Hillary: Stop Waffling
I'm having trouble with Hillary.
It's not so much that she got rattled by her opponents in the last Democratic debate, or that she allowed her staff to do her dirty work with the "piling on" video they quickly displayed on her website. Yes, women still encounter sexism across all sectors of American life. Yes, nearly every powerful institution from the media to Congress is still dominated by men. Yes, it's tough being the first woman presidential candidate, especially at a time when feminism seems to be either a dirty word or passé, a quaint chapter in some 1970s history book. As a feminist, at times I feel incredibly discouraged by how little women have progressed.
But no one asked Hillary to run. And if she can't stand being challenged by a handful of smart guys, if she's going to obliquely accuse them of playing dirty or unfair, of going after her because she's a woman, how is she going to stand up to real bullies and tyrants like Ahmadinejad?
Which leads me to a far more serious problem I'm having with Hillary's candidacy. Her waffling on Iran and her macho posturing. You can't be leading the charge in the Senate to declare Iran's revolutionary guard a terrorist organization one minute, flinch when you get attacked for being so transparently calculating, then claim that, well, you were really just misunderstood. Or that it doesn't play right into Bush and Cheney's fear-mongering rhetoric about Iran being such a threat to the United States that we might have to bomb them. Come on. Hillary knows what they're capable of. In fact, she enabled Bush and Cheney to take us into Iraq. Whether she intended to or not.
There are generations of women and girls looking to Hillary for leadership, who are truly excited by her historic candidacy. My 15-year-old daughter is one of them. I used to be, but I'm waffling. What we don't need is a female presidential candidate who has an identity crisis and whose position on every issue seems driven by perception and polls.
It's not about being tough. It's about being real.
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I don't know.
I have a lot of trouble with Hillary's foreign policy team. They're backward thinking, backward-looking cold-war neanderthals. None of them really understands how the world has changed in the last decade or two, and a Hillary presidency promises that we will continue to act as we have in the past with regard to smaller, weaker countries whose resources we covet. And in my view, that would be a very, very bad thing for America.
But I have no problem with anything Hillary has said or done in relation to the debate.
Debates are ridiculous shows and mean nothing. They're all about sound bites and gotcha moments, and anyone with an ounce of intelligence can see that getting Hillary to make a mistake was the order of the day. Big deal. It means nothing. She's the best debater by far, and the best campaigner. But that doesn't mean squat about whether or not she'd be a good president, and Americans have to wake up and realize that.
Another Clinton presidency would be a foreign policy disaster, just like the second Bush presidency was. We need fresh eyes and fresh ideas in DC.
How can Hillary stop waffling when all she has ever been IS a waffler?
The Clintonian strategy of waffling, or what they refer to in their jargon as "triangulation" might have been good for the nineties, but it WON'T work now. We NEED CHANGE.
I am an Independent who HATES Bush and the war, who has leaned Democrat for some time now (I voted for Kerry in '04).
I am, however, now FED UP with the Democrats and all their WAFFLING and rallying around Hillary, as well as their inability to FIGHT Bush on the war.
I am now spporting someone who IS fighting Bush on the war, and HAS all along.
I am for RON PAUL for PRESIDENT.
He is the only candidate with any momentum and BIG money pouring into his campaign right now that will truly STOP the war in IRAQ, STOP the attack on Iran, and STOP the current policy of policing the world.
Check out these videos to see why RON PAUL is the BEST ANTI WAR CANDIDATE, and the ONLY one offering new ideas and "out of the box" thinking:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FG2PUZoukfA
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Ylk69fDO4U
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q1l0e5Q2nGA
JOIN the RON PAUL REVOLUTION!!!!
Women against Hillary, count me in. It has nothing to do with feminism, toughness, her image, roll model material, first woman president.....who cares.
It has everything to do with what has gone on in this country for the last sixteen years. I'm a 1957 born boomer and for all the good baby boomers Bill Clinton and George Bush could have done they both screwed up big time.
Besides Hillary has more positions than a circus acrobat. She flips, she flops, she lies and she ties herself up in knots. Then on top of that Bill and Hill need to keep their stories straight. What a nightmare. Quite frankly I think for the good of the country Hillary should quit the race and endorse someone else.
