Thinking About Hillary In The Heartland

PEORIA, ILLINOIS -- Duh! Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton wins overwhelmingly in West Virginia, even as the pundits are trying to shove her out of the race while they ridicule her on television and in their columns.

Why do they hate her? Is it old fashioned sexism? Probably.

No one has told Sen. Barack Obama to "park my car" or "shine my shoes," while Hillary is told to "iron my shirt" and worse.

But the facts are the facts. Hillary wins where it counts. That's amazing, given the media hostility against her.

If the Democratic nomination system were the same as the Republican system, Hillary would already be the nominee today, since she has won most of the big states.

The proportional system gives Obama lots of delegates in the smaller states which likely will go Republican anyway. So he's ahead.

Superdelegates, who are supposed to correct problems in the nomination process. have been jumping on the Obama bandwagon, no doubt hoping for favors from Obama's administration if he wins.

That's a big IF.

As dogs and bodies are walked for exercise, I have been asking my neighbors, in the white, middle class suburb where I live in Peoria, Illinois (IObama's home state), their thoughts on the election.

Earlier this spring I found some supporting Hillary.

True, Hillary came in way behind Obama in the Illinois primary. And in Peoria. Nevertheless on my quiet, spacious, tree-lined street, people are mostly conservative, and some have been Republican voters in the past. No longer.

They hate the war and the corruption, and are ready to vote Democratic. But not for Obama.

McCain is looking good, two neighbors told me separately last week. One asked if it's true that Obama won't salute the flag. The other just said no way will he vote for Obama. He may write in Hillary.

These are not intellectuals or young people They're middle aged men, the kind of voters Hillary has won over elsewhere. The kind that make up the majority of the US electorate.

They're not thinking of the Supreme Court appointments under McCain, and they don't read the New York Times on line. They're more likely to watch Fox News.

And they're very suspicious of their own US Senator, Obama. They probably didn't support him for the Senate, the seat he essentially won in the Illinois Democratic primary out of a large field of candidates.

My intellectual friends at universities, including many women, swoon for Obama. He's different, they say.

(Wait until I tell them that he's started wearing a flag pin in his lapel, as the New York Times reported today. What? Will he do anything to win? Just like Hillary?)

As a former newspaper reporter, I've met Obama a couple of times. He's a bright, charming guy. I've also seen Hillary in person, where she was brilliant and charming, definitely the better of the two candidates, as she typically proved in the debates.

I went to work on my neighbors with the usual arguments: Obama is bright and capable, and he'll do fine as president if he wins. He's a quick learner. They listened politely.

That doesn't mean I don't prefer Hillary. She's a decade ahead of Obama in experience. Her health care plan is the only one that will work financially. End of story.

Sure my 19-year-old grandson and his girlfriend say they voted for Obama, after their mothers dragged them to the polls. Would they vote on their own? Who knows.

My son reports he was just too busy working to vote in the primary.

My daughter voted in the Republican primary because her friend was running for a local office. She's Obama's age but would have voted for Hillary.

So what ARE the national Democrats thinking?

Will they really throw the nomination to Obama, the black intellectual, to run against a white war hero?

I tremble for my country, as Thomas Jefferson once said.

Comments

[LongTom]

Yeah, Elaine, I guess Obama is going to have trouble carrying Illinois' electoral votes in the fall? I guess that your Republican neighbors would prefer the lying nepotist to the brilliant black man?

Let's not forget that Obama has already withstood a Republican-type assault from Hillary, but that Obama has handled her with kid gloves. her nomination would guarantee five months of Bosnian sniper fire and Lewinsky commercials,and she'd be crushed in November.

It's fascinating to read that Hillary has "won where it counts." She is running behind McCain in at least half a dozen states that Kerry carried in 2004, as well as as some purple states, all of which Obama is leading McCain in: WA, OR, MN, WI, IA, CO, VA, MO--and given her political incompetence, she'd have a good shot at losing the states that she's leading in, like OH, PA, FL, and MI. Obama saved the party from certain defeat this fall.

[bbrecht]

Wow-- I think we should elect our next president based on stereotypes, don't you? Sorry, but your nice tree lined street might not be the pulse of the nation. And sorry but young people, which according to exit polls includes everyone under 50 (!) (in some cases 60 years old) are turning out in droves to vote because their future is on the line. Please, can't you think of a better reason to vote for Clinton than stereotypes, racism and small mindedness? Your neighbors had their chance-- as a result of their lack of trust, I suppose, we ended up with a trillion dollar war and eight years of Bush. Should we pander to them or hope they become educated (yes, I said it!) enough to vote in their own interests?

