altarflame | Politics

Just two weeks after wondering why everyone hates Hillary Clinton...I hate Hillary Clinton.

It's just RIDICULOUS, all you ever hear out of her mouth is how much Obama sucks...does she have anything - anything at all - to say that is just plain old self-promoting, rather than oponent-bashing?

The main thing that bothers me is that the Democratic Party as a whole agrees that "anything but Bush" is a good thing and that not having another Republican in office is paramount for this next election...yet she is continuously ripping apart the public image of the man who will likely be the Democratic candidate. And rather than joining forces with him and becoming UNSTOPPABLE, or bowing out now rather than keeping the party divided right up to the end, or even just running a clean campaign so that whoever gets the ticket has a chance with voters, she is ALL ABOUT HERSELF. It's so over the top and relentless.

Also, she's starting to seem decidedly hysterical - every video you see she's shrilly yelling and podium pounding, and every still has all her neck tendons sticking out...I read an article about her feeling that she is ENTITLED to win this, and being willing to stop at nothing - the writer was saying that he really thinks she WILL win, simply because she is ready to lie, steal, cheat and murder to do it.

I think it is pure crap, by the way, that superdelegates are likely to decide this for us. Especially as she has a bunch of them at her disposal, who have publically said they will vote for her as they pledged to even though it goes against what the state they represent voted. What kind of "democracy" is this?

I can only hope that with Wisconsin in the bag and the Teamsters Union endorsing him (so, hopefully, a real shot at Texas), along with Hawaii coming up and being his home state, Obama will really get such a massive lead that she won't have a chance.

Incidentally, as I've read and researched, I don't think McCain is all that bad. He is not exactly dripping in charisma and I'm not with him in everything, but he is no Huckabee either. I guess it's an unpopular view right now, but a part of me is more comfortable with a moderate president than an extremist in any direction.

And I think he WILL win, if Hillary is running against him.

Sidenote that should not play a part that does: What about how the rest of the world sees the United States? Our global image has really gone to hell in a handbasket, you know? When I imagine Obama representing us to various foreign countries and ethnic groups, it really makes SENSE. I read a (different than previously mentioned) article that talked about how people are underestimating what it will do for us to have a "brown face" representing us, as far as terrorists and oil controllers and all sorts of things go. On the other hand, Hillary...I really have a feeling the whole "laughing stock of the planet" thing will not exactly lessen if we have what many people will see as a "crazy old white lady" in charge. My father's admittedly mysoginistic viewpoint on this is that we're dealing with countries that don't even let women show their faces or see a doctor, so how do we expect them to take a woman president seriously, or, as a result, us? I don't think we should play into the hands of those sorts of expectations, no, I mean I am all about that Ghandi quote "Be the change you want to see in the world". I just think it's an interesting idea: I would still vote for a woman president if she was the best candidate, but purely being a woman is not enough. And I think that if this woman was a man, she wouldn't even be in the running. That's her selling point, you know? Not that she's pushing it herself, but that it's what much of her support comes from... It's what makes her stand out and get noticed and end up in the running. Or so it seems to me. This is a woman who's served on a bunch of large corporate boards (including WalMart), who voted for the war, who is mixed up in all kinds of unethical agricultural crap - there's a new one being posted about in

natural_family every week, it seems like. And every philanthropic or grass roots or charitable move she makes just seems to be so INCREDIBLY calculated and facade-like... Then on the other hand Obama really strikes me as sincere. Which is not something politicians often do. This guy's parents are divorced, he grew up a minority, he's lived in vastly different parts of the country and in another country, he's been exposed to other religions. He just seems so REAL. He's been unpopular in government because he's for the people and making waves...Hillary is always talking about how much more experience she has, but it seems more like a crappy track record than positive experience, to me.

Edited to Add: I also saw a really interesting bit on Larry King, with Jon Stewart...JS was saying he thinks Bill Clinton doesn't want her to win because it will screw up his own legacy so badly, and that he purposely made the race comments that he did a couple of states back TO tarnish her campaign. I don't know if there could be anything to that, but I thought those Bill comments were pretty out of character and that it was an intriguing possibility.

Anyway, as always, feel free to step in and give it to me straight ;)

Edited AGAIN to say: All of this has made me think a lot about race and gender. It's interesting to me that when I first heard people talking up how Clinton is all pro-women's right I was like, um, that was 30 years ago. We have rights. It's like being for women's suffrage or ending prohibition at this point. But it isn't. I was reading some things that made me think, it really isn't. Women really do still have to work harder to get the same things, and I still don't feel like I can take a walk in my safe neighborhood at night unless Grant is with me. I still feel like my fil is always moderately patronizing of ANY female just because they're female. It's just hard for me to grapple with, because as a chosen stay at home mom, who thinks staying home with kids is REALLY important, and who thinks abortion is wrong, I always find myself on the other side of the coin, with someone who calls themself a feminist down my throat acting like my choices or beliefs are inferior. Conversely, I can't help but be moved by Obama being a black candidate. I have a Harlem-rennaissance mini-library I re-read annually just because I love it, and get all teary eyed about the Civil Rights Movement when I'm teaching my kids about it, and am beyond disgusted by redneck racists attitudes I was raised with. For me personally, even though I am a woman and even though I am not black, that "cause" impacts me more. I think I'm keeping that separate from my opinions, but I guess nobody can ever be SURE. And I guess I'm really not even certain whether it should be kept totally separate. I'm pretty equally grossed out by men not wanting to vote for a woman, as by white people not wanting to vote for a black man, though.