The Clinton campaign is shell-shocked, reports Maureen Dowd in the NYT. They were convinced an entire generation of young women would be awed by Hillary Clinton and would never reject her in favor of, say, a boutique candidate like Bernie Sanders.
Hillary believed that there was an implicit understanding with the sisters of the world that now was the time to come back home and vote for a woman.
This attitude intensified the unappetizing solipsistic subtext of her campaign, which is “What is Hillary owed?” It turned out that female voters seem to be looking at Hillary as a candidate rather than as a historical imperative. And she’s coming up drastically short on trustworthiness.
Hillary started, both last time and this, from a place of entitlement, as though if she reads her résumé long enough people will surrender. And now she’s even angrier that she has been shown up by someone she considers even less qualified than Obama was when he usurped her place.
Bernie has a clear, concise “we” message, even if it’s pie-in-the-sky: The game is rigged and we have to take the country back from the privileged few and make it work for everyone. Hillary has an “I” message: I have been abused and misunderstood and it’s my turn.
The spectacle of Madeline Albright and Gloria Steinem trying to shame younger women into voting for Hillary is interestingly bizarre.
Instead of just admitting that he had had an affair with Monica Lewinsky and taking his lumps, Bill lied and hid behind the skirts of his wife and female cabinet members, who had to go out before the cameras and vouch for his veracity, even when it was apparent he was lying.
Hillary was confident that feminist leaders and women in Congress would support her, and younger women would follow suit. But unfortunately with the Clintons, there is always “the ugly Faustian bargain: You can have our bright public service side as long as you accept our dark sketchy side.” Read more from Maureen Dowd to understand why young women today are not buying into the Clintons, who unfailingly set themselves above the rules.
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