Hillary Clinton squandered last night the opportunity of a lifetime.
She could have taken that moment to praise her supporters, praised Barack Obama as the rightful nominee of the Democratic Party and put herself as the bridge builder who would bring party unity to the convention floor in Denver and Obama as the new President of the United States in November.
Hillary Clinton had the opportunity to become a hero on her last 5 minutes as candidate for the nomination. She had the opportunity to become a larger than life figure, and example of resilience, smart, wit and grace under pressure.
Instead she chose to be the The Bitch.
Bitches have some or all of the following characteristics.
1) Personality. Bitches are aggressive, assertive, domineering, overbearing, strong-minded, spiteful, hostile, direct, blunt, candid, obnoxious, thick-skinned, hard-headed, vicious, dogmatic, competent, competitive, pushey, loud-mouthed, independent, stubborn, demanding, manipulative, egoistic, driven, achieving, overwhelming, threatning, scarey, ambitious, tough, brassy, masculine, boisterous, and turbulent. Among other things . A Bitch occupies a lot of psychological space. You always know she is around. A Bitch takes shit from no one. You may not like her, but you cannot ignore her.
2) Physical. Bitches are big, tall, strong, large, loud, brash, harsh, awkward, clumsy, sprawling, strident, ugly. Bitches move their bodies freely rather than restrain, refine and confine their motions in the proper feminine manner. They clomp up stairs, stride when they walk and don’t worry about where they put their legs when they sit. They have loud voices and often use them. Bitches are not pretty.
3) Orientation. Bitches seek their identity strictly thru themselves and what they do. They are subjects, not objects. They may have a relationship with a person or organization, but they never marry anyone or anything; man, mansion, or movement. Thus Bitches prefer to plan their own lives rather than live from day to day, action to action, or person to person. They are independent cusses and believe they are capable of doing anything they damn well want to. If something gets in their way; well, that’s why they become Bitches. If they are professionally inclined, they will seek careers and have no fear of competing with anyone. If not professionally inclined, they still seek self-expression and self-actualization. Whatever they do, they want an active role and are frequently perceived as domineering. Often they do dominate other people when roles are not available to them which more creatively sublimate their energies and utilize their capabilities. More often they are accused of domineering when doing what would be considered natural by a man.
Whether feminists like it or not, anybody who “occupies a lot of psychological space” is just absolutely not fit to be president of anything. Especially president of a country like the United States, which has been mired in the Oedipal psychodrama of the neo-cons who gave both Bushes and the first Clinton presidency.
The Bitch uses the power of psychological violence to make every single event be about her, of who she is and how she feels about everything and everybody, especially those who refuse to subjugate themselves to her needs.
To The Bitch anger and resentment are what feed her soul. The Bitch is not Beautiful. The Bitch is angry, vindictive, petty and in a perpetual state of scorn.
The Bitch is a woman slighted, a woman who was once The Victim but now with sheer psychological violence she’s risen to the top.
The Bitch will never be The Victim again. And it’s this fear that ironically keeps her in the perpetual road to recovery from her victimhood. The Bitch is The Victim on perpetual payback mode.
The Bitch’s greatest achievement, indeed is The Payback.
Everybody who has ever tried to not grant her all she wishes is an enemy of her state of perpetual bitchitude. The Bitch is indeed an equal opportunity offender. She is not just Better Than Man because she is a woman. She is better than man because she is The Bitch. She is better than all women because she has the maleness, the anger and the power of violence that other women don’t have.
The Bitch is above being woman because to her, Woman is synonymous to Weak. And it’s that thought of being Weak that she happily uses to fuel the Anger and Violence that are at the core of her being.
Hillary Clinton chose to be The Bitch last night with her boastful non-victory speech; by waving into the world’s face the imaginary 18 million voters who will remain silent without her command.
It was indeed an act of violence intended to formally claim her entitlement to occupy as much psychological space as she could muster in her psychological war against The Party of Change.
Hillary Clinton did a huge disservice to women last night by not accepting to go heroically into the night and by basically proving to misogynists all around the world that there are only two choices for a woman : to be The Bitch or to be the The Victim.
