This February I attended my first ever Democratic primary caucus — well, actually my first ever caucus of any kind. The caucus for my district was held in an elementary school cafeteria which smelled like decades of cooked onions and boiled green beans, and we were bursting out of the room.
I was told by some long time caucusers that during the last Presidential caucus there had been 12 people there, and they had a hard time finding anyone willing to volunteer to go up to the next level for the county. This time, there were close to 200 people there. Many of us had no freaking clue what we were doing, and some incredibly kind, good-natured people with experience quickly tried to organize us, making sure we all signed in on the correct forms for the correct district, and gently herded us into some semblance of organization.
The atmosphere was congenial and jolly. It was a mixed group of age, race, and gender. The organizers suggested we sort ourselves into our candidate groups while they counted the signatures so we could move on to selecting our delegates. In the midst of this jovial chaos I noticed a woman sitting with arms firmly crossed. She appeared unhappy, unhappy enough that when a seat opened up next to her, I thought about sitting down and then decided the wall I was leaning on was fine. I saw her speaking seriously to one of my neighbors, a woman named Mary who is one of those kind, clear-eyed people you turn to when you need something fixed.
Mary stood up and hollered to get the organizers attention. "It's been observed by -----," Mary said to the leaders, "that you are referring to Barack Obama as 'Obama' in your directions, but you are referring to Hillary Clinton as 'Hillary'." Mary explained that this was being interpreted by some to be disrespectful and demeaning, and could we please use consistent, respectful forms of address for all the candidates?
Various things ran through my head when I heard this, some of which do me little credit, and suggest that it's best that I was not one of the people in charge instead of the kind, good-natured ones who were, who replied, "Oh, of course. No problem!" I was irritated by the implication that these very nice, overworked people who were patiently suggesting that Obama supporters from district 242 should sit at this lunch table, and Hillary supporters from district 242 should sit at that lunch table were behaving in a sinister fashion, or that there was any disrespect in the room for anyone.
Article comments
1 - Alesssandro
Hey, this was good reading.
2 - gwendolyn
extremely good reading. thank you for putting my thoughts into words and much, much better than i ever could express. very smart.
3 - Lola
Well written and sadly accurate. Hillary has reduced this race to one of sexism, victimhood and rule changing. Not exactly the kind of role model I want for my daughter or the country.
4 - Bob
Sexism is a two-way street; here's a term to ponder: Misandry
Hillary, the Queen of Spin and a Legend in Her Own Mind!
5 - bliffle
Good article! I agree.
6 - jacksmith
DON'T BE DUPED AGAIN AMERICA !!!
IT'S ABOUT ELECTABILITY !!!
Large numbers of BUSH_McCain Republicans have been voting for Barack Obama in the DEMOCRATIC primaries, and caucuses from early on with the backing and help of the medical and insurance industry. Under the direction of the George Bush, and Karl Rove vote fraud, and vote manipulation machine. Because they feel Barack Obama would be a weaker opponent against John McCain. And they want to stop Hillary Clinton from fixing the HUGE! American, and Global mess they have created. shocking!!! isn't it. Just gotta love those good old draft dodging, silver spoon Texas boys. Not! :-(
You see, the medical and insurance industry mostly support the republicans with the money they ripped off from you. And they don't want you to have quality, affordable universal health care. They want to be able to continue to rip you off, and kill you and your children by continuing to deny you life saving medical care that you have already paid for. So they can continue to make more immoral profits for them-selves off of you, and your children's suffering.
With Hillary Clinton you are almost 100% certain to get quality affordable universal health care for everyone very soon. And you are also certain to see major improvements in the economy for everyone.
The American people face even worse catastrophes ahead than the ones you are living through now. It will take all of the skills, and experience of Hillary Clinton to pull the American people out of this mess we are in. Fortunately fixing up, and cleaning up others incompetence, immoral degeneracy, and mess is what the Clinton's do very well.
Hillary Clinton has actually won by much larger margins than the vote totals showed. And lost by much smaller vote margins than the vote totals showed. Her delegate count is actually much higher than it shows. And higher than Obama's. She also leads in the electoral college numbers that you must win to become President in the November national election. HILLARY CLINTON IS ALREADY THE TRUE DEMOCRATIC NOMINEE!
