The following piece was produced by HuffPost's OffTheBus.
This piece is also published on Witness L.A..
The best line of the night in Thursday's Las Vegas debate--in terms of zinger value, anyway--came when CNN's Campbell Brown asked Hillary Clinton about a recent speech that Hil gave at Wellesley College. Evidently, Hillary told the crowd at her alma mater that Wellesley had "...prepared me compete in the all boys' club of presidential politics."
"What did you mean at Wellesley when you referred to the boys' club?" asked Brown.
It was, frankly, a really stupid question. What the earnest Ms. Brown clearly meant to ask had to do with this month's slew of accusations coming from Hillary's camp alleging that the male presidential contenders had been mean to poor HRC at the at the last Democratic debate....because she was a girl.
But instead Brown unintentionally handed Clinton the perfect opportunity to exploit the gender-specific element of her candidacy, an opportunity she could not have otherwise managed without Brown's soft ball. If Hillary wins, it may easily be this very gender-specific element--let's call the XX factor--that provides the added edge needed to propel her to victory.
Clinton first responded to the question with an artful riff about the historic challenges women have faced, and the "...great movement of progress that includes all of us but has particularly been significant to me as a woman...."
Then she spoke about mothers driving their daughters hundreds of miles to meet the person who might be the first woman president, followed by a heart-tugging story of a grandmother, born back when only men had the right to vote, who told Hil, "I want to live long enough to see a woman in the White House." Yeah, it was cheesy, but it worked. I even got kind of teary. (Hey, we have come a long way, baby, even in my lifetime.)
Finally Clinton wound up for the pitch: "I'm not playing, as some people say, the gender card here in Las Vegas, I'm just trying to play the winning card," she said, smiling her most perfect, cat-ate-the-canary smile. "I understand very well that people are not attacking me because I'm a woman..." (pause for effect) "They're attacking me because I'm ahead."
Oh, SNAP!
Was it disingenuous? Yes, of course. But nobody cared.
For the past two weeks, Hillary and her proxies had been playing the gender card in any game that would have them. The proxies ranged from Bill-the-huz, to the head of the Feminist Majority, Eleanor Smeal, who, in all seriousness said that when the other Dem candidates' played hardball with Hillary at the October 30, Philadelphia debate, it was reminiscent of the Congressional Republican attacks on ...ANITA HILL!
(Elie, honey, that's exactly the sort of idiotic claptrap that persuades young women not to call themselves feminists.)
But, here's the deal: Hillary plays the girl card because, every time she does, it has a very good chance of resonating with half the American population. Heck---as I said above--it worked with me, and I don't much like the broad. So, let's not kid ourselves, if Hillary wins the Democratic nomination it will not be in spite of the fact that she's a woman, it will be, in a weird way, because of it.
All things being equal, that isn't such a bad thing. As a country, we are more than ready for such a gender breakthrough. I just wish the person with the best shot at smashing that "highest, hardest glass ceiling" she mentioned in Las Vegas, was someone other than poll-driven, hawkish Hillary Clinton.
I'm just pointing to the very real fact that one of the most powerful elements Hillary has going for her is her gender. A lot of the women I've interviewed---particularly, by the way, inner city women--- are so busy coping with the slings and arrows of their own lives, that they haven't had the time to read the details of her positions, but simply go with a gut reaction that adds up to: I Think It'd Be Great to Have A Woman, so Let's Vote for Hillary.
And Hillary is---quite understandably---playing this for all it's worth.
I had a horrible mother, but besides her, I have found that women are far better at managing than men. Yeah, I hear the word leader thrown around in politics, but that's not a job, that's a result of having people follow you.
I do think that Hillary would lead many women to pursue political service and many men to stop being assholes to women.
BUT... she makes me nervous when she does things like she did with the whole $97k tax thing. That was not honest. That makes me very nervous about her.
I admit that I have been supportive of Hillary maybe more than I would because I want a woman president. But she's making it hard. I wish she wouldn't.
Guess what. I cannot stand her. She is not only an embarrassment to all independent women but, also to democrats.
Unlike those who willingly drink the koolaid, I see right through her spin and phoniness. I know her lack of stands on most issues and those she has a record on show me a republican in democratic clothing.
Nevermind the sleaze, corruption, secrectiveness, ect.
I am so sick of pundits putting me in that box where I am suppose to support Hillary simply because she has a vagina.
I'm voting Obama.
She has NEVER done anything on her own.
She rides on the Clinton name.
And has the LEAST experience--I can't think of anything notable that she has done!!!!
Below is a statement from Barack Obama:
"During our debate in Las Vegas on Thursday, we heard Senator Clinton rail against the politics of 'throwing mud.'
"At the very same time, in Washington, Robert Novak was publishing a column in which he reported the following: 'Agents of Sen. Hillary Clinton are spreading the word in Democratic circles that she has scandalous information about her principal opponent for the party's presidential nomination, Sen. Barack Obama...'
"The item did not identify these 'agents,' nor did it reveal the nature of the charge. It was devoid of facts, but heavy on innuendo and insinuation of the sort to which we've become all too accustomed in our politics these past two decades. If the purpose of this shameless item was to daunt or discourage me or supporters of our campaign from challenging and changing the politics of Washington, it will fail. In fact, it will only serve to steel our resolve.
"But in the interest of our party, and her own reputation, Senator Clinton should either make public any and all information referred to in the item, or concede the truth: that there is none.
"She of all people, having complained so often about 'the politics of personal destruction,' should move quickly to either stand by or renounce these tactics.
"I am prepared to stand up to that kind of politics, whether it's deployed by candidates in our party, in the other party or by any third party.
"The cause of change in this country will not be deterred or sidetracked by the old 'Swift boat' politics. The cause of moving America forward demands that we defeat it."
We have to do better than this.
Surely we aren't stupid enough to be conned by Mark Penn and Hillary Clinton into voting for the romantic notion they are so shrewdly and stridently selling - ooo, wouldn't it be nice to have a woman president???
Yeah, it would be nice to have a woman president. It would be even nicer to have a progressive president, or even a moderate one. But this particular woman promises us more of the same suicidal path this country is on - government of, by, and for the corporate power structure.
Rememering his father's short lasting (short war) approval rate in the high 80's, Bush wanted to be a "WAR TIME" president. This is certainly not Hillary,s ambition. Health Care President?
Are women less confrontational, less "in your face". Was the Nation's interest helped by designating Iraq, Iran, N.Korea "Axis of Evil" . Women police officers usually find a way to avoid using force. Bush is "my way or the highway". Hillary talkes about compromise with Republicans.
The Nation is on the wrong path. It is time to try something different. We know that at least in one way she will be different from any other president.