Hillary Clinton had the opportunity of a lifetime to show the world that women do have a third and a fourth and a million different options that have nothing to do with either violence or weakness.
Hillary Clinton didn’t rise to the occasion and for that matter all women last night lost the opportunity of a lifetime.
This was originally posted as Why women lost last night to Hillary Clinton at culturekitchen, Liza’s culture and politics blog.
Thanks for this. Good of you.
Yes. She’s still here wishing and hoping.
I hate reductionist people that can only see the world in an either/or frame because usually the choices are both negative
I honestly am so disappointed on her … there’s just no words.
Only that I want my vote back –I voted for her twice for the Senate.
so are some of her supporters.
Hillary Rosen echoes your disappointment
Hilary Rosen, a top Clinton supporter, had this to say about Clinton’s speech last night:
“…she left her supporters empty, Obama’s angry, and party leaders trashing her. She said she was stepping back to think about her options. She is waiting to figure out how she would “use” her 18 million voters.
But not my vote. I will enthusiastically support Barack Obama’s campaign. Because I am not a bargaining chip. I am a Democrat.”
HILLARY ROSEN SAID THAT!
OMG!
The woman has finally vindicated herself!
Thank you. That totally made my day.
I don’t mind her supporters being so passionate about her candidacy. What I meind is this sense of outrage and demonization aof Obama, and this profound belief that she was somehow cheated out of her rightful place as the nominee bu the media and Obama and his supporters. I resent it frankly. I was disappointed when Edwards dropped out, but I didn’t go around blaming Clinton or Obama for that.
She lost because she ran a lousy, spiteful, toxic campaign. She could have overcome any media sexism if she had run a better campaign. She did after all start with all the advantages of name recognition, money, political connections and strong support among women, African Americans and anyone still feeling nostalgic for Bill’s presidency. She probably could have won if she simply said she was sorry for her vote to authorize the war in Iraq, the biggest criticism her opponents made against her early on. She could have done so many things to win, like not burning her bridges to African Americans or playing up the racial divides between whites, latinos and blacks. But that wasn’t the path she took. She took the path of negativity, of wedge politics, of smear campaigning, of all the things she castigated Republicans for over the last 20 years. And to blame everyone else because she lost is either cynical or profoundly delusional or suoremely narcissistic. Or all three.
And here’s a thought: For all of her demands of respect, she and her supporters have to show some respect–a fact that is absolutely lost on them for the moment.
For the record, let’s not give them any excuses by slinging around the b-word. Last night was a petulant, disgraceful affair, and everyone knows it.
I am quite content to let them swim in the gutter on their own, because guess what?
BARACK OBAMA IS THE PRESUMPTIVE PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE OF THE DEMOCRATIC PARTY.
And millions of people are ecstatic about it!
Read the whole manifesto and then come back to the post. It’s important that people go read that link.
When Tina Fey screams “bitch is the new black” and scores of women were using that on her campaign, it’s important to understand where that’s coming from.
It’s been a fundamental part of the feminist discourse and one we need to discuss. It pains me that there was a moment for her to rise to shero status and this is what she thought was heroic.
I did. And I respect and understand where you’re going with it. I just think feelings are way too raw right now, and we shouldn’t give folks any excuse to continue to not come together, no matter how flimsy.
That said–I don’t suggest groveling for their support, either.
BTW…”bitch is the new black” just made me sick. You can’t on one day embrace “bitch” and on the next, point to it as proof of sexism. But right now may not be the right time for the discussion.
Just my $.02 worth…to consider as you will.
:<)
In addition to her toxic campaign, her assertions that McMore and her passed the commander-in-chief test while Obama didn’t, her refrain that she was the most electable candidate on the evening of Obama’s historic victory, her refusal to acknowledge his victory, her lip service to wanting to unite the party while trying to force Obama into a position of having to place her on the ticket, trying to use her supporters as a wedge and a bargaining chip, McAuliffe’s intro of her last night as the “next president”….
The more I think about her speech last night the angrier it makes me, and the word “bitch” doesn’t come close to being an accurate descriptive. In fact, I don’t think there’s a word for what I’d like to call her.