If you can't take the heat from baking your man's cookies stay out......and your man Bill needs to shut up.
``how is she going to stand up to real bullies and tyrants like Ahmadinejad?``
``Tyrant``you say?, remains to be seen, have you been to Iran lately? NO, didnt think so so what would you know?
Also, I dont recall the last time Iran started a war with a third world country based on lies so until that day I will back Iran & its leader!
GABLE WRITES: And if she can't stand being challenged by a handful of smart guys, if she's going to obliquely accuse them of playing dirty or unfair, of going after her because she's a woman, how is she going to stand up to real bullies and tyrants like Ahmadinejad?
REPLY: Can you provide a quote that Mrs. Clinton has stated anything of the sort? For real I really would like to read where SHE accused anyone of playing dirty.
I find this statement blatantly dishonest. Bloggers howl at the moon over this type of thing in the MSM. Even though this is opinion, it should be based on truth. And there is simply not an ounce of truth to this.
I can not figure out why ANYONE would want to be president, I do know that until there is major reform --- it's a tough game and being "real" is not an option. She is a women attempting to take a man's job. It is an issue just as this post is making it one. The press and swiftboaters did a job on the candidates in 00 & 04 and I fully expect a repeat but I though it would be in the general election by the opposition. I recall all the warrantless reasons for not supporting Gore or Kerry. Personally, I like Biden & Kucinich but I think Hillary will represent a larger percentage of Americans and she will do it with fiscal responsibility. I guess I just fear what Karl Rove is planning and the less amunition we provide...the better. Lets talk issues rather than campaign strategies.
All I can say is "AMEN". I am female and disguted by her victim excuses.
Great post! Seriously, do we want a role model for young women resorting to "crying wolf" about sexism everytime she comes up short competing with men?
It just cheapens the seriousness of sexism that many women actually do experience.
Please point me to the "poll" that Mrs. Clinton followed in making here answers to Mr. Russert and Mr. Williams in the last debate.
If you cannot cite to a poll then perhaps you could consider stopping making use of this RNC theme.
If you write that a "poll" drove her answer then don't you have some obligation to cite that poll? Or are you just too lazy to write anything except "Hillary is calculating.
And by the way it was not her opponents who were asking the questions; it was Tim Russert and Brian Williams. As per they ask Mrs. Clinton why she is a phony and next week will ask Rudy Guliani what type of tree he would be if he were not a Shrub.
Next November you will write that Guliani won because the Democrats were "real enough" or had the wrong hair color or didn't blow up frogs when they were kids.
WHS
How can anybody that proports to want change and be against the catastrophic consequences of the last 7 years even be considering this woman for president. Forget about woman/man. We need a leader in these most dire of times, and one with good judgment. Hillary Clinton not only voted to authorize military action in Iraq and boldly defended said vote despite the lack of any finding justifying such radical aggessive action as well as its grave consequences until she started campaigning for the primary vote, and now she goes ahead and basically gives another authorization-type vote or one that could possibly be used that way in the climate of more drumbeat for war. If anybody votes for this pathetic candidate with her catastrophic failures in judgment, then we deserve another 8 years of what we have just been through for our own poor judgment. We all ought to know better ourselves by now. I as a woman would be excited to support a woman candidate if they were the right candidate or a good candidate, but I certainly would never support someone, male or female, with the poor judgment and insight of a Hillary Clinton. A lot of women are plain sounding like women when they don't weigh issues foremostly. That is what is important here, not her gender - the future of our country.
Hillary is just like Nixon, only she wears a dress and is a Dem.
Getting Hillary to stop waffling is about as tough as getting a cat to go vegan.
Hillary will be defeated or elected by females. The primary race hinges upon the general perception of her by women voters. Is she a role model for their daughters or not?
The future of feminism will also be determined by Hillary's success or failure. The standard line is that the election of a woman president will inspire young women believe that sexism in our society has been dealt a fatal blow.
Nothing, in fact, could be father from the truth. Her image is all wrong. The ugly omnipresent pantsuits. The rigidity of her facial muscles. Her lack of any of the soft features of femininity.
Is she not the 1950's homemaker repackaged for our era?
Great Blog Ms. Gable
I Agree with everything you wrote.
Sun, stop rising. Tide, don't come in. Seasons, don't turn...
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