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Tag(s): Democratic; HILLARY CONCEDES; Hillary Clinton; Hillary Clinton; McCain-John; Mother; Mothers
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June 7, 2008 at 10:15:25

Why Hillary Lost

by Tim Hooker Page 1 of 2 page(s)

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It’s complicated.

No doubt, political analysts and talking heads and pundits and spin doctors will be debating and re-debating for some time why Hillary lost the Democratic nomination. Political scientists will pontificate. Historians will contextualize. Party hacks will scratch their chins and try to learn from the experience. But, I doubt if there will be one simple “magic bullet” that explains all of the reasons as to why Hillary lost.

But, I can tell you why I didn’t support her.

Granted, as shamelessly as George W. Bush has wrecked our country, if she had gotten the Democratic nomination, I would have shrugged and voted for her. At this point, I would vote for a yellow cur dog from Highland Park, if it would keep John McCain from living out George W. Bush’s third term.

But, I didn’t support Hillary because, well, we go a ways back.

I remember her coming to the White House. I thought she was kind of cute, in a dorky way. I wasn’t going to be building a shrine to her, but I thought I could live with the situation. Then, the Monica thing came along. And, Heaven forbid I try to draw the line between where Bill could have wanted too much and Hillary could have been too stingy in addressing his intimacy needs. We’ll never know what went on inside their relationship and it’s none of our business.

My gut, though, told me the New York senator slot was a pay-off, a consolation prize for keeping her mouth shut, with the tacit understanding that she’d have the party’s support in 2008. And, my gut said there was something wrong with that. I never have had a penchant for back-room establishment types playing me.

And, whether those gut feelings were real or imagined, it appears as though some others got the same message. Whenever she spoke, whenever she appeared on TV, there was always that subliminal twinge that told me she was a creation of the party, not a candidate of the people.

That was only reinforced with words like “inevitability” attached to her.

Call me a stubborn hillbilly, but when it comes to politics, I don’t believe anyone has a birthright to an office.

Then, there’s the gender thing.

On the coattails of the entitlement issue, there’s the “you owe me” factor. I don’t know a single man on this planet who looks forward to a woman copping a “you owe me” attitude toward him. And, it could be justified. A guy may actually owe a woman for child support or alimony or whatever. But, no man wants to see it, much less vote for it.

That leads to the next gender factor. When Hillary shrieked, “Shame on you, Obama!”, she lost the race. Why? At that moment, on an emotional/subconscious level, she became everybody’s disapproving mother. We were all transported emotionally back to being nine years old, when we screwed up something and our mothers were going to make darned sure we knew about it. That got me to paying closer attention to her speeches, observing not only what she said, but how she said it. And, I kept hearing that same condescending, Mommy-Dearest tone, over and over.

The problem, though, is that as much as we love our mothers, we don’t get to choose them. They’re assigned to us, whether we want them or not.

Nobody elects their mother.

Meanwhile, there arose in the race the very antithesis of George W. Bush. He’s not a self-indulgent Baby Boomer. He’s not an idiot. He’s not even the same color. He was born a skinny black kid on the South side of Chicago in 1961. I was born a skinny white kid on the South side of Chicago in 1961.

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www.sushituesday.com

Tim Hooker is an English professor in Tennessee. He is the author of three books: "Rocket Man: A Rhapsody of Short Stories," "Duncan Hambeth: Furniture King of the South," and "Looking For A City." His politics are progressive liberal; his religion is Catholic Humanism. He is married, with four cats.

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6 comments

Hater of Nazis above all. Hobbies include activism, military model building, military history, exciting and vital conversation with retired crooks. Retired
John HanksHater of Nazis above all. Hobbies include activism, military model building, military history, exciting and vital conversation with retired crooks. Retired

She is a sociopath.

She lied repeatedly and insanely. She backed McCain. She obliquely threatened Obama's life. She pretended to be a feminist, when her voting record does not support it. She said "annihilate" Iran to get Zionist votes. She used racism repeatedly to get white male and Jewish votes. She strung millions of gullible women along with false hopes and blatant sexism. What else? She's a sociopath married to a sociopath.

by John Hanks (1 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 1373 comments) on Saturday, June 7, 2008 at 4:31:27 PM

I am a retired 69 year old progressive Democrat living in Portland, Oregon.
Clarkent39I am a retired 69 year old progressive Democrat living in Portland, Oregon.

