Archived: Feb 25, 2008

> Editorial

Don’t pity Hillary!

Repeat of New Hampshire could mean wins for Clinton

By Amanda Throm

The American people want something to believe in, not sadness and how everything can't be exactly the way we want it.

While also airing clips of "Don't Cry for Me, Argentina" from the musical "Evita," News Radio AM 620 broadcast a despondent, tired and close-to-tears Sen. Hillary Clinton in an ad which first appeared in Texas, where the presidential hopeful is getting a head start for the March 4 primary.

This ad, also found on www.hillaryclinton.com and titled "Lifetime," seems to be a repeated attempt to win a state after the New Hampshire tear-up victory in early February.

Okay, so she could have been talking about something she was passionate about, but does someone seem a little tired? Maybe a little too stressed out?

Maybe she realized that what happened in New Hampshire was actually helpful for her so she's trying for pity votes. I don't think that's how someone who is attempting to make history should really go about doing so.

The tear-jerking video from New Hampshire can be viewed on YouTube, but really, it's not anything we haven't heard before. How many of you girls have cried to get out of speeding tickets?

Now I'm not equating a vote for presidency to getting a ticket, but Hillary got a huge amount of female votes when she started crying, and it's part of the reason why she won the New Hampshire primary. The recent Wisconsin primary, where she lost by a 17-point margin, may have been saying something: she doesn't seem to have cried in the last 10 primaries. She's probably catching on to the fact that she gets more votes because apparently tears are seen as passion, not being pathetic.

"It's very personal...not just political; it's not just public," she said during the speech she gave in New Hampshire. She continues speaking as if she’s talking with a girlfriend; talking about watching her weight, trying to eat healthily when "the easiest food is pizza."

She's got some skill, showing her fellow females that she's just as concerned about what she puts into her body as the rest of us.

I just don't understand how people are eating, save the pun, what she's saying and believing that when she's crying, she really means it. I personally couldn't care less if our next president is fat or thin, fit or reaches for that pizza. While I applaud someone’s attempt at staying fit, as long as they run our country with finesse and can manage to solve the problems we're currently facing, it shouldn't matter what they look like.

The tone she carries in "Lifetime" is just an echo from New Hampshire. AM 620 opened up to phone calls and nearly 10 callers asked if she had a tear in her eye. She sounds really tired, like she's already lost.

We're not looking for sadness. The American people want something to believe in, not sadness and how everything can't be exactly the way we want it.

This election is going to change everything if a Democrat becomes president. Hillary is using her gender far too much this time around, and she’s not exactly doing it properly. She should be evoking past women who have shaped our country today, not saying that because she's a woman she's more fit for the job.

True, if elected president, Hillary would be making history, but is what we're hearing in her speeches and ads just a precursor to what we would hear if she were put in office?

> Comments

Maggie on Feb 28, 2008 at 05:06 PM:

I am personally offended by this article, and I hope I am not alone. There are nearly no factual statements presented within, and the subject matter has almost nothing to do with the issues or policies at hand in the upcoming election (not to mention Wisconsin’s primary is over, so I’m not sure who Ms. Throm is targeting her “don’t pity Hillary” assertion).

By now I’m very used to the endless attacks on Hillary Clinton from the sexist media which saturates every aspect of our lives in this country…that is not what made me most offended. The worst part for me was the attack to females that Throm shoves down our throats: “How many of you girls have cried to get out of speeding tickets?” What’s disturbing is that she detaches herself from the statement as thought she’s not even female. And on a more personal note, I don’t know anyone who has ever done this.

The other particularly distasteful portion of the article is the part about Hillary Clinton speaking as though she’s “talking with a girlfriend…watching her weight, trying to eat healthy when ‘the easiest food is pizza’.” First of all, this droning paragraph scarcely makes sense, and once again reinforcing the stereotypes about women caring only for their physical appearance, especially in terms of a Senator and a lifelong activist is ridiculous. This is a classic case of “blame the victim.” She was answering a question from a supporter about how she “keeps it up” when she said this, and it was one comment in an honest response.

The supporter also asked her “who does your hair?”, which would be an unimaginable question to ask a male presidential candidate. She simply answered what she was asked stating that she is criticized on the days she does not have her hair done.

What’s completely ridiculous (and not to mention an example of poor journalism) is that Throm only writes about Clinton’s response in an ill-disguised attempt to paint the picture that Clinton is too busy lolly-gagging and chattering about “womanly issues” to “actually debate.” She’s taking a perfectly normal debate, applying an acute lens of sexism, and regurgitating the same crap that the media gets off on reporting every day – Clinton is damned if she does damned if she doesn’t. So which is it? Is she a manly bitch with an attitude or a girly-girl who loves getting her hair done? Both of these themes have been widely reported as an attempt to slam Clinton, despite the fact that they’re mutually exclusive.

Every day in Hillary Clinton’s life she has to deal with the system of dominance and subordination that is so deeply rooted in our country and it’s poisonous, biased media. I am disgusted by the lack of thought or concern in this editorial.

I would suggest that Ms. Throm educate herself on actual issues as opposed to the general gossip that flies around in everyday chatter (just because the cute guy at the desk behind you says Clinton’s a bitch doesn’t mean she needs to throw him a bone so you can get a date). I would also like to remind her that if there was a white male candidate going up against Barack Obama instead of Clinton; Obama would be at the receiving end of all of this defamation. I guess it’s just lucky for her that our country seems to be more unabashedly sexist than racist.

Amanda Throm on Mar 01, 2008 at 09:01 AM:

While I applaud your support of Hillary I can't help but suggest that you may be reading her ads the wrong way.

You say you're offended by this article but I took great offense to your final paragraph and I hope you can understand why. Not only do you generalize me as easily swayed but you easily make the biggest generalization which has nothing to do with this article when you assume that I would do or say anything (even compromise my writing career) to get a man. You clearly crossed the line and I hope, while you thought it was probably hilarious, you realize what you said.

I did not focus on the fact that she talked in those ads as if talking to a girlfriend-- I focused on the fact that she sounded ever-so close to tears; which you cannot blame me for doing so. You cannot tell me that you couldn’t hear her voice break and eyes well up in the New Hampshire primary, and you cannot tell me, should you have listened to the “Lifetime” ad that she doesn’t sound tired, defeated, and doing every last-ditch effort to get a few extra votes.

Your absolution of saying you've never seen or heard of anyone crying to get out of a ticket may just be your lack of hearing a friend getting pulled over. I know it's happened; I had a roommate who did so.

I put myself out of the situation so I wouldn't sound too much like an anti-feminist. I believe whole-heartedly in the rights of women and I’m so glad we don’t live in a time when we were refused said rights. I simply believe that if a woman wants to be President, she shouldn't use her gender to get ahead. The win in New Hampshire and Ohio were precluded by her crying. Did you not see a connection between those two? People pity relatively quickly in this country.

I believe America would do very well with a female president in office. However: NOT HILLARY. From the very beginning she's done nothing but slam the Republicans and her fellow Democrats. She's not exactly putting our minds at ease when she cries either. She may be stressed and I understand why, but the American people don't need a visibly stressed-out President. We KNOW the job is tough and we expect the future president to be under pressure, but she's letting it get to her.

You have noticed that Obama has been getting bashed as well as Hillary, haven't you? He's not exactly skating through this election but he handles it much better than Hillary because he doesn't go around picking out the flaws of his fellow running-mates. If Hillary wants to run a clean campaign she should really start focusing on her own agenda, rather than on those of her competitors.