A Dream Deferred - What Did We Want From Hillary Clinton's Campaign?
I waited a long time to share my thoughts about Hillary's loss. Partly because many have accused her female supporters of sour grapes. Some die-hard Hillary fans have talked about voting for John McCain. But I'm guessing that very few will follow up on that threat. Obama and Clinton are close enough on the issues that we can be assured of very similar outcomes, policy-wise, in voting for him.
I also felt an obligatory cooling-off period would help in understanding how and why Hillary's campaign fell short of its mark in both expectation and execution.
Two weeks after Hillary asked us, "What does Hillary want?" I've come to the conclusion that the question worth examining is: "What did we want from Hillary?"
Were we realistic in our expectations of her given her past history and track record? And could she have satisfied our wants and needs, connected better with voters, shed the "Slick Willie" taint of her husband, forged her own identity and - having done all that - won the nomination?
Or was she hemmed in by the same things that limit many women - her choice of marriage over career, and a life dedicated to her husband's ambitions at the expense of her own?
"What happens to a dream deferred?" asked the poet Langston Hughes. Surely Hillary Rodham Clinton knows the answer. But chances are, she'll never tell.
Related article: Choosing Hillary - Why Clinton Could Never Live Up to Our Expectations
Comments
What worries me is that Hillary might defer her own career in favor of becoming Obama’s VP and propping him up for the next eight years, after which she would be 68.
http://www.pumaparty.com/hillarynovp
She and Bill were a team, two-fer. They did what they had to do at that time: put everything in the man’s name.
It’s more than just a few Hillary supporters who think McCain is a better second choice than Obama, and plan to vote accordingly. Then in 2012 the path will be clear for Hillary (or some other real Democrat) to run.
I don’t think Hill did a thing wrong…she did more than any man could have. She just represented the past with all of it’s baggage as far as politics and lies that both parties have sold us over the years and why the complacency of the voters. (till now)
I believe it’s simply everyone is hoping that finally we may be able to bring a ‘real’ change with ‘anyone’ new, versus the way politics and politicians have always been and that’s with either party. ”Out with the old, in with the new…Long live the king.”
Don’t underestimate the Clinton Democrats that will not forgive or forget. We will vote for McCain. The lastest slap in the face by Obama, by hiring the women who was fired from Hillary’s camp, only add more fuel to the fire. We will never vote for ‘that man’!
Come join us at: http://www.united4mccain.com
Ah, Jane, I’m not underestimating Hillary’s supporters. But I am concerned that there may be a tendency for some to cut off their noses to spite their face. I too went through some soul-searching with regard to voting for McCain. Here are two facts that stop me cold:
If you can still vote for him knowing this about him, I don’t know what to say…except that you’ll be setting women back much further than where we presently stand with Hillary’s loss. And if Roe v. Wade is reversed under a McCain presidency, can you live with that vote?
Come November election Alot of voters and myself will write in Hillary Clinton for President.I don’t trust Obama no more than I trust that so called pastor Wright.and this final.
Richard