Why Hillary Lost?

I mostly concur with your points about Hillary reminding us of archetypal women in our past who used negative types of discipline. I was bothered about the swings such as "I honor you, I honor you, I honor you" and within one week it turned to "Shame on you Barack Obama."
and...."I and John McCain will be ready on 'day one' and Barack will have a speech." This showed me that Hillary still had poor judgment like she used to vote initially for the war. I was sick of corporate Republican spins and here she was attempting to diminish a Democrat who basically shared her same issues. Our Party needed more wisdom and less prejudice than she was evidencing......and maybe she was just a female George Bush.
Her speech today (June, 7) showed a bigness of soul more matching to Obama. If she had campaigned with that "ready on day one" maturity, she would never have lost me.

by Clarkent39 (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 7 comments) on Saturday, June 7, 2008 at 8:13:56 PM

I'm a native of New York City who's called the Green Mountain state of Vermont home since the summer of 1994. A former freelance journalist, I'm a fiercely independent freethinker who's highly skeptical of authority figures -- especially when they're on the wrong side of the issues I care about. But I'm not afraid to also call into question those with whom I would usually be "on the same page" if and when they, too, are on the wrong side of the issues I care about.
Skeeter SandersI'm a native of New York City who's called the Green Mountain state of Vermont home since the summer of 1994. A former freelance journalist, I'm a fiercely independent freethinker who's highly skeptical of authority figures -- especially when they're on the wrong side of the issues I care about. But I'm not afraid to also call into question those with whom I would usually be "on the same page" if and when they, too, are on the wrong side of the issues I care about.

The REAL Reason Hillary Lost: Bad-Boy Bill

Tim Hooker certainly put a personal spin on why Hillary Clinton lost, but as a blogger who's written extensively about the campaign, I can tell you that the REAL reason Hillary lost can be summer up in two words:

Bill Clinton.

Bottom line: A LOT of people -- myself included -- did not want Bill Clinton once again roaming the halls of the White House. For me, at least, there was no doubt in my mind that although it was Hillary who was running for president, it was Bill who was really calling the shots in her campaign.

A vote for Hillary Clinton was a vote for an unconstitutional third Bill Clinton term. Putting Hillary up to run for the White House was Bill's way of circumventing the 22nd Amendment of the Constitution, which linits a president to two terms in office.

That Bill Clinton opened his big mouth one time too many -- each time firing a torpedo that scored a direct hit on the S.S. Hillary -- made it pretty obvious to me that this was Bill's campaign, not Hillary's.

In the process, Bill committed a cardinal sin that since the 1970s has proven fatal to any Democrat seeking the nation's highest office: He pissed off the Democratic Party's most loyal voter consituency -- African-Americans -- with his racially offensive put-downs of Barack Obama during and immediately after the South Carolina primary in January.

Since then, black voter support for Hillary completely collapsed.

No Democrat can win the White House without the support of black voters -- especially in the South -- since the Democratic nominee has failed to win a majority of the white vote in every presidential election since 1968. Both Jimmy Carter (1976) and Bill Clinton (1992 and 1996) literally owe their presidencies to black voters, who provided them with their critical margins of victory.

That fact was apparently lost on Bill, who threw 16 years of fierce loyalty and admiration by African Americans out the window. And he paid the price, by seeing his wife be defeated in the race for the Democratic presidential nomination -- by an African-American.

Poetic justice, I say.

by Skeeter Sanders (32 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 78 comments) on Saturday, June 7, 2008 at 9:37:26 PM

Christian tired of republican lies and smear campaigns.
lucydavisChristian tired of republican lies and smear campaigns.

Why???