Just look at Oregon for example. Obama won Oregon by about 70,000 votes. But approximately 79,000 Bush republicans switched party's back in January to vote for Obama in the democratic primary. They are not going to vote for, or support any Democrat in November. Are you DEMOCRATS going to put up with that. Are you that stupid, and weak. The Bush republicans think you are that stupid, and weak.
As much as 30% of Obama's primary, and caucus votes are Republicans trying to choose the weakest democratic candidate for McCain to run against. These Republicans have been gaming the caucuses, and open primaries where it is easier to vote cheat. This is why Obama has not been able to win the BIG! states primaries. Even with Republican vote cheating help. Except North Carolina where 35% of the population is African American, and approximately 90% of them block voted for him. African Americans are only approximately 17% of the general population.
Hillary Clinton has been OUT MANNED! and OUT SPENT! 4 and 5 to 1. Yet Obama has only been able to manage a very tenuous, and questionable tie with Hillary Clinton. This is even more phenomenal when you consider she has been also fighting against the George Bush, Karl Rove vote fraud machine in the DEMOCRATIC primaries, and caucuses. Hillary Clinton is STUNNING!.
If Obama is the democratic nominee for the national election in November he will be slaughtered. That is crystal clear now. Because all of the Republican vote cheating help will suddenly evaporate. And the demographics, and experience are completely against him. All of this vote fraud and Bush republican manipulation has made Obama falsely look like a much stronger candidate than he really is.
You will have another McGovern catastrophe where George McGovern lost 49 of 50 states. And was the reason the super-delegates were created to keep that from happening again. Don't let that happen to the party and America again super-delegates. You have the power to prevent it. The only important question now is who can best win in November. And the answer is HILLARY RODHAM CLINTON. That fact is also now crystal clear.
And YOUNG PEOPLE. DON'T BE DUPED! Think about it. You have the most to lose. As do African Americans. Support Hillary Clinton. She will do her best for all of you. And she will know how to best get it done on day one.
The democratic party needs to fix this outrage. Everyone needs to throw all your support to Hillary Clinton NOW! So you can end this outrage against YOU the voter, and against democracy.
The democratic party, and the super-delegates have a decision to make. Are the democrats, and the democratic party going to choose the DEMOCRATIC party nominee to fight for the American people. Or are the republicans going to choose the DEMOCRATIC party nominee through vote fraud, and gaming the DEMOCRATIC party primaries, and caucuses.
Fortunately the Clinton's have been able to hold on against this fraudulent outrage with those repeated dramatic, and heroic comebacks of Hillary Clinton’s. Only the Clinton’s are that resourceful, and strong. Hillary Clinton is your NOMINEE. They are the best I have ever seen. Probably the best there has ever been. :-)
“This is not a game” (Hillary Clinton)
Sincerely
jacksmith... Working Class :-)
p.s. Cynthia Ruccia - I'm with ya baby. All the way. "Clinton Supporters Count Too."
7 - Kati
Thank you all for your great comments. Five out of six seem to agree I'm not ape monkey squirrel shit bananas, and if that's good enough for the dentists, it's good enough for me!
Hillary Clinton did have an opportunity to give us Health Care reform, the best opportunity this country has ever had. If another politician had biffed it as badly as she did, do you think Hillary Clinton would advise giving them a second chance?
8 - bliffle
Jacksmith is over the top, but there's a good point underlying his tirade: our preoccupation with the dem horserace has really obliterated consideration of the relative merits of Clinton and Obama policies. Every minute we consider pondering the Michigan/Florida mess is time NOT spent reviewing the policies of the candidates.
The only candidate getting consideration of policy is McCain, and that probably works slightly against him.
Personally, I don't care much about the MI/FL delegates, but I'd like to hear more about, for example, the facets of the Clinton and Obama health plans. Offhand, it seems to me that Obama may be repeating the mistakes that Clinton made 15 years ago, and that Clinton has improved her ideas considerably. But that's based on the scanty info I can find on their websites, NOT on thorough and penetrating discussions in the public media, like the internet and blogosphere.
9 - Baronius
Kati, I don't think you're crazy, but I'm sure you'd think that I am. I'm a conservative. There are plenty of us who don't like the tone of modern politics. If you look into it a little more, you'll see that the lowering of political discourse isn't "our" game.
Either way, this is some good writing.
