Go away? Why should she?

[DeepModem Mom]

LAT op-ed: Go away? Why should she?
Despite the toxic misogyny aimed at her, Clinton has good reason to stay in the race.
By Leslie Bennetts
March 9, 2008

This is not how the story line was expected to go, dammit, and the impatience of the (mostly male) punditocracy is palpable. Doesn't Hillary Clinton know she was supposed to lose decisively in Ohio or Texas last week so that Barack Obama could unify the Democratic Party and sail to victory in November? Except that she didn't lose -- and, boy, are some people annoyed about that! Why doesn't she just get out of the way? The media have sorted it all out so neatly: He is young, glamorous, charismatic and funny; he represents the future. She is older, strident, earnest and humorless; she is the past. He inspires; she hectors. Ugh!

Not only is Clinton well beyond the age when our culture deems women to have lost most of their value, but so are all too many of her supporters -- and there are few things this country is less interested in than aging women. America requires that females be (or at least appear) young and sexually desirable. Once they've passed the age of facile objectification and commodification, they're supposed to disappear. How dare they not cooperate with our national insistence that older women become invisible?...

***

So why won't Clinton just scram? I mean, you can't drive a stake through that woman's heart! She just keeps getting up and fighting on, like some incredibly irritating pop-up doll that won't stay down, no matter how many times you smash it to the ground. Not only does "the bitch" (as one McCain supporter memorably called her) insist on staying in the race, but her supporters are getting all riled up and defying the pressure to make her go away. News reports chronicle the anger of older female voters who are simply refusing to go along with the triumphalist narrative of Obama's inevitability. Who do they think they are?...

***

Twice as many American women age 75 and older live in poverty compared with men, and most older women feel their economic vulnerability keenly. Younger women struggle to manage work and family with little help from our government; although 163 countries give women paid leave with the birth of a child, the United States does not. So far, women have helped to elect a long series of men who paid lip service to family values while doing virtually nothing to improve the lot of this nation's women and children. Are female voters finally getting fed up? One national poll showed Clinton leading Obama by only 5 percentage points among women with annual incomes higher than $50,000 -- but among those who earn less, she beats him by a whopping 36 percentage points....

***

54% of the electorate could wield decisive power, if only they would claim it. There are signs the slumbering beast may be waking up -- and she's not in a happy mood. From New Hampshire to Ohio, women have given Clinton a sizable edge over Obama -- and as of last week, they put her back into a race that the political elite had decreed all but over....

http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/commentary/la-op-bennetts9mar09,0,2140085.story

[papau]

1. Another truth is told on DU that many DUers will not want to hear and so won't

[Mnemosyne]

2. My mother is a prime example of the women over 75 with

high incomes voting for HRC. She turns 75 after the election. She has been a registered R since 1954, though never a straight ticket voter and never voted for *. She is thrilled to vote, "for the first woman president."

I worry that a HRC nomination will bring out the pukes in droves to vote McSame.

I will hold my nose, once again, and vote for the D one last time.

[asjr]

3. Why will you hold your nose?

[Mnemosyne]

10. For whomever gets the D nomination. n/t

[roseBudd]

7. Shame your mother is not just as thrilled for African Americans, but why should she,

she's got hers.

Does anyone seriously think women, particularly white women have suffered like African Americans?

That white women's economic and educational opportunities are worse than African Americans?

[we can do it]

9. The My Suffering HAS To Be Worse Than Your Suffering Does Get A Bit Old

:eyes:

[Mnemosyne]

12. I never said I agreed with my mother. I have never stated

that I believed white women have suffered more than African Americans. I have never said that white women have less economic or educational opportunities. I've rarely agreed with her on anything in my life.

I am close to destitute trying to keep up my $30,000 home. My mother has money, I have none.

Why do I feel as if you are attacking me over my post? If I am misunderstanding, please explain.

Thanks.

[hay rick]

11. nose out of joint

The Democratic candidate may be mediocre by your standards and mine, but the Republican candidate is catastrophically bad. The choice is actually easy. Time to get your hand off your nose and your nose to the grindstone- working for the D nominee. Think of it as a chore, or better, a duty. If we don't do this we have a LOT to lose.

[Mnemosyne]

13. My nose has been to the grindstone since 1976. It's why I've learned

to hold my nose. I registered 8 people just today that have never voted in their lives and have 5 more requests for tomorrow.

I've switched back to a D, after 6 years as an I, so I can vote in our primary again this year.

I'll be holding my nose in Nov. for the last time.

[hay rick]

14. D

I as in Nader? Just a guess. I'm obviously not destined to figure out the nose thing so I thought I'd take a crack at the I thing instead.

Sorry for the lecture and congratulations on your activism. Hope it pays off.

[zabet]

4. My mother will be 72

when she casts her vote for Hillary
in the NC primary.

[AtomicKitten]

5. Why? Because she is losing, can't win, and is merely a fly in the ointment for the Democrats.

[roseBudd]

6. I got your poverty statistics for you, African Americans, does anyone really think Obama is a person

who knows nothing about poverty? Are we to believe these poor elderly white women will vote for tax cuts for rich & job training McCain?

[Olney Blue]

8. Thanks for posting, DMM.

Each person votes his/her own experience and beliefs, and there is nothing wrong with women showing their power in the voting booth.

[FlyingSquirrel]

15. k&r