Replacing White Men in Suits With White Woman in Suits???

I rarely lose sleep over politics, but last night, after the Texas and Ohio primary results were in, I found myself tossing and turning over Hillary's "W" factor. That's Dubayou...not for woman, but for the mentor in mean spirited politics...and his genius band of Wiley and Vicious Negators, she's had over the past eight years.

I know that American's have had to numb-out to go through each day spending billions of dollars on a destructive and deadly war in Iraq when we can't (read aren't) building bridges and schools or providing disease care or all the other basic human needs that aren't being taken care of in the United States of America right now. But how numb are we? Can we really stand by while Hillary Clinton tells Barack Obama with a wistful tone in her voice, as she gently takes his arm, how honored she is to be on stage debating him, at the same time she turns around and drops a canned line like "change you can zerox" or her newest dismissive barb. "I have experience and he has a speech he gave in 2002". She's done vicious, mean, nasty, catty, obnoxious things...that may be par-for-the-course in traditional politics, but haven't we been talking about changing that?

The vast experience she frequently and questionably flaunts includes getting hip to the way back-stabbing, ruthless politics is the ABC's of life in Washington. Is this the kind of experience we can embrace? Do we want our first woman president to succeed because she can seamlessly emerge as one of the "Old Boys" I don't. Sure she's smart, and sure there are questions about Obama and some of his associates. There's dirt to be found on any politician who's ever made it as far as either of these two candidates. That is one reason I'm never running for president. I did inhale, and there are at least 18 other reasons. I have been told by friends who are working on the Obama campaign that they are under strict orders to "not to go negative" at any level.

What a sucker huh? He won't go negative. Well good, let's smash him with innuendo. Let's do all the things we've been criticizing the Bush administration and it's hateful cronies for doing to any perceived "enemy" for years. Lets pick open every scar, every questionable judgment and make a really big deal out of them, out of context if we can. Let's appeal to fear and insecurity and repeat a thousand times that he can't protect us. As if anyone can really protect us.

I'm sad that our first woman candidate for President has felt it necessary to practice "old boy" politics at its meanest and slimiest, and I'm sure I haven't "seen anything yet"; I know it will get worse. I might be accused of holding Hillary to a higher standard of niceness because she's a woman. I think I do, and that's all right because that standard of meanness is ruining the world, and it is time for a change.

Let's not look back too much. Hillary certainly couldn't withstand too much scrutiny. I certainly have some unanswered questions about things I've been hearing about Obama...like what exactly was said about NAFTA, despite his explanation that what happened has been misrepresented. Nobody has a lot of experience "doing right" by American working people. It calls for acts of creative and political genius. Let's let people admit their mistakes in judgment, and hear where they are now, today in moving forward creatively to improve life for the tens of millions of Americans who deserve better as they are suffering in todays economic, social, "health care" and educational quick sand.

Comments

[karen4Uk]

Woops! I won't lose any time contacting the editor. To be honest, I've always thought lose should be spelled loose...but it's not. Thanks KLK

[BubbaC33]

Despite your posting to the contrary, Obama was the first to go negative. He called Ms. Clinton a liar for truthful comments she made concenring her health care plan. He was attacking her for his own weakness, a tactic derived from the Rove playbook.
He has continued the negative attacks, directly and through his campaign staff. David Axelrod, his campaign chair, blamed Ms. Clinton for the death of Benazir Bhutto. That goes beyond negative to cowardly.
And to say Obama has not gone negative forgets calling the Clintons racists. Nothing either of them has said is remotely racist, just a convenient tactic for changing the subject.
The thing is, it was Obama who went negative first in this primary season.

[JAJ2007]

Nope - The Clinton campaign went negative first, with the mailers misrepresenting his record on choice.

The mailers were so misleading, that people from NOW and Planned Parenthood stood up and defended Obama. In addition, many of the women who were pushed to sign on to this mailer in New Hampshire came out recently and said how they were misled by the Clinton campaign.

[BubbaC33]

If you check the dates you'll find those mailers came out after Obama called Ms. CLinton a liar. Plus, this blog states plainly that Obama will not go negative, when he has already done so.

[BadChristian]

Watching Hillary fight the Republicans will be like watching the Baby Boomers fight the "plastic fantastic" and stand up for urban renewal... Until Oil, autos and credit card Corporations rule the cities, and they move out to hide in the suburbs voting for "Greed is good," Reaganomics.

[maggieb]

Hillary has had to "use old boy politics" because of people like you who continously fawn over Mr nice guy. He has you fooled, but many of us know that he is not what he is pretending to be. This is not a beauty contest, so Barack should toughnen up, he's in the big leagues now.

[karen4Uk]

Dear Maggie: Nowhere in my post, or anywhere else have I fawned over Barack Obama. I was objecting to Hillary Clinton's tone and tactics, not stating that Obama is everything he's pretending to be. I didn't really talk about Obama much. I'm not sure what the term beauty contest has to do with it, but I do note that you agree that being at the highest levels of American political debate means you should toughen up and, what, get really nasty too?

[BillZBubb]

You Obamists sure have thin skin. Wait until the Republicans go after Obama. If your candidate can't take his opponent questioning his preparedness for the job, maybe he shouldn't have the job. Clinton has done nothing remotely "slimey". The slimiest event in this campaign was when the Obama camp tried to paint the Clintons as racists. And not the best response you've got to Obama's big losses is ad hominems about Hillary Clinton.

And, BTW, Hillary Clinton has been "scrutinized" for over a decade by the right wing. Obama hasn't seen anything like that.

[karen4Uk]

Dear Bill: Why am I being called an "Obamist" because I'm critical of Hillary.? I didn't say much about Obama, except how impressed one of my friends was with his campaign organization. At first, Hillary didn't even seem comfortable saying obnoxious canned lines...like the Zerox comment...but now that she's seen how effective it can be to be tacky and ruthless, we'll see more of it of course. I do like a lot about Obama, but I'm not uncritical of him. BTW, point out that the Clintons may have been cynically appealing to other people's racism is not the same as saying that they are racist. Having a thin skin may help react appropriately to things..Having a thick skin means not feeling...and that's part of how we end up in trouble, leaving no place for kindness. When the Dalai Lama says his religion is kindness, people all over the world get inspired and tender; when we bring kindness up in the realm of politics, we're treated, unfortunately quite realistically, like suckers and fools. Hmmm.

[BubbaC33]

Obama referred to the Clintons as racists, that is beyond debate.

[boonagain]

Agreed.

So far , she has embodied everything that I find abhorrent about politics.

[magen]

The judgement errors, the temper tantrums and hissy fits, the "kitchen sink" tactics, the mismanagement of her campaign, and the sense of entitlement and inevitablity that was snatched away from her when she had every advantage a politician can possibly have going into this, shows you what kind of person Hillary is, and what kind of President she would be.

If this is how she handles losing primaries, I know she can't handle her own stupid 3AM red phone neo-CON fantasy situation very well.

[Wishb0ne]

"...loose sleep..."

Oh, my. Has Huffpro run out of editors?

[karen4Uk]

thanks for pointing this out. KLK