I’ve heard that the overwhelming majority of her supporters are writing in to her website, as she requested last night, asking to fight on until Denver. WTF!?!??!
She lost! If she wants to unite the Democratic party and win against McCain then it’s time to acknowledge she lost. It’s time to endorse Obama and campaign for him starting today. If she doesn’t, then she’s helping McCain.
Oh, and by the way Hillary, thanks ever so much for giving McCain all those talking points to use against Obama.
“McAuliffe’s intro of her last night as the “next president”….“
No he didint! My god, that is unbe****lievable! Are they DELUSIONAL, or do they think their supporters are dilusional?! (Don’t answer that!)
I still cannot support Obama, but at least he has conducted himself with a modicum of grace.
liza, Yes she really did. See huffingtonpost.com
Why does she think she still has 17 million voters??? After seeing her in action and learning more about Obama, she might have already lost half of them.
Can’t trust this blatant lying.
For me the “what a bitch” moment came when Hillary’s surrogate essentially said Obama had better not pass over HRC as VP then go and choose another woman. To paraphrase a blog comment I saw – yeah, cause this is only her glass ceiling to break. It’s not about all womankind.
WTF?!
I’m headed out the door in a little bit, but I would implore people not to use this thread as a license to engage in misogynistic insults.
Seconded.
I understand Liza’s usage and her decision to do so, but bashing Hillary for her gender isn’t helpful. There are many reasons why she deserves our animus, but her sex is not one of them.
In fact, the better term to use if you feel the need to do so is one that can apply to either gender: asshole.
..or maybe just a witch would do…;o)
..or maybe just a witch would do…;o)
Steve, This is based on “The Bitch Manifesto”. I linked to it and part of it is what’s in quoted.
This is a fundamental discussion in feminism –up there with black reclaiming the N word.
Looking at it from the race point of view and can see why it’s important to never ever use that word.
Read the manifesto and you’ll see that she fits the pattern described of reclaiming the bitch as a goddess and making her a feminist icon.
In Clinton’s case though, it just backfires.
I understand and I don’t blame you for that, but I’d just make that more clear above so as not to let some people deliberately misinterpret your post today.
ps, one of my favorite bloggers is Angry Black Bitch so i get it. I just don’t want anyone unfairly accusing you of using that term in an improper manner.
Because we know some people will.
Good call and I am going to use this moment to clarify my train of thought :
Feminist who claim The Bitch as some sort of “goddess” are deifying attributes borne of violence that only have as a countermeasure The Victim. And we’re stuck in this perpetual loop were women are either one and the other but never ever something sheroically different, and new and borne out of creativity as action.
That’s where I was when I was writing this post.
I’d add that as an explanatory update to your story.
I’m not gonna use the B-word. Instead, I’d rather describe Hillary’s behavior of late with a non-gender-specific disorder:
I found that description in an Americablog post last night. Isn’t it just spot-on?
I’m sure this has been pointed out thousands of times already, but doesn’t it speak volumes that Obama’s phrase is “Yes, WE can,” and Clinton’s is “Yes, SHE will?” It was like getting kicked in the jaw the first time I heard that.
I’d love to see an analysis of her speeches vs Obama’s from the whole campaign with counts of references to themselves (I, Me, Mine, etc) vs references to the populace (We, Us, Our, etc)
Bingo!
But there is even more to it than that. Narcissists will do almost anything to maintain an endless supply of admiration and attention, and will fly into a rage (called narcissistic rage) when thwarted. They have no capacity for empathy, and do not care at all about the feelings (physical or mental) of others except insofar as it affects them. They insist that their sources of “supply” accept whatever misbehaviour they choose to engage in, up to and including serial infidelity (hmmmm – remind you of any other Clintons?). They tend throughout their lives to leave a string of victims in their wake whom they first woo (often with considerable charm and skill), then later mistreat, often with extreme cruelty, and ultimately abandon.
They ARE deeply insecure, and feel almost constant anxiety. It’s a cruel, vicious disorder that is one of the least amenable to treatment.
Bingo!
