Golfing with Hillary's Ghost

We've all been there.

A girlfriend decides to marry a guy you've never really been that crazy about, or worse, can't stand. Whether it was because you suspect him of cheating on her while she was away one weekend (or know for a fact that he did), or because he made some comment about her weight during a fight years ago (that you've secretly never forgiven him for), the bottom line is you don't like the guy and simply never will. Even though she's found a way to move on from their "rough patches," you can't or won't. So instead, you agree to show up at the wedding and wear the bridesmaid dress but secretly you hate him, and plan to spend the next five to ten years until their divorce (because you're convinced there will be a divorce) telling anyone who will listen that he's a terrible person and she could have done better.

Welcome to the world of some disgruntled Hillary for President supporters--certainly not all of them, but a vocal, media-friendly minority.

I was reminded of their existence (and their seemingly never-ending grudge) while sifting through coverage of "Golf-gate," the media created controversy regarding who President Obama selects to be his playmates on the golf course and basketball courts. The New York Times felt compelled to devote an entire article to the subject, as have a host of other outlets and bloggers (and yes, now I'm one of them). The award for the most obtuse headline on the topic so far goes to Bonnie Erbe who, writing for US News and World Report online blared, "Obama Not Comfortable with Women in Basketball, Golf...or Anywhere Else." (The headline was not the only obtuse part of the piece. She managed to compare the first black President to former Senator and Mr. Civil Rights himself, Jesse Helms.) The subtext of the coverage is not so subtle at all. As both the New York Times and US News pieces make clear, there are certain women who have never quite trusted President Obama when it comes to women and the issues that matter to them.

It doesn't matter that his primary parental figures, and subsequently the most significant people in his life, were both strong women. It doesn't matter that he married another strong woman. It doesn't matter that his closest adviser is a strong woman. It doesn't matter that he has appointed strong women to his Cabinet or that his first Supreme Court nominee is another strong woman. In the eyes of some, President Obama's unforgivable sin is that he beat a strong woman to the White House--and not just any woman but their hope, their heroine, their girlfriend Hillary.

While Hillary Clinton may have "forgiven" the President, reconciled with him and moved on, and moved in to his Cabinet, there remain some still mourning the presidency that might have been. They may have showed up at the political wedding and pulled the lever for Obama on Election Day--just like their girlfriend asked--but they have made up their minds that they will never like the guy, and will embrace any excuse to validate their suspicions and resentments of him. To put it bluntly, if President Obama by some scientific miracle managed to become the first biological male to give birth on live television, with no anesthesia, there are still some women who would say, "He just doesn't get it."

What's particularly ironic about this conversation is that former President Clinton once faced criticism for golfing at an all white country club, a club he knew to be racially restricted at the time. Yet somehow that little historical tidbit has been all but forgotten in the narrative of the so-called "First Black President." Do I know how many non-white golf buddies Clinton has played with since he disavowed the club? No. Have I given the matter much thought since then? No.

Is who the President spends his leisure time with an interesting topic of discussion? Sure.

But are the anatomical details of the people who the President spends his leisure time with an interesting topic of discussion? Possibly. But in my opinion only if the President's off "hiking the Appalachian Trail" with someone when he ought to be focused on other things, like fixing the economy.

What irritates me most about stories like these is that I hate seeing members of disenfranchised groups (along with members of the media) allow issues that don't really matter, to distract us from the issues that really do. In the last 24 hours:

• 109 American women died of breast cancer.
• There were more than 700 sexual assaults in the U.S.
• 1,440 women worldwide died from childbirth complications.

So while I was excited to hear that Melody Barnes, one of the most gracious people I know in Washington, recently joined the President on the golf course, the coverage her selection generated reminds me of some words of wisdom dispensed right here on the Huffington Post. On the day that the National Organization of Women released a statement critical of David Letterman it was announced that Oklahoma was enacting one of the most disturbing abortion laws of the modern era. One Huffington Post reader wrote simply in the comments section under the Oklahoma story, "N.O.W.--you have bigger fish to fry than David Letterman."

Ladies, we have bigger fish to fry than the President and his golf and basketball buddies. If you don't believe me ask our incredibly capable Secretary of State. After a lifetime spent working on issues that really matter to women, my guess is she'll tell you the same.

www.keligoff.com

 

 

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Comments

[kbojar]

An excellent article. I believe that most women voters who started out as Hillary supporters are totally over it, but some who expected to benefit personally from a Clinton administration (jobs, access etc) are in some cases clearly not over it. Their disappointment is very much bound up with their own career expectations.

kbojar
www.the-next-stage.com

[skialethia]

Hillary is building on recent polls that show she is MORE popular than Obama by going rogue on foreign policy.

