Did sexism sink Clinton?

[proud2BlibKansan]

Some Hillary Clinton supporters are saying that sexism has played a key role in her faltering campaign.

But if anything, Clinton showed that the nation is ready to vote for a woman for president. She began as the odds-on Democratic favorite and has come close to winning the primary process.

As presidential historian Doris Kearns Goodwin told the New York Times, the Clinton campaign’s own mistakes have been decisive - “strategic, tactical things that have nothing to do with her being a woman.”

Sexism didn’t defeat Clinton. Barack Obama did.

http://blogs.kansas.com/weblog/2008/05/did-sexism-sink-clinton/

[NightWatcher]

1. I think it was management. Mark Penn was nothing but bad ideas. Plus look at money mangement

she has no one else to blame

[Texas Hill Country]

2. sexism has played a role, but I do blame Penn and Solis-Doyle for the most part.

[NightWatcher]

9. I think that deciding to say that there was sexism was also a bad idea

but sure there was some. Some people are sexist, some are racist, some are _______ist, but to make running as a victim part of her strategy backfired. She tried to run as a hard nosed, empowered woman one moment, then cried before a primary. She looked contrived at several times and I blame management for that.

[Texas Hill Country]

15. i think it needed to be said because it was getting ignored... what has happened to her is wrong.

[DadOf2LittleAngels]

30. And what has happened to her, preciously?

[last1standing]

3. I think it did, but not in the way most people are trying to suggest.

http://journals.democraticunderground.com/last1standing/7

[Nicholas D Wolfwood]

11. I understand your sentiment, but think it's off-base.

Most of the Democratic leadership voted for the bill for the same reason, both male and female alike. That's a Democratic Party problem, not a gender one. Plus, there's the whole concept that it was fairly popular at the time it was voted on... it's politics, not sexism.

[AtomicKitten]

4. Clinton sunk Clinton.

[MercutioATC]

13. Actually, I believe you're right. She beat herself.

Granted, she might not have run the campaign she did had Obama not been as strong a candidate as he is, but all of the damage that's been done to her campaign, she's done herself.

[papapi]

14. I second that!

Clintons (plural) sunk Clinton.

[City Lights]

21. Both Clintons had a hand in sinking Hillary. nt

[Mimosa]

5. NO

HRC couldn't manage her way out of a paper bag.

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

6. If sexism was a culprit...

How come she started this campaign with a 30 pt. lead and a massive SD headstart?

[papapi]

10. I second that!

[Swamp Rat]

18. Oops!

You made some heads explode.

[4themind]

7. Hard to say whether it played a decisive role

Although I think it's clear that it did exist. The question is to what extent, and how does one quantify that? Given the other reasons which can be quantified,as low money and number of delegates, I'd first look to these other factors when trying to more reliably gauge her problems in this campaign from direct causes (which is not to say that sexism didn't contribute to these causes but again I haven't seen a quantitative way of assessing that.

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

8. Management and message sank her, I think

She really didn't have a plan past Super Tuesday in February, when it was assumed she would be the clear winner. Her message sounded to many like the same old same old, and didn't inspire folks the way Obama's message did.

[babylonsister]

12. No, but that will more than likely be her excuse for the 'graceful' exit

we await breathlessly, endlessly...

[griffi94]

16. sure sexism played a role

but i don't think it was a key role. i think what sunk hillary was not attempting to stop obama when he was gathering momentum. it seemed that by the time her campaign noticed him it was already too late.

[Barack_America]

17. That's like asking if the added weight of the band sunk the Titanic. n/t

[NJObamaWoman]

19. Strategic errors. Please someone answer....How do you loose all that black support?

See no one especially the HRC camp really want to discuss this. Thats the pink elephant in the room right now because they recieved tons of support from that community in the past. This goes back to strategy. It has nothing to do with Barack race baiting as some HRC supporters like to toss out but everything to do with HRC and her people throwing the black community under the bus. That started in Nevada when she did not denounce her pollster and denounce any latinos or any group for voting based on race. If HRC would have made a speech and really talked about race before Obama did she would still see large support amongst this community. But again during West V. and Penn HRC played on that "white working class" shit and the belief that blacks have no place else to go so she can shit on them and still get them back in the GE if she is the nominee.

Again its HRC tactic that failed. She just got played by a smarter player ie Barack Obama. LMAO Don't playa hate Hill.

[bowens43]

20. I can honestly say that I have seen no examples of this sexism

that hillary is talking about.

[book_worm]

22. No, Clinton sunk Clinton

she ran a bad campaign and ignored several states which Obama didn't.

[RoadRage]

23. Nope - Clinton sunk Clinton

Take that anyway you want.. Bill sunk Hill.. Hill sunk herself, etc.

I didn't vote for Obama because he was black. I didn't NOT vote for Hill because she was female. I didn't vote for her because of her tactics, her stance on Iraq, and frankly - because I don't think she's as electable as Obama. People forget - over 1/2 of this country hates the Clintons.

[Lady-Damai]

24. If sexism is the issue.... Why should she be on the ticket?

If ppl are not going to vote for her now because of sexism...

What will change their minds for GE?