[lovethesinner]

"These are not intellectuals or young people They're middle aged men, the kind of voters Hillary has won over elsewhere. The kind that make up the majority of the US electorate"

The following link will disprove your theory about the electorate. Please go to the video section and watch the first 30 minutes of the first video to learn what happened. The current generation of voters who are just now coming of age IS THE LARGEST GENERATION IN HISTORY, even larger than the BABY BOOM:

http://www.millennialmakeover.com/index.html

For super-delegates, the choice is a question of turning away the largest voting block in the history of the United States.

[SamWainwright]

As to HRC being mistreated by the Press: NO other person in America could have a husband who was impeached, be substantially responsible for the Republicans taking control of Congress in the '90's, carpetbag their way into the Senate and still be considered a viable candidate for President. Hillary has had the free ride of all free rides when it comes to media willingness to forget the sins of the past. Consider the treatment Obama was given over Jeremiah Wright versus the absolute lack of discussion about the last-minute Clinton pardons (Marc Rich, FALN...). Candidate Hillary was given a nice shiny golden egg at the beginning of the campaign and she managed to drop it. It was her campaign and ultimately her fault that it didn't succeed.

[Steverino46]

"Obama, the black intellectual, to run against a white war hero?"

Hmmm...

How about a SMART, CHARISMATIC, and COMPASSIONATE candidate running against a BOTTOM-OF-HIS-CLASS, BELLICOSE, GEORGE-BUSH-ish FLIP-FLOPPER?

Give me an intelligent President any day, especially in these troublous times.

[Gma11]

Ah, yes, those "iron my shirt" protestors later discovered with Hillary buttons, signs, and adhesive labels on their laptops.

Did you really think such protestors could get where they did, with the lights right on, without assistance from the campaign?!

[ButterflyWeed]

Nice try Elaine, but you're parroting too little too late. I work in Springfield, IL often and have yet to meet the "white men" you describe supporting Hillary. Nor have I met any voters distrusting their Senator Obama, or for that matter, any life-long Republicans crossing over to support the Clintons. Further, if West Virginia is one of HRC's "states that count" why isn't Huckabee the front-runner for the Republican party?

[hrayovac]

Hopkins complaining, "No one has told Sen. Barack Obama to ..'shine my shoes"....it's like the Hillary fans WANT him to be treated badly as if to "level the field" rather than putting an end to all the low-blow, unfair politics...oh sorry, Hillary's still needs to cook up come more racial comments to show her command of the race in Kentucky. Too soon to be principled.

So which is it? Either Obama has run a successful campaign by turning criticisms into pluses ...Or he is painfully inexperienced and thus can't possibly lead. You must stick to one criticism or the other for they are not interchangeable.

[egal]

Wow. Thank you for succinctly listing so many of the disproven rationales guiding those who rabidly insist Hillary is being wronged by a media that has, until very recently, believed she could do no wrong. Just when I was beginning to hope Hillary's supporters would stop providing so much ammunition for the misguided misogynists who insist women aren't rational and let emotion guide their weak minds, you go and add on to your major driving quest to prove them right.

[unity08]

So by your thinking the superdelegates should overturn the peoples votes because you and your friends dont like Obama?!! Well too damn bad! I am so sick of this. The superdelegates are not there to "make it right" for you.

Their purpose is to vote for the best candidate in their own well thought out and deeply considered estimate. The only reason to overturn every metric would be if a candidate was polling so far below the Republican opponent that there would be no doubt of the outcome in Novemeber. Get a grip, put your big girl panties on, a get over it!

[churchlady]

"No one has told Sen. Barack Obama to "park my car" or "shine my shoes," "
You just said it. Now everything is even. Feel better?

[mypolitics01]

Hopefully Elaine is all better now... Darn it that it is hard when you don't pick the winner. A bad case of the "if only's" Besides..... the whole "iron my shirt' was set up by Hillary and staff. Think about it... how did two very young men, who have been raised on wash and wear, get past the security with that sign? I watched it, they were playing to them the whole time and Hillary had her response rehearsed. A little stunt to get the women sympathy card... I am not a Hillary hater, I am not even a democrat and could care less. But let’s call a spade a spade.... OMG can we even say that in now days.... I mean no offense. I look forward to the GE and getting to know the nominees better as they go toe to toe.

