Will Hillary Ever Be One Of The Cool Kids?
Madeleine Albright once said, "Anybody who thinks the world would be a better place if run by women doesn't remember high school."
I think about that. I remember the power players in my own high school. And I think about Hillary Clinton and women voters.
Studies of adolescent female power reveal a world of alpha girls and beta girls. Women never forget which side of the social fault line on which they spent their formative years. Men, generally speaking, can't relate. Their social demarcations - less subtle, but likely not as lasting - tended toward wedgies and slamming people into lockers.
It is the alpha girls who rule fashion, determine dance steps, set the lexicon, assign seats in the cafeteria, and make the iron-fisted judgments about who is in and who is out. Certain alpha female chimpanzees maintain their dominance over their rivals by killing their young. High school girls just cause eating disorders.
The beta girls, by contrast an equally gross generalization, are accomplished. They get the grades. They excel in sports. They play instruments. They run the student council. They are known, but not revered.
Even if we reinvent ourselves in college, and then reinvent that reinvention as adults, I don't think any of us ever fully escapes the gravitational pull of our middle and high school years. The people you like now are very likely to be the same people you liked then.
All of which brings me back to Hillary Clinton.
Laura Sessions Stepp, who writes extensively about adolescents and families, wrote in a 2002 Washington Post article about "gamma girls." They are smart, accomplished, funny, friendly, so universally well-liked, that they transcend alpha and beta.
True, but I don't think the gammas are created whole. They came from the emotional ranks of alphas and betas, but just repackaged on the power of their intellectual and emotional intelligence.
I would say Hillary is a gamma, except for that part about being universally well liked. And there in lies the issue that her campaign doubtless finds maddening.
Is she the alpha girl who is winning just like she always did? Or is she the beta girl who, forgetting her place, wants to walk right past the cool kids table to sit in the most powerful chair on earth.
Either way, Hillary has a tough job dialing up just the right balance of toughness and femininity - so much so one assumes her speaking notes say: "sniffle here" ... "throw your head back and laugh easily here."
People don't hate Obama. They don't hate McCain. Opponents would simply rather they not be elected president.
What exactly did she do to arouse such emotions among the ranks of the female Hillary haters?
There are many interesting theories.
There is the argument that professional woman don't like her because no matter what they accomplished, she has accomplished more. This is a woman who was chosen to give the valedictory address at the Wellesley convocation. Not content to tell the assemblage to change the world and smell the roses, she polled the student body, solicited ideas and poems, beautifully captured the turmoil and hope of the times, got a standing ovation, and her speech was featured in Life Magazine. Top that, miss thing!
Older women - who, in fairness, are also among her strongest supporters - don't like her because she is too much like a man - willing to do what a girl's gotta do to get what she wants. If there is a collateral body count -- well, suck it up, wuss-boy.
Younger women don't like her because she is one of the over 50, empty nested, cohort of women prone to experiencing their own private summers who Tina Brown recently profiled in a Newsweek column. "Written on their forehead everyday," she wrote," is "Invisible Woman" ... women who "find themselves steadfastly dissed and ignored." To a certain generation, then, she's still not one of the cool kids.
Maybe I'm making too much of this. Maybe it's like Madonna said when Elliott Spitzer was chasing Martha Stewart through the underbrush. "There seems to be something about blond, powerful women that just pisses people off."
But I think I'm on to something.
Try this: Ask your friends who Hillary reminds them of among the girls in their high school. Almost everybody has an answer.
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This is pseudo-sociological nonsense.
It's about Hillary's behavior:
Her legendary temper, her prevarication re the Iraq vote, her willingness to destroy the democratic party in the pursuit of her ends...her 'kitchen sink' strategy vis-a-vis Obama...
Don't forget the numerous examples of doing things for the benefit of team Clinton (financially or otherwise) over what is good for America. Check out the how well her brothers made out while Clinton was President. Do we really need more of the same?
You're right. Actions speak louder than words. She has devoted most of her life to the service of others. Look in the mirror. Can you say the same?
If you mean service of others, Bill and herself, you'd be accurate.
Hillary is intelligent, ambitious, and hard working. All good things.
Unfortunately, she is also a Lieberman DLC conservative.
