hillary, katie and sexism

keith olbermann recently labeled katie couric as the worst person in the world. olbermann reacted to this:



once again, sexism as a major story. the problem with this discussion is that sexism is alleged or discredited as a zero-sum gain. the conversation does not address the nuances of both clinton's inept campaign and the media's institutional sexism.

have we forgotten:

• mark penn thought california was winner-take all
• clinton's campaign didn't understand the intricacies of proportional delegates in TX
• no post-feb. 5 strat
• maybe there was no post-iowa strat
• bosnia and the sniper-fire-that-wasn't
• using SNL as the ultimate political punditry of the media (only to be clowned by SNL repeatedly afterward)
• multiple campaign slogans
• mixed messaging
• jesse jackson, rfk, caucus states not meaning much
• fox news giving a balanced shake? omg. yes, we need acronyms for that one.
  

i can go on and on. they ran a poor campaign against the most organized, efficient campaign in recent political history. hillary hosted a town hall on the hallmark channel. the hallmark channel? come on. she sounded her best we she spoke from the heart, when she told us to imagine moms and dads whispering to their little girls, "see you can be anything you want to be." that's the hillary i wanted in december, not bosnia, not "shame on you barack obama", not invoking the name of rezko (especially when it would take us HOURS to list all of her direct and tangential questionable associations/friendships/relationships.)

still, hillary faced major sexism

• commentators saying she would 'castrate' male statesmen
• see chris matthews
• no really, see chris matthews
• the hillary nutcracker doll
• 'iron my shirt' and the lackthereof media coverage/outrage on it
• the 'she sounds like my ex-wife' crap
• scrutinizing her appearance on multiple occasions, fox news even speculating her cleavage decisions. wtf
• her having to play the strong leader card and not being to take on hope as a campaign message
• bill. clinton. no really, bill clinton

so yes, she ran an inept campaign AND she faced major sexism. so, no she didn't lost because of sexism, she lost bc of barack obama.

remember, hillary wasn't 'our girl' until she saw it was in her political interest; somewhere around new hampshire. and that is the truest testament to her equality. as a female candidate she was able to be just as opportunistic and callous as all the male candidates who preceded her. ahhhh, equality! however, they nor her could weather the onslaught that was hope & change after Gov. Bush.

at the end of the day, it's a loss and victory for women. on one hand, this election cycle showed the endemic sexism of this country and the lack of outrage to it. on the other hand, hillary did break several ceilings, at least 18mm people don't care that she is a woman. lastly, women got the stronger candidate on 'women's issues' (as if all women's issues aren't human issues).

thoughts?

-lx