Hillary Clinton's fundraising t-shirt contest came to an end last week. She sent out a letter with the news:
"In May, Chelsea announced our 'Project T-Shirt' contest, and I never imagined we would have such an outpouring of support and great designs."
The winning t-shirt is another Hillaryland product layered with meaning. Ostensibly basic -- the hand-printed lettering blocked out in jagged rows and inconsistently capitalized -- it is not basic; it only seems that way at first -- and not at all when viewed as something selected primarily to give Barack Obama pains. In that light, we can see in the t-shirt the work of a true artist, a master at the art of power who has honed her skills on the anvil of longtime marriage to Big Bill.
The shirt slogan sounds like a beer commercial: "For everyone who's ever been counted out but refused to be knocked out and for everyone who works hard and never gives up, this one is for you."
It's not a thank you to her supporters. It's not a valentine to Hillary. It's not at all about democracy or any signature policy. It's certainly not about hope or change or the Democratic Party. It's message is simply to soldier on, to keep going no matter what has transpired, no matter what anyone including yourself (Hillary), for example, may have said in any venue to any number of viewers for any number of cameras! The message is about never saying die and "refusing to be knocked out," physically or, say, knocked out of an election race in which you have failed to get enough votes to continue. Don't let that stop you!
What is the real point of this message? Surely Hillary, with her more than thirty-five years of experience in politics, couldn't just be celebrating on this most basic level her alleged will of steel. Please. This is high-level politics and marketing we're talking about. People on her campaign went to Ivy League schools, are paid millions in their various hard work consultancy and hedge fund jobs. Are we supposed to think the crude message of the first reading is all they came up with?
There is also the matter of the Hillary figure in silhouette, a design choice so odd it must be a clue.
The obvious design approach would be to take better advantage of the squareness of the visual space that is a t-shirt, or at least the horizontal rectangle of the chest. This is where the eyes go, for all of us, male and female. But the Hillary silhouette is a vertical and placed impossibly low -- so low that if you were to tuck in the shirt, the bottom section of the sentences, the big ending, (...is for you!) would be lost in the pants, which suggests the grand phrasings are worth even less than we at first suspect.
With the bottom of the sentences tucked into the pants, what we have rising from the belt -- do I need say it? -- is only abstract Hillary in a full erectness that would appear to stretch from somewhere below the belt nigh unto the nipples. It's "the woman in the pants suit" in full phallic glory!
Again the Hillary camp is out manning the men with a locker-room dig. During the primary season, she had more cojones than any of the other candidates, as James Carville bragged. And now Hillary will be the erect member stretching up all of her supporters' stomachs at the convention next month -- brazen, singular, unabashed -- just like the woman herself.
Seen for what it is, the t-shirt is in every way a master stroke.
Hillary's letter:
Dear --,
I have so many wonderful memories from the millions of people I met on the campaign trail. Over the past year and half, I have also collected a few cherished mementos. They are a reflection of the many ups and downs that we went through together and represent our many accomplishments.
In May, Chelsea announced our "Project T-Shirt" contest, and I never imagined we would have such an outpouring of support and great designs. We received almost five thousand amazing entries, and more than 125,000 of you voted for your favorite design.
While the primary race may be over, I think the winning t-shirt -- and it won by a landslide -- still makes a wonderful statement about everything you and I accomplished in this historic race and our determination to keep fighting for what we believe in.
If you contribute $50 today you'll get a t-shirt with the winning design and continue to help me pay down our campaign debt.
Click here to make a contribution of $50 and receive one of our winning t-shirts.
Denitza of Weehawken, New Jersey submitted the winning t-shirt. I'd like to thank Denitza and the thousands of others who put their time, talent, and efforts into all the great designs that were submitted.
I know you're as proud as I am of everything we achieved and I hope I can count on you to work with me on the issues that brought us together. By helping us pay down the debt from one of the hardest-fought races in Democratic primary history, you're making a real difference today for all our future efforts.
Plus, if you contribute $50, you'll get one of our winning t-shirts. It's a great statement about the spirit that drove our campaign, and I hope you'll get one for yourself!
Contribute $50 to help pay down our debt, and you'll get a t-shirt with our winning design.
Thank you for everything!
Hillary Rodham Clinton
Posted July 16, 2008 | 10:23 AM (EST)