She also also lying about many things including her positions on the issues, like the Iraq war.
Hillary Lieberman and the DLC have been supporting BushCo Iraq War crime from the beginning and they still do.
Not one of you Hillary supporters seems to have researched her Lieberman DLC connections, or perhaps you are for the Iraq war crime too.
Google:
Lieberman Hillary DLC
A very good post, the only exception that I would make, is that I think Obama is at least an
order of magnitude more intelligent, and about two orders of magnitude more ethical.
Strong women threaten many men, but strong women especially threaten weak women. And the worst sexists are those women who can't stand to see a sister excel. They'll chew her up and spit her out in a heartbeat. I believe you have to see people in the context of their life story. Hillary Clinton came of age when a woman going to law school was still quite rare. Young women don't get that - they take for granted that every opportunity that they enjoy was always available. Many older women (like my mother at age 84) would still say that Sen Clinton should be at home where she belongs, not trying to take men's jobs.
As far as fighting for what you want, more power to her. Nobody hands you everything for free. It's not all fair and everybody doesn't get a trophy. You have to fight for it.
I refuse to risk my children's futures on hope.
There is a difference between being a fighter and being a bully. Hillary is the type of fighter that will take that last blow that ultimately kills you after she already won the match.
Isn't that the American way? Something about 'having your opponent on the ropes?
Can you think of a better opponent against the "Swift Boaters" Republican party?
What about the fighter who is getting their head kicked in and on the verge of a coma? Shouldn't the ref(dean) or their corner call it? Getting back up when you are down in one thing. When the establishment candidate (HRC) is allowed to even get knocked down, let alone keep getting knocked down is saying something.
"I refuse to risk my children's futures on hope."
Hopelessness is better for children? What a campaign slogan for Hillary to try next!
The point that you missed here is that Hillary expects this to be "handed to her."
Older women, younger women, and men in both those age categories, see through Billary and their divine right to the throne.
No more Bush/Clinton/Bush/Clinton. We want off this merry go round, and out of the Clinton circus.
Boy, I'm a 55 year old woman who always believed I could be anything I wanted to be. I have always been respectfully regarded by men and women as a person with wisdom and strength (and compassion). Maybe it's because I live in Washington State, but I don't personally know a single person, man or woman, who voted for Hillary. I did go to my caucus where there were obviously some individuals caucusing for Hillary, but not the ones I expected. There were nearly as many men as women in her camp and the majority of them were long time Democrats who felt that she had the political clout to take on the Republicans. There was one woman who said she liked Obama better, but that she really, really wanted a woman President and she couldn't base her position on anything more than that. I told her that it was too bad Condi Rice hadn't wanted to run for the Republican nomination or she might have gotten her wish. And, if you think Obama is only about 'hope' , you aren't willing to look past your feminist leanings.
ShannonLorraine, I moved to WA state 20 yrs. ago, before I had lived in CA, where I
ShannonLorraine, somehow my post was truncated, so I'll do it again. I moved to WA
I'm assuming when you say Obama isn't only about hope you are talking about the democratic platform. Meaning, what the candidate is running on. Health care, etc. I ask you, how exactly is Obama going to get anything done in Congress when he says he's going to "change the way things are done" That's a reference, one can only assume, that means he's going to shift who has power in Congress. And how will he do that? He can't. He doesn't decide anything about Congress. How will he get any legislation passed if he doesn't have a network of associates that will do his bidding? He will have to create them. In the two to four months between the democratic primary and the November election? Or is he handing out IOUs to people like Richardson, Daschle, etc. I'm not saying this is wrong, I'm just wondering how effective this man will be as opposed to Clinton who has had two decades to garner IOUs. No matter who the democratic candidate is, the platform will go unchanged. The only difference will be where the candidates passion lay. If Clinton is elected president she will get health care passed. This is not Obamas passion. What is his passion? Changing the way politics are done in Washington. Something a president has absolutely no control over.
Shannon Loraine..while you certainly have a right to you own opinion and I trust you arrived at it with much thought. I would just ask you to concentrate on the media coverage of Hillary and ask yourself ...was that statement or comment or question framed in a objective way or in a prejorative way? Studies have been done on the coverage of Hillary. If you have not checked it out before I suggest Media Matters. They highlight the media bias very well.If we are constantly bombarded by negative images of someone it is pretty easy to pick up the bias.