It was such a pleasure to watch Senator Obama work his way to the top during these past months. He is a gentleman from the old school. No matter how badly Bill and his wife tried to denigrate him, Senator Obama never lost his temper, or said anything vicious in return. He had nothing but praise for Hillary, in spite of her attacks on him. I'm just hoping this extremely intelligent man is given the opportunity to return our country to its former greatness and the respect it used to be given by the rest of the world.

by lucydavis (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 88 comments) on Sunday, June 8, 2008 at 5:58:44 PM

I find it hard to believe that the public feels led astray by President Bush for leading us into a war blindsided. Where were you when Bush went to the United Nations for help in finding out if Iraq had WMD's. How many chances did we give Saddam to come clean only to hear over and over again "I need more time, No you can't enter Iraq" How many chances did we give him? If it was up to the Democratic party would we still be waiting?
Where were you when President Bush said enough... w...

to see more of bio, click on member name
don bybeeI find it hard to believe that the public feels led astray by President Bush for leading us into a war blindsided. Where were you when Bush went to the United Nations for help in finding out if Iraq had WMD's. How many chances did we give Saddam to come clean only to hear over and over again "I need more time, No you can't enter Iraq" How many chances did we give him? If it was up to the Democratic party would we still be waiting?
Where were you when President Bush said enough... w...

to see more of bio, click on member name

she did cry real tears

Obama has no experience, we want change, so we vote Nancy Pelosi in charge of Congress and gas not even two years later goes to an all time high and the housing industry is at a standstill... and we really think Obama can bring change to America? Obama will be another Jimmy Carter

by don bybee (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 206 comments) on Sunday, June 8, 2008 at 9:58:42 PM

Born in Philadelphia, grew up on a farm, which my parents lost in the Great Depression. I suppose my political inclination began when I watched Dad ride our horse across snow-covered fields to vote for FDR. Married, three great sons, divorced. Still learning.
L.M. ArndtBorn in Philadelphia, grew up on a farm, which my parents lost in the Great Depression. I suppose my political inclination began when I watched Dad ride our horse across snow-covered fields to vote for FDR. Married, three great sons, divorced. Still learning.

Why Hillary lost

I've always felt the "you owe me" was a lot stronger than the party pay-off. IMHO Hillary aggressively pushed her own career to prove her own worth. She wasn't a creation of the party, nor was she a candidate of the people.
People who know Hillary say she's intelligent and also warm, friendly, and basically a decent person, albeit psychologically wounded and insecure. Whether she listened to advisers or decided on her own, she took the tack of acting "tough." She wouldn't admit that her vote to grant Bush the okay to invade Iraq was a huge mistake, nor would she apologize for it. (Being tough means you never have to say you're sorry.) And so she came across to me, and likely to many others, as being as rigid and unyielding and dogmatic as the man she was proposing to replace.
I agree, Hillary's "Shame on you" diatribe on the heels of "I'm honored, HONORED, to be here with Barack Obama," made her look like a psycho. Yet her entire campaign was one such misstep after another. The "experience" boast (yeah, you and the White House chef), the "McCain and me" nonsense, the little gibes – Obama a Muslim? – "not as far as I know" – "I would have left that church." Oh, and the "landing under sniper fire" boast. Do I want a President with that tenuous a grasp on reality?
Fact: Hillary is not good at making decisions. She was apparently incapable of running a tight, organized campaign, couldn't keep Bill under control, had NO CLUE that the form-fitting, wildly colored pants suits she persisted in wearing made her butt look big, and she looked gauche in contrast to Obama's nonchalant poise.
Granted, it would be tough for any woman to buck the system, but I have to believe it can be done, although not by adopting a tough-guy stance.
The key, though, was the difference between Obama's "WE" and Hillary's "I." WE CAN DO IT as opposed to I WILL FIGHT. Jon Stewart had a telling sequence of Hillary"s "I will. . . I can. . . I want. . . I this and I that." Her "I"s were too big for a lot of us to stomach.
My 20-year-old grandson, in January of this year, sent me this e-mail: "It's been a long time since a politician has stirred my heart like Obama's been able to. :)"
I don't think Hillary would have understood that.

by L.M. Arndt (3 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 45 comments) on Sunday, June 8, 2008 at 7:59:01 PM