters, infinitely elastic ethics, subversion of the electoral process, and lawerly (or should I say, 'Clintonian') ability to argue both sides of the question simultaneously without a hint of cognitive dissonance. Is that what we really need in a president now?
I'd be happy to vote for a woman for president, just not this one. She is not Everywoman, she is Hillary Rodham Clinton, fatally flawed as presidential material. Her campaign's mortal wounds were self-inflicted, not the fault of gender bias, unfair coverage, or "bitchy" sniping.
I haven't seen much junior high nastiness in the comments here, just a recognition that she and her husband have squandered the goodwill they earned in the White House and after his term ended. If they bow out now, they may escape with a few tatters of dignity.
ANY woman running for President is NOT going to be EVERYWOMAN! "Everywoman" is not a Presidential candidate, as a Senator from NY. If gender truly wasn't an issue, people would NOT be making that argument. To blame her for not being "Everywoman" IS a bias against her specific traits as a woman, based on essentialism! And, "bitchy" sniping is not applied to male candidates, either..that is sexism!
Outdated beliefs, such as essentialism which propose that individuals should be judged by the characteristics of the group to which they belong, (ie, sex), account for the misguided mentality of "Everywoman." Assumptions that all women should fit into the same category, with the same characteristics are usually based on one's own egocentrism and homogeniety of women as a whole.
Just even saying.."I'd be happy to vote for a woman for president..." and going on to describe her status as "not Everywoman" makes it a gender issue. I can understand and debate some of the arguments, which are not based on gender, but rather on her individual attributes as a member of another group..politicians and specifically, in that group..Presidential candidate, supposedly fatally flawed??, with squandered goodwill!
A thimble full of talent poured into an ocean of ambition. Somebody once said that about Madonna, I suppose it applies to Hillary as well.
"Et tu, Brute?" So you suggest that Obama is the opposite; an ocean of talent and only a thimble sized ambition?
Is that the logical inference?
Ambition is wonderful in certain instances, but not so great when it's the blind variety. It is true that Obama has talent to spare, however.
And OVER, way, way over. They're so 90s !! Just listen to them . . . my god, I'm so sick of BOTH of them . . . yuck! They're like Cher.
Look I'm probably older than both of them, but come on, move on -- they're not Gandi. If you want moves, watch Shakira. If you want leadership, it's Obama. Good grief!
For all of us carmel colored brunettes in the world, this glorification of white blonds is enough already. They should have a seat at the table like everyone else on the planet, but the world is made up of many great shades and perspectives! The thing that has completely turned me off about Hillary is that you can't just use the rest of us chicks for some political agenda and crush us when we don't benefit you and appear in our churches when we do! Madonna learned a long time ago that talent in all shades is worthy on her stage because they make her better. Madonna embraced that. Celebrates that. All of the time. Not just when she needs to make another CD!
I have to agree with the blogger who noted that one primary difference is that Madonna earned her achievements. Yes, they both work. But, as far as I know, Madonna did not benefit from a spouse's connections and achievements.
Hillary"s not middle-aged, she's in her Sixties. Middle-aged implies that your Forties-Fifities. HRC's well on her way to elderliness.
Also, at least Madonna's achieved something on her own. A better comparison would be to Pia Zadora or Marion Kane.
Eva Peron.
This is an insult to MADONNA!!! Actually, Hillary is a lot more like Courtney Love - rude, obnoxious, talent-less and only famous because of who she was married to!!! Madonna is the TRUE feminist here!!!
They ARE virtually the same, i.e. overrated.
You must be logged in to comment. Log in or connect with
