As we learn in today's Washington Post, the most recent Washington Post-ABC News poll, Clinton leads Sen. Barack Obama by a 2 to 1 margin among female voters. Clinton drew support from 51 percent of the women surveyed, compared with 24 percent who said they supported Sen. Obama and 11 percent who said they backed former senator John Edwards.
The poll indicated that "Clinton is drawing especially strong support from lower-income, lesser-educated women -- voters her campaign strategists describe as 'women with needs.' Obama, by contrast, is faring better among highly educated women, who his campaign says are interested in elevating the political discourse.
Not that Sen. Clinton's "needs"-related stances are wrong. She is on the correct side of many domestic issues.
My problem with Sen. Clinton is more related to her personal behavior. As the two newest books about her pretty much lay out, Hillary knew about Bill's serial infidelities all along. Although she expressed some profound discomfort over them, she elected to stay in the marriage.
Why did she stay in that serially adulterated marriage? One overarching reason? Power. A divorced Hillary may indeed have been at a political disadvantage.
I do have to wonder, though, what type of message that sends to the "women with needs" who form such a key constituency for her. I'm sure that some of those women in need are single Moms who are no longer married because they could no longer countenance their former spouse's meandering ways. Many times, these women left after the first incidence of cheating. Not the fifth, or the sixth.
Hillary made her choice, one which she was free to select. That's not the core of my argument here, though.
How these women could bond with someone who stayed with someone who repeatedly humiliated her female honor is beyond me. What these "needs" women voters should realize is that Hillary never felt any pain than you did when you divorced your husband and are now laboring to support your children alone.
Hillary may have felt some of your shame, but not your pain. Hillary and Bill had an arrangement- one shielded by money, privilege and the quest for power.
You and your ex had no such "arrangement." He wronged you and he's outta here.
If you left your now ex of your own accord, you showed, and continue to show, more honor in your personal life than Hillary ever showed in hers.
Do you really want a President of the United States who is less honorable than you?