[Lilith Velkor]

25. No, but it didn't help

Look at all these fools we have here, blathering on about how white women are all racists. Unless, of course, they are good little girls who support Obama. :wank: :eyes:

[undeterred]

26. There was sexism, there was Obama, and there was Hillary.

A huge number of progressives, including myself, were undecided after Kucinich and Edwards dropped out. We didn't see that much difference between Obama and Hillary. Frankly, I don't think it was political issues that sank her. I do believe that there is still a lot of sexism in this country, although its not always to separate it out from other issues.

Personality wise- a lot of us find Obama very appealing. He is very intelligent, he's charismatic, and he's a helluva nice guy. He is easy to like. Hilllary is not that easy to like. She's always had high negatives.

But the point is- the way she conducted her campaign turned off a lot of people who were deciding between Obama and Clinton. She was downright nasty. He wasn't. Now there are some people will like Hillary better for her street fighter tactic, but most people who post at a place like DU do not like her more for it. We are totally turned off. Obama has conducted himself like a gentleman and a statesman.

For those of us who were undecided between Obama and Hillary- their campaigning behavior made the difference. I like him much much better than I like her, and I didn't feel that way in February. So I would give Hillary herself most of the credit for repelling people.

[NorthCarolina]

27. No, not sexism just dissatisfaction

and a desire to move away from the practice of abdicating power to "families" as if we were a monarchy and not a democracy. Another "Clinton" doesn't bode well in a country hungry for real "Change".

I don't think it was ever about sexism, and I think a woman can be easily electable in the US, just not "that" woman at "this" time.

Lastly, I also think the fact that Hillary is a DLC Democrat has soured her prospects with progressives.

[Growler]

28. It is sexist to claim you lost

...to a better candidate solely because of sexism. Hillary and her supporters are delusional.

[otohara]

29. Did States Vote Against Her Becasue of Gender

no they did not - but a few did vote against Sen. Obama because of his race.

[RazBerryBeret]

31. the difference is...

Clinton could stand in front of a crowd and declare that she's a woman, and it's time for a woman President--How great it is to be a woman.

But Obama can't stand in a rally and declare that he's black and that it's time for a black president....most people just wouldn't buy into it

[bain_sidhe]

32. Sexism alone wasn't enough. Hillary had to help.

Yes, there was sexism, particularly in the media. But I think she had enough advantages that she could have overcome it, if she hadn't made poor strategic and tactical decisions. And, I would add, personnel decisions.

I don't doubt that sexism probably would have sunk any other female candidate, but I don't think it was enough to sink Clinton.

[Yotun]

33. Partly Yes. When the pseudo-feminist sexists decided that she had to win because she is a woman

that alienated the majority of logical thinking persons. So yes, the sexism and lack of grace of the Hillary campaign helped to sink her down.

[Yotun]

34. Sorry, double post nt

[stillcool]

35. I think she overplayed it..

I saw these articles a while back.

Sunday, November 4, 2007
CLINTON PLANNED TO USE GENDER CARD ALL ALONG

RON FOURNIER, AP - Clinton's advisers, speaking on condition of anonymity because they are not authorized to discuss internal matters, said there is a clear and long-planned strategy to fend off attacks by accusing her male rivals of gathering against her. The idea is to change the subject while making Clinton a sympathetic figure, especially among female voters who often feel outnumbered and bullied on the job. As one adviser put it, Clinton is not the first presidential candidate to play the "woe-is-me card" but she's the first major female presidential candidate to do it.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20071101/ap_po/on_deadline_c...

Did Hillary "Play The Gender Card"?
By Greg Sargent - November 2, 2007, 3:51PM

So what really happened here, anyway?
http://tpmelectioncentral.talkingpointsmemo.com/2007/11/did_hillary_play_the_gender_card.php
After the debate, Hillary's campaign sent out an email describing her as "one tough woman" and deriding the nature of the "piling on" that had ensued. And the next day, AFSCME president Gerald McEntee endorsed Hillary with remarks that almost certainly had plenty of input from the Hillary campaign: "Six guys against Hillary. I’d call that a fair fight. This is one strong woman.:
So just after the debate the campaign didn't argue that she was being attacked because she's a woman. But the campaign clearly did try to strongly emphasize the gender picture here.
--------------------

Hillary pollster Mark Penn subsequently said in a conference call that the image of six men beating up on Hillary would play well with female voters. And anonymous Clinton advisers told the Associated Press that "there is a clear and long-planned strategy to fend off attacks by accusing her male rivals of
gathering against her." Though one should approach anonymous stuff with caution, this doesn't seem especially difficult to believe.
---------------------------------------------------------
Bottom line: As best as we can determine, Hillary never explicitly made the accusation that the men were piling up on her because she's a woman. But you'd have to be very credulous indeed not to believe that the campaign is explicitly trying to emphasize, for various political reasons, the fact that she's a woman getting hammered by a bunch of men. I don't know if that constitutes "playing the gender card" or not -- the exact meaning of the term is unclear, at least to me -- but that's obviously what's going on.

[ladjf]

36. I think not. The more people heard her speeches, the less that

liked what they were hearing. At least that was the case for me.