Clinton Rallies Book Party Attendees
WASHINGTON, D.C.--What role Hillary Clinton will play in the upcoming election and an Obama administration is still unclear, but if her appearance last night at Rep. Carolyn Maloney's (D-NY) book signing is any indication, she's currently being cast as a Helen of Troy, launching a thousand feminist critiques.
Maloney, speaking in the garden at the Sewall-Belmont House and Museum, said the idea for her book, Rumors of Our Progress Have Been Greatly Exaggerated, came when she attended a rally for Clinton in New Hampshire. There, she saw a sign saying, "Iron my shirt, Hillary Clinton."
"'Hillary Clinton, make me a sandwich,'" Maloney recited to several hundred guests, the vast majority of them sporting a double X chromosome. Men were so scarce in the garden they could be counted. I saw fourteen. "'Hillary Clinton castrates.' 'When I hear her voice, I hear take out the garbage.'"
Next to Maloney, Clinton laughed. Without the stage and an American flag backdrop of a campaign rally, she looked diminished: petite, strained, swallowed by a phalanx of aides and Secret Service. Nevertheless, when she had entered the garden, the audience had turned and swelled around her, as if pulled by the orbit of a much stronger planet. A few lifted cell phones to snap her picture and some squealed, but overall the impression was not one of fame junkies. Instead, as they ushered her to the podium, the audience looked as if they might have been trying to protect her.
"If that's how they're treating Hillary," Maloney continued, explaining her impetus for writing the book, "how are they treating the rest of us?"
Guests throughout the party echoed the theme. A former New Yorker who still hadn't quite gotten over her disappointment about the Mondale-Ferraro ticket said, "If not Hillary, who? And when?" Another woman said she was irritated with Obama -- he was young, she pointed out. He could've waited. Many of the guests wanted to see a woman in the Oval Office, and Clinton's defeat seemed a symbol of all the inequities, frustrations, and disappointments they'd experienced in their own lives as women and feminists.
"The equal rights amendment still hasn't even been passed," pointed out one of the male guests, a thirtyish mathematician who'd volunteered once a week at Clinton's campaign headquarters. Primarily he simply liked Clinton, he said -- but he also thought it would have been neat to elect a woman.
This is not to say these Clinton supporters are not voting for Obama. Many of them, in fact, wore buttons proclaiming their intentions: Hillary supports Obama and so do I.
They're not even necessarily focused primarily on Clinton. After she left, with an eye-popping smile and a wave at people she recognized, the audience stayed to eat cake and celebrate the birthdays of Pat Schroeder an Eleanor Smeal. We all sang in a fine soprano key, and the women shared a microphone to congratulate each other and encourage the audience to go to hillaryclinton.com, take action, write our congressmen [sic], and vote.
They may have been saying more than that, but it was difficult to hear even a hundred feet back. In what seemed a metaphor too good to be true, the technicians had never come to set up the sound system, and the former seat of the National Woman's Party had to make do with borrowed equipment from NOW.
Loading comments…
Want to reply to a comment? Hint: Click "Reply" at the bottom of the comment; after being approved your comment will appear directly underneath the comment you replied to
What makes Hillary a feminist?
Oh, yes, she of testicular fortitude, such an icon.
She had the national stage and the best opportunity to advocate for women, and against all of the stereotypes. She had the chance to demonstrate women can lead, differently perhaps, but in a better way. She had the floor and what did she do with it?
She basically reinforced all the negative stereotypes. She played the good old boy games just as well, if not better, than the good old boys. She ran her campaign into the ground and now is grubbing for cash. She did nothing to work against sexism, but rather, whined about it after the fact, misusing it as the justification for her loss. Pitiful, and definitely not helpful.
If she is our icon, we are in more trouble than I thought.
Obama might pick HIllary to be the attack dog, and he can stay above the fray and keep thing moving.
You're so right, 143 days is not enough. And, let's see. His time as a part-time State
Senator. nuff said
I hope the next female presidential candidate learns from HRC mistakes and her triumphs.
I meant wipe the floor with McCain :)
what a sexist comment.. PUMAS can't even get a supportive or positive comment about their candidate right.. It always has to be about fighting..
America has had enough fighting..
HRC did it right by changing the dynamics of the game but she did it for the future woman president and it won't be her because she alienate to many of her core bas.. the voters with her brass balls..
We need a person willing to listen and not shrug her shoulders and turn a deaf ear..
I hope the next female presidential candidate IS HRC. She learned a lot in the primary, she would wipe the floor in the general.
HRC usesd old washington politics.. America is sick of OLD Washington Politics.. She lost because she was not a geniune person.. she is not nice and she lies with a straight face..! I expect more from a woman who is out trying to set an example for woman all over the country.. I don't want my daughters learning its okay to lie to get into a position of power and then abuse it..
She lost becasue of her ethics...
She would not get my vote.
Hillary has shown us that she is very much like BUSH/McJERK! as are a lot of her supporters. Hillary could have possibly been the nominee, but when fear and desperation entered, she went into her Carl Rove race-baiting tactics, and turned into a maniac! Thereby throwing the African American under the bus, when she and Bill know that AA are traditionally democrats. Whites are usually the ones that are easily convinced to vote republican, as you can see in this situation, especially if race is an issue. The truth of the matter is that Hillary ran a very negative campaign and lost! Now the same women that speak of the equal rights law believes that it only applies to them. Now they are threatening to vote republican
I would love, love, love to have a woman president, but need it be said again - NOT THIS WOMAN.
Exactly..!
It's always been, "Not THIS particular woman", no matter which woman it is. Think back.
Hillary still speaks to the aspirations of millions of women who will hope in earnest for the day she finally occupies the oval office. We will rue the day Rovian politics convinced us to go for the underprepared, under-vetted neophyte from Chicago who has to triangulate every blessed issue progressives hold dear. Our democracy weeps.
She speaks to the aspirations of corporate feminists, who couldn't care less about blue collar America--female or male.
'He's young, he could have waited'?
Why wait? That doesn't make any sense at all.
These people are setting the women's movement back to the 1970s. It's sad.
Why wait? Uh, because he had no experience in national elected office - unless 143 days is enough for you? Unfortunately it's not enough for the general electorate. It was never going to fly. That's why he should have waited.
the people voted for him,, , People around the world are supporting him.. She would never get a crowd like he has... She is NOT disiplined enough to open her ears and listen. The POTUS requires strong listening skills and leadership skills.. HRC does not demonstrate quality skills it takes to lead a country..
HRC LOST...Get Over IT...!
Obama is a brilliant young man. Why should he wait? He has what it takes NOW!
You must be logged in to comment. Log in or connect with