But there is even more to it than that. Narcissists will do almost anything to maintain an endless supply of admiration and attention, and will fly into a rage (called narcissistic rage) when thwarted. They have no capacity for empathy, and do not care at all about the feelings (physical or mental) of others except insofar as it affects them. They insist that their sources of “supply” accept whatever misbehaviour they choose to engage in, up to and including serial infidelity (hmmmm – remind you of any other Clintons?). They tend throughout their lives to leave a string of victims in their wake whom they first woo (often with considerable charm and skill), then later mistreat, often with extreme cruelty, and ultimately abandon.
They ARE deeply insecure, and feel almost constant anxiety. It’s a cruel, vicious disorder that is one of the least amenable to treatment.
SORE LOSER! No B comments needed.
The true character of human being is displayed not just victory but in defeat as well. Al Gore showed humility and class, even though the situation surrounding his concession was prone to him exerting other natural, more harmful feelings.
My main criticism is that Hillary somehow manipulated the storyline to have her in it when the scoreboard read otherwise and it was Barry’s big historic moment. He earned the pub and it was dimmed by all of the VP speculative talk.
Did anyone notice Bill’s face when she stated that she was not announcing her plans last night? He seemed pleasantly bewildered.
The last 7 years we have complained about Bush living in a bubble, I would love to see some investigation into the Clinton bubble.
Even thought I agree with her points on Hillary, I have zero respect for Hillary Rosen after her horrible tenure at the RIAA.
I don’t entirely understand this diary-though I agree with its premise (I think).
I understand the point about “reclaiming” the b word. But I don’t see how women lost because Hillary was a bitch in the reclaimed feminist sense of the term.
I’m not sure women lost to Hillary. That may yet happen-and if it does it will be due to the following: Hillary because ran a shallow, race-baiting, mean spirited campaign and relied on playing the gender victim card. Women like Erica Jong (on today’s Huffington Post) saw this as a a campaign about just electing a woman rather than as a campaign about achieving wider goals.
So people who call themselves progressive allied themselves with some of the most socially noxious people and memes in American politics-and then tried to wrap it (falsely I emphasize) in the flag of feminism.
As much as I came to loathe the candidate Hillary Clinton I admired her toughness and tenaciousness. That part never bothered me. Her staying in and fighting until the end never bothered me.
I don’t get it. Women can simply reject Mrs. Clinton’s impolite and unfriendly behavior (vicious) towards Obama, his supporters and people in general because her behavior is impolite and unfriendly, catastrophically so when directed against the nominee of her party (I mean our party to which she says she belongs, with her husband, by the way) and very possibly the next president of the U.S., her country (oh, ours!). Once I heard her refer to NYC as ‘my city’, as in: the buildings were destroyed by airplaines in ‘my city’. It could have hardly gotten any worse. She should not be an embarrasment to women because of her gender. There are women who are just not nice, men too, by the way. In fact, she’s an embarrassment to a lot of men too, believe me.
Funny how people see her as a feminist or champion of women or whatever. She has the gender, sure. But through the whole campaign I saw her as her husband’s tool, he as her security blanket, she as a bit flirt around men, kind of wiggling her underside (ass) kind of thing and flashing smiles, playing up to them. There’s a whole man/woman dynamic about the Clintons which I find exhibitionistic and unseemly. And this is not because I’m gay. The Obamas are so much more mature, relaxed with each other. They are two independent individuals who have made their life together. The Clintons have mixed up all their personal strands on one messy, sticky stew. Their daughter is stuck in the same stuff. I really don’t like them and think it’s time for us to now get completely beyond the ‘woman thing’. She hyped it and used it for her profit and gain. A lot of women might be disappointed, a lot of men too. Now we need to let her fade away and get Obama into the White House. Every night before I go to bed I get down on my knees and pray that he does not strike any kind of public deal with her and her husband (they’re joined at the hip). Yes, I do that while I don’t even believe in god. So there.
I actually agree with everything you say. To me her campaign was an extension of her husband’s legacy and by default patriarchal.
I honestly don’t understand why many women insist in calling her a feminist icon. I mean, yes and no. Most of her nos have to do with the way she waged her campaign. A huge stark difference from the way she painted herself for senator of NY.
Huge difference.