Strong women threaten many men, but strong women especially threaten weak women. And the worst sexists are those women who can't stand to see a sister excel.
Ms Peggy,
"...she polled the student body, solicited ideas and poems, beautifully captured..."
Can you say "derivative" ? Where's Hillary's vision here? Kinda like political polling, except maybe less accurate.
People don't need or want someone who runs around and "captures" stuff. People need and want some original vision and some intellect; not a scribe.
Besides that, Billary's data is always skewed towards HER needs and wants. Let's get over that and vote for some new ideas from a better mind and a more comprehensive intellect.
Obama '08.
And she has polled every idea put before her ever since.
"What exactly did she do to arouse such emotions among the ranks of the female Hillary haters? There are several interesting theories"
Indeed, aside from the theories which you refuse to consider and among which rank as the most painfully obvious, in that, despite all the rhetoric pertaining her supposed "overachievements" or ostensible lack of feminity, many women of both influences don't like because of the (gasp) issues she stands for.
"professional woman don't like her because no matter what they accomplished, she has accomplished more."
Oh really? Such as fowling up her healthcare plan on account of would be supporters who alienated her on account of being fed up with her absolutist demeanor? Her pathetic attempts to pass legislation which failed to ellicit so much as a co-sponsor within her own party. Take a cold hard look at Hillary's so-called accomplishment and you'll deduce that, despite disliking her, professional women have nothing to be jealous about.
"But I think I'm on to something."
Indeed, you are onto something, in that, as demonstrated by the narrow context of your own column, Hillary supporters refuse to view this issue through anything but the vacuum of personality, gender, and appearance, and could ultimately care less for the political issues to which their revered idol pertains.
Clinton is not Alpha, Beta or Gamma, she allied with Bill and aside from that she serves only herself. She champions women, because she finds it useful, but she lacks loyalty or compassion. She has the Nixon paranoia, and her entire career and existance feels like sociopathic calculation. The vindictiveness, divisiveness, and calculation are what disgusts me about Clinton. Barack has more of the feminine trait of "empathy" going for him than Clinton does. Gender traits seem to be reveresed for the two candidates. And age isn't a factor, that feeling about Hillary has existed before the scandals broke in the Clinton Administration.
I love Hillary. I am endlessly impressed with how many times she can get knocked down and comes back stronger than ever. I am not the least bit put off by her ambition. Anyone who runs for the position of leader of the free world who professes to not be ambitious or have an enormous ego is full of shit. Just the thought that you could do this job takes enormous hutzpuh. As for her accomplishments only being that she married a guy who became president, I believe he was able to become president because of her. She's a helluva a lot smarter than he is. But then I believe that behind every successful man is one great, great broad. I think most women who hate Hillary do so because she has had the nerve to step out of her sole identity as a "woman", which conjures up different realities for different people, and into the identity of simple female. Yeah, it's her gender, but it doesn't identify who she is because she is much more than that. People get very uncomfortable with those who step outside their role assigned to them by society. She's tough as they come. She's a fighter. She's striving for the ultimate man's job. And like it or not, don't be surprised when she becomes the 44th President of the United States. Math, be damned.
You go girl! Who are the voters to stand in her way? How dare they deny her something that she so clearly DESERVES. Math be damned is right! I say she should stay in this fight even after she has already lost. Aimlessly destroying the Democratic parties hope for generations to come, not to mention their 2008 chances. This is about HER and it's HER TIME to be President!
beleicat, thanks for another needlessly snarky blast from an Obama supporter. Read your own response. It is OBAMA people who are saying it is HIS time, that's it's all about HIM, and why, oh, why can't everyone just believe and see it. Well, for some of us long-time Democrats bruised and beaten by our loyal, loyal support of other far-left candidates, you can't just win on hope. Sometimes, you have to offer TOUGHNESS, and a TRACK record. I can't fathom why so many HATE Hilary and Bill. I never did so well as when they were in the White House. If I thought Obama could beat McCain, I'd have been on his bandwagon from the start because he does speak to power. But he hasn't sealed the deal yet.
cblcar,
It's not "ambition" we dislike. It's obsession that we see; obsession that rules out both common sense and equity.
