My favorite part of Hillary Clinton's speech last night was when she admonished her followers not to put their affection for her over the issues. When she reminded them that what's at stake is far more crucial than their loyalty to her. When she reproved them for thinking for even a moment that her historic thrilling campaign was more important than the real campaign to defeat the Republicans.
Where any of her followers could have gotten the idea doesn't seem to have crossed her mind. The fish stinks from the head down. The Clintons' narcissism (and yes, I know, it's an overused term but if there was ever a moment for it in our national life, this is it) perfumed every bit of Hillary's campaign, and it leaked down to her contributors and followers. "Were you in it for me?" was her funniest line of the night.
In this morning's Times there's a piece about the Hillraisers, the people who raised over $300,000 for Hillary, many of whom are apparently bitter and angry that they were not given rooms in the Denver Ritz-Carlton, as the early Obama fundraisers were. They are so mad, according to the Times, that some of them are flying home today and deliberately missing Obama's speech on Thursday. (If you're not nice to me I'm just going to take my private plane and go home.) These are people who, may I remind you, were thinking about their Cabinet and sub-Cabinet positions, who were dreaming of Ambassadorships, who were on the verge of looking at houses in Georgetown. They're miserable. They lost. They were wrong. They're worth millions, or in some cases, billions, and they're not used to being wrong, much less to paying a price for being wrong, and they can't stand it. There's an expression for this -- narcissistic mortification -- and you can smell it all the way from Denver.
My other favorite thing about Hillary's speech is that she wrapped herself up in Seneca Falls, and my God Harriet Tubman, even Harriet Tubman, and yet somehow she never once referred to Roe vs. Wade. She never once mentioned choice. She never once said the truth, which is that any Hillary supporter who doesn't understand that this issue alone is the reason to vote for Obama has no business pretending to be a Democrat. I realize that sounds as if I'm admonishing her, but I caught the admonishment bug last night and this blog is an attempt to shake it off.
Shame on McCain for selecting an uneducated, inexperienced, narrow-minded, hockey Mom
to be a heart beat away from the Presidency...it's appalling and patronizing to all women when there are so many others who are more qualified...and probably more threatening to his "male superiority".
Sister Sarah chose to have the child who now is dis-enfranchised to make her own decision about her own body and its use. At seventeen, was it statutory or consentual? Had she had sex education and applied it, would she be pregnant? What about the father, doesn't he get a vote? Or is parenthood a punishment for giving into the hormones God gave us to ensure continuation of the species?
The implications are frightening, particularly to those of us who were alive prior to Roe v. Wade.
Abortion is not birth control, but in the nineteenth century it was a private matter between a woman, her doctor and her God.
For a party who espouses limiting government, why are they so interested in bringing government into our bedrooms, bathrooms, and operating rooms?
Kristy /aka Punky
Nora Ephron is obviously no better than that self-hating Andrew Sullivan. He can't get over the fact that the Clintons are more popular than he is, either.
What cause does Ephron have to take it upon herself to 'admonish' Hillary? If Hillary had touched on the points Ephron so badly wanted her to mention, then Ephron would have had a field day wasting her time on a blog entry entitled 'Hillary the Spotlight Stealer', probably saying that her speech sounded too presidential. Okay, so Hillary lost the primary. Can't you win with some grace instead of continuing to offend those who still have a thought and a care about who we want to vote for?
The only narcisissm I smell is coming from the Obama-supporting Hillary haters. They now sound like THEY are part of the 'vast right wing conspiracy'. The truth is that if there are former Hillary supporters who can't bring themselves to vote for Obama in November, it's not the candidate; it's because his supporters can't stop attacking the Clintons just to fuel their own egos and further Obama's chances. Maybe I'm naive, but I thought Zimbabwe was the only place that kind of intimidation happened in elections. Nora, go back to writing bad chick flick screenplays and musing about how idyllic a place Manhattan is for your film settings; that is offensive enough.
She can take Ted Kennedy's example and be an effective Senator. We need her there.
Have you forgotten what he actually did?
Hill was my #1 pick until it started to look to me like she wasn't running as a Democrat. She made appallingly little appeal to my sense of social justice, egalitarian principles, or opposition to the Neocon conservative smear tactics or the far right.
She used tactics, in her desire to prove herself more worthy than Obama, that propelled me to support Obama. By the time that her campaign was distorting the facts of the primaries held in Fl and Mi to the point where she was asserting that the elections were being intentionally manipulated by the DNC, it was obvious that she wanted to win the way that any Neocon does- by any means possible.
I was left wondering why I needed to congratulate her for "creating party unity" when she only undid a fraction of the damage she did in fracturing the party to begin with. I am uneasy with the notion that I need to overlook her methods and embrace this woman as an icon of my daughter's hopes for the future. This kind of "unity" that requires a suspension of rationality leaves me out.
If Hillary had not used her Rovian tactics, she would have had my support. But that support would have shifted to whomever became the Dem nominee instantly. The candidate I've preferred first has never been nominated, and I didn't need a roll call or cathartic moment to move on.
By winning, McSame could also get the unelectable Lieberman at State.
It's a pretty clever plan, even if it is utterly insulting and demeaning to women (and to voters in general).
Hillary's speech was magnificent. When she said "were you in this for me?" it was clear that this is the question she had already asked herself as part of the process that brought her to that point, a doubtless painful process of soul searching and acceptance. Hillary done good.
It's time for us to do the same. As Hillary has given her support to our chosen leader, let us give recognition and support to a great lady, a great patriot and imperfect human being who will doubtless continue to play an important role the future of this country.
I also like the term "narcissistic mortification". I'm going to do more research on it.
Remember that choice when your child gets killed in a war waged just for profit... when your home is foreclosed because of predatory lending... when you lose everything you own to high hospital costs because you had to choose between food and medical insurance... when you can't afford to put gas in your car to drive to work... when your taxes go up and the "over 5 million" crowd's taxes go down. Then see whose deplorable behavior and profound unfairness and misogyny you will have to blame.
You won't have to look far - just in the closest mirror.