The Pork Report

If one of Hillary Clinton’s goals in this Presidential Primary was to prove that a woman could compete with a man for the highest elected office in America, then she has accomplished that goal at this stage in the Presidential Primary cycle. She did it. All of the honor should be given to her, she is a model and an example to women old and young everywhere, and history will remember her as the individual who personally blazed the trail for legions of women who will now follow her and build on her successes. A woman president is definitely a possibility, which could not definitely be said before. All this is excellent for America.

If one of Hillary Clinton’s goals in this Presidential Primary was to get herself elected President of the United States, then she has failed to achieve that goal.

AND I WISH PEOPLE WOULD STOP CONFUSING THE TWO!!!!

An article last week by Ellen Malcolm, founder of EMILY’s List, demonstrates exactly what I’m talking about. Here is a selected passage:

“This brilliant woman believes that she can compete for the most powerful office in the world. She believes that she can do a better job than any of the men running to lead our country through these challenging times. And millions of Americans, women and men, believe that she is correct.

Yet over and over again the media and her opponents have claimed that she is defeated — it’s over, she can’t win, she’s a loser. And over and over again — in New Hampshire, on Super Tuesday, in Texas and Ohio, in Pennsylvania last month, and in Indiana this week — female voters poured out of their homes to cast their ballots for her. They know that women can compete, and they want to make sure that women, especially this woman, can win….

…So here we are in the fourth quarter of the nominating process and the game is too close to call. Once again, the opponents and the media are calling for Hillary to quit. The first woman ever to win a presidential primary is supposed to stop competing, to curtsy and exit stage right.”

There are so many things wrong with this that I need to make a list:

1. People who argue that Hillary is being treated unfairly by the media seem to forget that last year she was the DARLING of the media, who was calling for other candidates to not even bother running a campaign because Hillary was so far and away ahead in every poll. Everyone forgets that the pervading story of the campaign last year was that Hillary had it in the bag, that this race was hers to lose, and that the media only reported she might be vulnerable when SHE ACTUALLY SHOWED SHE WAS VULNERABLE by losing Iowa, splitting Super Tuesday, and then getting destroyed in the 10 following primaries. That is not unfair treatment from the media, that is called journalism
2. A few sexist pigs argue that Hillary can’t win and it’s over and their reason for saying so is because she’s a woman. These people are despicable and fortunately they are in the vast minority of voices now in the year 2008. But for the vast majority of people who say that Hillary can’t win the reason is because SHE ACTUALLY CAN’T WIN. The math is indisputably against her. At this point it would take a MAJOR screw up from Obama for her to take the nomination. That has nothing to do with gender or sexism, it has to do simply and only with delegate math.
3. Once again, a few sexist pigs are calling for Hillary to quit because she’s a woman. But for the vast majority of people calling for her to quit there are LEGITIMATE and REAL reasons why she should quit in the greater interest of the Democratic Party, which ostensibly she is campaigning to represent.
4. The last phrase of this passage makes me want to throw up – where Malcolm characterizes Hillary’s opponents as calling for her to “curtsy and exit stage right.” Malcolm is basically setting up a straw man here that in no way accurately characterizes the language and tone of the vast majority of media sources and Hillary opponents. The absurd word “curtsy” makes Malcolm look ridiculous and it makes Hillary supporters look ridiculous.

Hillary supporters who wanted her to win: It isn’t over until it’s over, and Hillary has every right to campaign until the final delegate is pledged. But accept the fact that there are real reasons for her to stop campaigning that have nothing to do with her being a woman.

Hillary supporters who wanted to see a woman become the next President of the United States: Unfortunately it looks like she will not win, but she did irrefutably show that it can be done. She blazed a trail of her own and inspired generations of young women to reach for the highest goal. It may be a little bittersweet, but Hillary’s campaign has had significant and tangible gains for women everywhere in their quest for equality.

Hillary supporters who confuse or blur these two goals: you are only putting both movements back with your obfuscation of the facts. Stop it.