And, "she's a fighter" is a very real turn-off these days.
Fighter = TV wrestler = sham posturing and little integrity.
Many voters would appreciate and understand a consensus builder, and not many people want to work with Hillary as she attempts to build her empire, witness her campaign and its comings and goings.
And if you cling to the outmoded theory that behind every successful man is one great, great broad then maybe look at the Spitzers of the world as well as the Clintons and make some other kind of judgment.
Math be damned... Isn't that how we got our current President?
Are you in favor of her stealing it? It would seem to me (Obama supporter) that only the worst of America would steal anythng that involved voters.
And...hopefully, that's how we will get out NEXT president , as well....
"Anyone who runs for the position of leader of the free world who professes to not be ambitious or have an enormous ego is full of shit. Just the thought that you could do this job takes enormous hutzpuh."
That's why I was for Stephen Colbert. He's like the American flag itself, he personifies it, loony spangly bursting bright pride and joy. He sails hutzpah into the grayest harbors. But funny thing, even though it's Stephen Stephen Stephen, I think he does a much better job at standing for America than Hillary does. I think Hillary hasn't got a clue why freedom of speech is necessary, and why everybody matters, and how to make your point explain itself to everybody, for everybody, and how to win without resorting to force. Who pursues happiness better than Stephen? And so can we? Maybe Stephen personifies while Hillary can only impersonate? I just know that there was something wonderful in Stephen's candidacy and that I will never vote for Hillary. It's not a gender issue at all to me.
"Math be damned" equals "Democracy be damned." The only way she can win the nomination is to overturn the clear will of the majority of the people who have voted in the primaries. A bully is a bully, regardless of gender, and bullies can only lead police states. I refuse to live in one of those.
I was an omega girl in school. Could've been a beta except for some social awkwardness compounded by being the class scapegoat. In my current social circles, I'm a gamma on average (different circles have different opinions, but so it goes). Hillary Clinton doesn't remind me of anyone I went to school with, because I don't remember any girl who was as much of a liar as she is. Oh, no, wait, yes, I do. The girl in third grade who was only my friend when nobody else could see her being friendly toward me. The one who thought she was an alpha but turned out to be a delta-grade buttkisser.
Face it. A lot of women do not want Hilary to win because she's unfit for the position. All the armchair psychological dissection in the world will not change the fact she's inflating her experience and allowing her staff to make racist remarks with little to no penalty (Ferraro's dismissal was plain convenience; has the one who called Obama the Affirmative Action candidate been dumped?). My fiftysomething friend who grew up a hippie lesbian in San Francisco during the 60s wants Obama because she will not vote for an unqualified candidate regardless of gender.
I think it is a mix. Specifically, that Clinton is a beta who has seen how effective the alphas are in their tactics and has adopted them. She also seems to absorb some of the worst traits in men as well. The problem becomes that without the grace, beauty, poplularity or whatever that the alphas possess, it come across as especially ugly and inappropriate for HIllary, who we all know is accomplished and capable enough to do better. She inherits some of the worst parts of Bill, but does not possess his charm, and I think that people witnessing someone who is obviously uncomfortable in their own skin is what makes people dislike her.
Think of Margaret Thatcher, Janet Reno, Madelaine Albright, Elizabeth Dole, Oprah Winfrey, Martha Stewart and on down the line. Each of these are very different women, with their pluses and minuses, but they all seem to be comfortable with who they are and so is the general public. They are a known product and you know what you get. Clinton has tried to remake herself so many times according to what she thinks she needs to be that you have to wonder if she even knows who she is anymore.
Unlike Tina Fey, I don't accept Hillary as the classic "bitch." I think if that was the case, then people would get used to it and accept it for what it is. There are a long line of succesful women who have pulled that off, and while people may not be charmed with them, there is a heavy does a respect and knowledge that they are not someone to be tangled with lightly. There are times when she is gracious and kind, and when you see her with children, there is a softness and generosity there.