[SayonaraSnot]

First: Correct your numerous typos and grammatical errors.

Second: Clinton's performance among key demographics in the primaries is not a bellweather for her success in the general. Learn some electoral history.

Third: The plural of anecdote is not data.

[jungpatawan]

"The plural of anecdote is not data."

Nice! I'm gonna steal that and use it for my own!

JP

[gaypastor]

The sexism that has pervaded the media's coverage of Hillary and has been ignored by the DNC is nothing short of astonishing! I'm hurt and saddened to be part of a country and party that 1) is unaware of the signs of sexism and/or 2) doesn't care. I've spent months watching Hillary be chastized and ridiculed in the name of "she's a Clinton." I watched as people I thought were liberal and progressive adults go along with these statements, utterly unaware how their decision to tie her identity with her husband (i.e. highlighted by those who know refer to her as Billary) is, itself, an incredibily sexist move. This is one of MANY, many signs that have emerged along the way. Most are created by the press and almost all have been ignored by the DNC and their top leaders.

Run as an Independent Hillary....we're still behind you and we know "the more experienced choice who is more capable of making changes" when we see it....even if our own party is forcing us out. Its far from the first time women (or gays or other pro-female communities) have had to walk our own path.

[dawlishgal]

Don't kid yourself....if Hillary's main opponent had been a gay person, she would have played the homophobe card. Nobody is forcing anybody out. Obama won fair and square. If Hillary had won we would be supporting her because the most important thing is keeping a Democrat in the White House and keeping nut cases off of the supreme court. That her supporters are so polarized and goofy tells us a lot about her and a lot about them.

[hrayovac]

If Hillary is disparaged by being associated to Bll Clinton so much, isn't your criticism about the denigrating treatment of men, not women? If Hillary had meant to distance herself from Bill and the successful WJC presidency, she would have left Bill at home. Stop blaming others for the mistakes she made. She'll be the first to admit (privately) that her campaign plan wasn't a good one for this year. I would hope her supporters would have the same kind of wisdom she has.

[egal]

Or you could enter reality by checking the numbers, comparing how Obama was treated to how Clinton was treated, and you'll realize that the only reason you believe she has been harmed rather than helped by sexism is due to your own gender bias.

Because most of us subconsciously believe women too emotionally weak to handle necessary criticism, too mentally fragile to be expected to withstand attacks, and too incapable of doing a "man's job", the media had given her easier questions, less public airing of her past failures even though she has much more than her opposition, and a considerably inferior standards to attain in order to be deemed a success or the favorite to win.

So, when the MSM begins treating Hillary increasingly nearer to the higher standards the men have been held to, those of us who buy into the arguments of women's inferiority and the need to attack in order to gain traction amongst the men whine about the extra-harsh treatment.

In reality, she's still being coddled, but too many of us expect or demand extra-gentle treatment of women and only feel they get a fair shake when they are raised on a pedestal and provided achievement goals inferior to those the men must meet.

Reality is on Obama's side (mainly because, unlike some [all others still in the race] presidential candidates, he has a grasp on it).

[LongTom]

The sexism that undermined Hillary was as nothing compared to the advantages that nepotism provided her. Do you imagine for a second that this uncharismatic, unremarkable woman would have been within a hundred miles of this nomination had her husband not been the popular two-term former president? Jesus, you complain that people "tie her identity with her husband?" She ran as her husband's wife, for a third Clinton term. Are you insane?

You live in a fantasy world.

[mhaven]

How do you know Barack hasn't been told to shine someone's shoe? He is just not a victim, and doesn't whine about it.

So, All the people who support Barack and the DNC are delusional for standing behind the presumptive nominee, but they should follow your anecdotal evidence gleaned from your street and relatives. Are you suggesting a black man can never get elected to President in the USA? Do you expect the DNC to tell African Americans - the most loyal voting bloc of the party - sorry, we'll take your votes but none of your race can ever be elected so we'll take the nomination from the winner?

You're not thinking clearly.

[burnt]

"But the facts are the facts. Hillary wins where it counts."

Sorry... if you just quit your spinning for the briefest of moments, you might be able to see the only "FACT" in the equation. The Clinton Party lost... a very long time ago. ...and, more important to any degree of clarity you might obtain once the dizzy spell from your spin cycle wears off... she did it to herself...

Now, you have the finger wagging exercise down pat... try a few mental exercises for balance.

Hillary and Bill - putting the "nasty" in Dynasty since 1992