The Progressive Case For Hillary Clinton Isn’t Much of a Case At All

[marmar]

The Progressive Case For Hillary Clinton Isn’t Much of a Case At All
A recent argument for Clinton from the left fails to convince.

BY Douglas Williams


(In These Times) In a recent issue of In These Times, Sady Doyle made “A Progressive Case for Hillary Clinton.” That such a case could be made might come as a surprise to many progressives, considering that Hillary Clinton has, for instance, derided single-payer healthcare as something that will “never, ever come to pass,” and has poohed-poohed calls for free public higher education by stating that students need more “skin in the game.”

Still, it’s worth asking: Does Doyle’s case hold up under scrutiny? Let’s take a look.

Has sexism influenced assessments of Hillary Clinton?

Doyle spends the first third of her piece arguing that “it is impossible to analyze Clinton—her policies, her career path, her hair—without understanding how gender bias operates,” and that “as progressives, it is our duty to resist these stereotypes, and, if we are journalists, to help our readers understand how gender bias operates at an unconscious level.”

It is true that we all have biases, and it is undoubtedly true that there are many, many people who have made sexist statements about Hillary Clinton’s candidacy—it’s been a central trope of the Right’s attempt to discredit her for more than two decades now.

But aside from the fact that pointing out and condemning such sexism, while important, does not constitute a progressive case for Clinton, there are two problems with this argument.

The first issue is with the research cited. Doyle references a 2010 study from Yale School of Management professors Tyler Okimoto and Victoria Brescoll which found that women who seek to gain political power can elicit negative reactions due to their deviation from the expectation that women exhibit more “communal” traits, such as warmth and comfort. But a 2013 methodological study by Kathleen Dolan found that surveys and experiments that ask people about support for female politicians in the abstract or about hypothetical candidates—like the study that Doyle cites, which constructed fictional state senators—do not get at the question of the role that gender plays in vote choice. ....................(more)

http://inthesetimes.com/article/19118/the-progressive-case-for-hillary-clinton-isnt-much-of-a-case-at-all

[marmar]

3. So glad you like us blacks.

I know I'll sleep much better tonight.

[farleftlib]

4. You obviously haven't read TPP or an analysis of what it does

The TPP makes it easier to offshore jobs and pushes down wages for jobs that remain here.

https://www.citizen.org/documents/analysis-tpp-text-november-2015.pdf

[FarPoint]

2. My decision remains clear....

I support Hillary Clinton for President...she has my vote. That said as a Progressive.

[pdsimdars]

5. Progressive? My tushie

[vintx]

6. +1

[J_J_]

8. nice chart

[Ferd Berfel]

7. She's not a progressive.

Calling her a progressive is like a false flag opperation

[jwirr]

9. A must read for all of us. She is not a progressive.

[Sparkly]

10. First paragraph shows this is not a serious critique.

It mischaracterizes her positions on universal healthcare and on public higher education.

[MisterP]

11. who is this Sady Doyle twerp anyway?

http://www.democraticunderground.com/1251944119

it's like the Marcottbots saying making fun of Kenny G is a call to unpack cisheteronormativity on the left

http://www.salon.com/2016/02/02/bernie_bros_stop_this_meme_your_dumb_joke_about_hillarys_music_taste_isnt_funny_its_predictably_sexist/
http://www.houstonpress.com/arts/your-pop-culture-sanders-vs-clinton-memes-are-sexist-and-unfunny-8130819
http://www.slate.com/articles/technology/users/2016/02/the_bernie_vs_hillary_meme_is_weird_ceaseless_and_kind_of_sexist_just_like.html
http://www.buzzfeed.com/ryanhatesthis/theres-a-new-bernie-or-hillary-meme-but-is-it-sexist-stereot
http://www.deathandtaxesmag.com/279562/hillary-clinton-bernie-bro-sexism/
I think my brain popped somewhere around "situates Bernie's dominance in masculine subcultures and products"