Hillary is the only First Lady ever to run for president. And we have her to thank—as well as Obama—for the renewed energy American voters have for politics. We also have Hillary to thank for putting issues of gender and power back into American politics. As an intelligent and formidable opponent to Obama, Hillary brought the debate to a higher level. I’ve enjoyed every minute of the debates between Obama and Hillary—all the mud slinging aside.
But why didn’t the most qualified person for the job become our Democratic nominee? Sexism alone can’t explain it all.
Did She Just Say That?
Strategic blunders and hurtful, sometimes stupid remarks—did she have to invoke Bobby Kennedy’s assassination?—did nothing to make her likeable to voters. And the misspeak about her helicopter landing in “sniper fire” in Bosnia? And why did Bill liken Obama to Jesse Jackson? In the last eighteen months, the Clinton campaign sometimes felt like nails on a chalkboard, even for the staunchest of Hillary supporters. Make them stop!
Bush Clinton Bush Clinton
History has not been on her side either. When Nixon resigned from office (Bush II’s popularity is not much better than Nixon’s right now), the country wanted change. When Bush leaves office, the country will again want a sense of change. The proposition of Bush Clinton Bush Clinton is not something many Democratic voters can stomach. Hillary was fairly or unfairly dubbed part of the “Clinton machine”—which brought little comfort to Democratic voters, despite how similar her policies were to Obama’s.
The Power of the Web
Hillary failed to gather the viral power of the Internet like Obama did, and as a result, lost with a lot of younger, more Web-saavy voters. (Her frequent request at the end of speeches to log on to her Web site: “Go to www …” sounded hollow and might not have resonated with younger voters. It’s a minuscule point, but no one under the age of thirty-five says “www” aloud anymore.)
Media Bias
The media’s obvious dislike of her had a snowball effect, too. The bias against Hillary got bigger and bigger as the months wore on. A Gallup poll suggests that many voters felt the media was harder on Hillary than Barack or John. In the last two months, the media kept telling her it’s time to quit and resented her defiance. (If the tables were turned, I doubt the media would have pressured Obama to quit.) The nation’s major newspapers, blogs, and mainstream television networks have little love for Hillary. Some voters bristle at a powerful woman, too—if you’re too soft, you’re considered weak and if you’re too hard or aggressive, you’re considered a bitch. Powerful women are always walking a tightrope, no matter how qualified and deserving of the job.
