Month: January 2008

Clinton’s Nevada Pre-Spin

It sounds like she expects to lose:

That is troubling to me. You know, in a situation of a caucus, people who work during that time — they’re disenfranchised. People who can’t be in the state or who are in the military, like the son of the woman who was here who is serving in the Air Force, they cannot be present.

You’re always disenfranchised when you cannot vote for a Clinton.

The Privilege Of A Clinton

Chris Crain notes:

Gloria Steinem’s asks whether a woman born in exactly Barack Obama’s circumstances would ever have made it to the U.S. Senate, much less have a shot at the presidency, but she never stops to ask whether a black woman with Hillary Clinton’s bio would ever have enjoyed the advantage of her husband’s success at the highest level of politics to slingshot her on her way.

The point is that Hillary’s path is the privileged one here, in a way that only a female candidate could be. She emerged into regional and national prominence because of her husband, not because of herself. His career opened her door, however admirably she has taken advantage of that fact.

The Tears Of A Clinton

And, yes, a double-standard:

When George Bush senior cries in public, it’s considered moving. Ditto his moist-eyed son. But in fairness, they have tended to appear moved about things apart from themselves, apart from their own predicaments. Mrs. Clinton was weeping about Mrs. Clinton. If a man had uttered Mrs. Clinton’s aria–if Mr. Obama had said, "And you know, this is very personal for me . . . as tired as I am . . . against the odds," and gotten choked – they would have laughed him out of town.

Maybe they shouldn’t have.