10 - Holly
This is excellent and, even though I am one who does not like the light shone too brightly on Bill C. (I prefer to remember him hazily), you are right on. Thank you!
11 - Kati
Baronius - I don't think you're crazy because you're conservative. I'm one of those nutty people who believe that good people represent all points of view.
Slate has an interesting article about our current fear of vote tampering and election stealing. Each side is equally convinced that the other side actively practices vote supression and voter fraud. The Democrats were radicalized by 2000 and before that Nixon, while Nixon was motivated by anger at things like the Daley Democratic political machine.
If we conduct politics based on doing to our opponents before they even consider doing to us, we'll never elevate ourselves out of this mire.
12 - Baronius
Kati, I agree that politics gets too dirty, on both sides of the aisle. But you said the opposite in your article, admiring Bill's ability to beat the Republicans at "their" game.
Your shock at the carnage the Clintons leave in their wake seems about sixteen years late. I remember the Clinton campaign's contempt for Bill's old lovers. We were told at the time that personal morality had nothing to do with an officeholder's performance. In retrospect, it's obvious that we were seeing the Clintons' lack of interest in the consequences of their actions. How many houses do you have to burn down before you get labelled an arsonist?
13 - bliffle
In defense of Hillary, perhaps she is trying to counteract the seeming submission of the 2000 Gore campaign when they vacillated and allowed themselves to be bullied by James Baker. She's sending a warning to foes that she's not going to knuckle under in the face of aggression. Maybe she figures to elicit a fighting style from Obama that will strengthen the eventual dem nominee, either way.
Maybe.
14 - Clavos
...More likely, she's just overweeningly ambitious and self-centered.
15 - bliffle
Thanks, Clavos, for restating that abundantly overly repeated premise. Not very interesting.
16 - Clavos
Why, you're welcome, bliffle.
Apparently, the premise hasn't been "abundantly overly repeated," enough, since you obviously remain among the deluded fools who haven't yet perceived its veracity.
17 - Christopher Rose
I looked up overweening just to check and got "excessive: unrestrained, especially with regard to feelings; presumptuously arrogant;".
Aren't all politicians pretty much "overweeningly ambitious and self-centered"? The peculiar demands of contemporary party politics make it almost inevitable, although some of them are better at hiding it than others. Whether that is ultimately a plus is a judgement call.
18 - Clavos
Absolutely agree with you, Mr. Rose.
Hillary seems to be blessed with an overabundance, even for a pol.
19 - bliffle
I remarked Hillarys selfishness a long time ago. Perhaps it is true that Hillary is so self-centered that everyone is long aware of it. Does anyone deny it?
20 - Marge
Hillary, is our only hope of Change. Real change, not just words. This country has been managed by one side of the brain, (factual) men think with one side, women with the other..It's time for complete change. We hear it after every election, things will get better, life will be better, jobs, will be more abundant. Yeh right, a chicken in every pot...It's to the point,the the american people are loosing the pot in which to cook the chicken, and their entire homes,jobs, existance..
I am convinced with every fiber of my being, that Hillary is the one, to put all that back in order, NOT O'BAMA, he's just words,and empty suite. Hillary has the drive, conviction, and knowledge it will take in order for us to have real change and for the betterment of this country. Stand behind her, she will do all of us proud....
21 - bliffle
Marge,
I believe that Hillary has more of those menacing qualities you mentioned than any mere man in this campaign. Let me put it this way: she's more macho than me (other guys can speak for themselves).
But I think that her ego-drenched persona misses (as we mere men so often demonstrate in our own aberrant willful behavior) that the larger social success is NOT guaranteed by our personal ascendancy to great power.
I can cite various, assorted, and, many examples where we mere men have demonstrated such, if need be. But I'm sure you know the Catechism Of Male Failure.
One is advised not to follow a model that has lead to such frequent failure, lest one not only be labeled a failure also, but a fool as well.
22 - bliffle
At the same time I'm becoming rather fond of Hillary for her bold cutthroat approach, and her apparent love of Blood Sport.
Seems to me that GWB was elected in 2000 for 2 sterling qualities: (1) we knew little about him and so had little to despise, and (2) he was willing to be a barrom brawler, which US citizens always like in a leader.
Obama gets the first quality and Hillary the second. Say what you will about her, she looks like she'll go to the mat in a brawl, and we imagine that this will be good for the USA , surrounded as we are by menacing enemies.