Hillary's Halloween costume: A man's suit with a Joe L. mask.

[2morrowknight - Huffpost Blogger]

Another great post Kelli. If this were The World Series of Posts, your slugging percentage would be off the charts. You're in the zone.

PS Don't worry about Bonnie Erbe. Once you factor in the inane and/or snide statements she made about Obama in '07 and '08 (on her PBS show "To the Contrary"), then her latest post about Obama isn't that surprising.

[S1m0n]

What annoys me are the attempts to draw a conclusion that is not only false, but is wholly opposed to reality. As this piece notes, Barack Obama the man has been surrounded by strong women his entire life, and appears perfectly comfortable being so.

It's entirely possible that he also relishes all-bro company from time to time, and that golf courses and basketball courts are where he gets it. There is nothing wrong with that, and it is not evidence of any kind of sexism or misogyny.

[EducatedObserver]

Of course people are still peeved, and rightly so.

In 2008 American Democrats, spoonfed as they are by too many years of Disneyland and left wing political thought, turned the competition between Clinton and Obama into a beauty pageant.

It mattered not that the woman was manifestly more intelligent, pugnacious and experienced than her opponent.

In the end, the candidate with the bigger smile, sweeter voice and more compelling back-story won.

[Housewife]

No, the candidate who ran the smarter, disciplined more efficient grass roots campaign won.

[TheBaffler]

Whenever I get down, I simply think of Clinton's failure in her bid for the presidency and I cheer right up. It was a spectacular loss, and though we're indeed in bad shape under the leadership of our current corporate shill, things would be markedly worse under another Clinton administration.

[medicinecat]

But when you look at the former-Clinton people he surrounds himself with, and his deference to the economic top 2%, it is another Clinton administration.

[TheBaffler]

True, but it still pleases me endlessly that she herself failed in her bid and had to settle for SoS.

Someone like Kucinich winning would've been better still.

[NikkiT]

I'm glad you wrote this article. I am one of the disgruntled Hillary supporters, but want to make clear, for me, my gripe is not with Obama. He ran a magnificent campaign. My gripe is with everything surrounding Obama. The Media who trashed Hillary from day one, then moved on to trash Palin. Sexism was rampant in the 08 election. Then Obama supporters were just downright nasty - calling anyone who voted for Hillary "dumb, ignorant, racists". Never mind that she had the women's vote, latino vote, jewish vote, gay vote, senior vote and Asian vote - the way the media portrayed it, only dumb ignorant people voted for her. Then if all this wasn't bad enough - HER OWN PARTY (which was mine) turned against her, INCLUDING WOMEN like Pelosi. Never mind that she had the most actual votes - they all wanted her out of the race, to hell with the voters. So yeah, many of us are "sore losers". But after Hillary became SoS, I decided to get on board, there is simply too much at stake to have repugnants in office. But in June of 2008, I lost MY dream of seeing the FIRST woman President (not just any woman - the RIGHT woman). My mother may not be alive to see her dream fulfilled. I'm glad history was made and the charming, eloquent black man was chosen. But it was at the expense of an experienced, hard working, inspiring woman.

[StopSexismNow]

Thank you Nikki. Phenomenal post and the g-d's honest truth.

[party-of-one]

StopSexismNow, did you read the article? Sound familiar? Recognize anyone?

[party-of-one]

NikkiT,

Thanks for illustrating so vividly exactly what Keii Golf was describing. No one could understand what how irrational deep bitterness becomes with our seeing such a clear example.

[placpje]

"Irrational bitterness"? No, .... just a completely accurate post.

BTW - Pretty funny when someone who has posted over 12,000 attacks on the Clintons under 4 screen names (partyofone, party-of-one, 2Bfair and know-some-secrets) uses the words "irrational bitterness".

[tinypun2]

I hesitated to write this rebuttal because we are on the same team now but I disagree with some of what you said. For starters, did Hillary really win each every one of those voting blocs?? I know the latino and womens votes were well publicized but if she won all those blocs the only group left for obama would be eskimos. Especially a group like gays, who had justifiable reasons for being weary of a Clinton. Also, I feel very uneasy when people lump the medias treatment of Hillary and Palin together. Hillary had flaws as a candidate that in todays media culture don't play well. Palin is just stupid. But I agree that there is an element of sexism in politics, because its unfair that Palin was called stupid and mocked while W was apparently taken seriously enough to come close to winning in 2000. Finally, Hillary's party absolutely did not turn against her. From the rules laid out from the beginning that every candidate agreed to, Obama won. It was only at the end when he won the most delegates that the party turned to him en masse. And counting Florida and Michigan is not fair if they were both under the understanding that it wouldn't count. With that being said, my mom could've posted the same thing you did. So when Obama won, I made a deal with her that if Hillary ran in 2016 I would vote for her and I feel good with that.