I think the problem begins when you see that immediately after some shrieking tirade and faux outrage over an issue which is demonstrably false or at the very least not something to get upset about. It also doesn't help that her campaign announces these changes to the public as if it some acting exercise - "This week is mommy Hillary, next week is tough Hillary, the week after that is Hillary the uniter, then Hillary the policy wonk, etc." Thus you get the crying Hillary, then the Hillary with children, then the Hillary that can hang with the boys, then the one crying about the media being unfair. When you include a lot of the nonsense and nastiness that accompanies Hillary, you finally end up with the opinion that you have no idea who she truly is, but it is definitely someone who is insincere and not to be trusted. Think about the "xerox" and "SNL pillow" comments that came out in the debates, have you ever seen a more uncomfortable moment in your life? A lot of it is the delivery and the deliverer.
Powerful women have always had their detractors, but rarely would you see attacks on their integrity. Thatcher may have been viewed as cold and aloof, but I don't think anyone doubted for a minute that she earnestly believed what she was preaching. Every time Hillary makes one of her calculated moves, there are many who buy into it, and many who can admit the strategic merit of it, but also each time there is a group of people that decide that they really don't like her. I think that, more than any reasaon, is why you see Obama doing so well in a year that seemed destined for Hillary. With her reemergeance on the national scene, people are reminded that with the niceties of Hillary comes the truckload of baggage.
Excellent read.
Cute article. I'm going to think about it more.
"Cute?"
Does cute provoke thought?
Well, if that's what it takes...
Female, male, alpha, gamma whatever - this is a clear cut case. People don't like Hillary Clinton because she is a boldfaced, shameless LIAR. Proven!
spot on. Liars do not get my respect.
Why does Hillary have to pad her resume with ridiculous statements, like she landed in Bosnia under sniper fire? She is not even a good liar. And her campaign falling apart after having a huge lead, in money and name recognition, is due to her own lack of leadership. She could have fired Penn and told her husband to stfu after Iowa.
Let's see. First Obama says he didn't know Rev. Wright said all those nasty things, wasn't in the church, didn't hear anything. Now, he admitted he was in the church and did hear them. Thought correction? No, it's called LYING. Get over it. They are ALL politicians.
Are you serious?????
Smart,hardworking,compassionate,patriotic is not enough.You have to win the "have a beer with" contest. No wonder the rest of the world is scratching their heads. It would be funny if it was not so serious.Wake up America. We are voting for the leader of the free world not a popularity contest.
She is hardly the "gamma" you describe. It's not just that she isn't well liked, she neither funny nor friendly. She's the know it all bitch that everyone hated. She transcends neither group because the only people who can stand her are the people in her little clique. A clique that she demands absolute loyalty to and any breach of loyalty will get you kicked out and shunned by the others. That is the Hillary I see.
No one ever called Barack Obama a bitch.
You sure?
No one ever called Senator Clinton a Muslim.
This was about Hillary and how she would fit into the "female social structure" of your average high school. The last time I checked, Barack was a guy and not a part of such a structure.
BTW, women do call one another bitch. Some even say it of themselves. I've seen on the backs of their cars, "0 to bitch in 5 seconds" and they're proud of it. There's a magazine called Bitch aimed at women and book called "amBITCHous" aimed at reclaiming the word to take the sting out of it. Like it or not, women use that word, both good and bad, towards other women.
I can't relate. Wrong gender.
And, no, I'm not offended, standing here in my hair suit.
But this one makes you think. That's a good thing.
I ache for Hillary--for all her glass ceilings and lifetime struggles. But I wretch at the way she goes about scorching the earth to get to the top of the class. Kind of what you said.
I thought this article was right on until it got to the theories. My theory about Hillary? She conveys a sense of entitlement that goes beyond the other noted elements and is like nothing I've known in other women in high school or my adult life. Even though she has earned her right to be a leader with brains and hard work, she conveys a sense of right to high office as if she was born into it. There is a sense of "How dare you question what is rightfully mine!". She reinforces this notion with careless slips that hammer her opponents (and Bill's opponents) below the belt. They are unnecessary and portray a weakness of character that is otherwise inconsistent with her capabilities. And that is why I don't want her in the White House for the next eight years.
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