[RedDogBear]

Excellent article Ms. Goff. I agree completely, especially on how we get distracted on trivialities and forget the truly important issues.

[Mike Kilpatrick]

She may have she may not have. Yes she has guts sometimes, but that isn't enough. I didn't vote for her because in her time in the Senate, just a smidge more than Obama, she voted to authorize the Iraq war and never bothered to read the documentation that was available. It reeked of political opportunism." If you'll remember Hirsh 78% of democrats also voted for the war. Remember what state Hillary was a Senator for: New York. Right after 9/11 she was representing the feelings of New Yorkers. The towers fell in New York. At the time I'm sure you wouldn't find a single New Yorker who wouldn't have been comfortable with blowing up the entire middle East. Hindsight is always 20/20.

[Eris23]

Got to see the aftermath with my own eyes. Dunno how it was out in the suburbs or rural areas. But, in the municipal area that is considered NYC, blowing up the entire middle-east was not something everyone was comfortable with. Not that there weren't people who were angry and wanted revenge. But, it was a dominant line of thought. Hillary shouldn't have given the vote she did to clear an obstacle for Bush simply because the war in Iraq was going to be illegal. As a lawyer, she knew that.

[LeftisBetter]

Hilary was not the best candidate. Period, end of question. No need to go to fantasyland anymore.

[dreffein]

But she would have been a stronger President.

[OtayPanky]

The best evidence of what kind of president she would have been comes from looking at her prior success or failure in executive roles.

Essentially, Hillary has had two executive positions in her career: One, as the Chairman and CEO of her own presidential campaign. The other, as the health care czar during her husband's administration.

The history of both these efforts has been written. Speaking charitably, it wasn't great. Her particular weaknesses (and we all have them) were a big cause of her lack of success. The campaign, in particular, showed her inability to pick the right people, and to control what they did - fatal flaws for a president, as we saw with Jimmy Carter.

Her roles as a senator, and as SOS, don't depend so much on those intangible but essential qualities of executive leadership which she has (up until now) not been able to draw upon.

[texastrixie]

I think Hillary would have had just as much trouble getting health care passed as Obama has had. We say we want health care reform but as with anything worthwhile in this country, we don't seem to have to will to make any sacrifice to achieve our goals. Even if there are some PUMAs still out there roaming, please don't equate Hillary with them. She has moved on, and is doing a great job as SOS. She says she doesn't want the presidency anymore, and after watching the right cut Obama to ribbons if he even smiles, why would she? At least the right has to resort to criticizing Obama for taking his wife out to dinner, and other stupid things. If Hillary were president they would be saying that she was taking her time to review the Ahghanistan policy because she was a woman (read coward), or because she was a woman (ie indecisive). Until the left begins to fight back and take on the right wing in this country, we will get nowhere. As to golf, for some reason this is one sport where men simply do not want to include women. I can't remember which female cabinet member or governor is a former college basketball player, but including her in a game would be fun to watch.

[dbailey]

Here! Here!

[AnnfromCA]

I don't see the link between Hillary and the criticism of Obama. Didn't he make the statement that he thought the question was silly?

[party-of-one]

maybe you are too close and involved to see, or admit it.

[dreffein]

Party of None - back to your HRC bashing. One note song.

[EWeiss]

Thanks for cluing me in to the US News... piece. I'm always fascinated whenever pure inanity is found in the wild.

[ConjureMan]

After read this offering, no matter how badly Obama may 'F-up', it's gonn'a be Hillary's fault.It's crystal clear the Clinton's are to blame for everything from the Black Plague to Swine Flu. Mr. Obama will continue to walk on water, even if it is 90% ofal.

[aftershock]

Point to where in the article the author blames the Clinton's for the current state of our nation. I'll wait...

[AnnfromCA]

Yes, and to bring up Bill? That was quite a bizarre leap.

[aftershock]

How so, and maybe you can answer my question since your fellow PUMA could not. Point to where the author blames the Clinton's for anything going on right now, anything. Please.