Hillary's fatal flaw: her Irrational ambition

[galaxy21]

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/opinion/main.jhtml?xml=/opinion/2008/05/08/do0802.xml

Obama is still safely in the lead, both in the popular vote and in the delegate count. Clinton is still behind. And even if they keep going until the Democratic convention in August, Obama will still be safely in the lead, and Clinton will still be behind. For Clinton to win now, she has to get her party to change the rules of its primary, post hoc (apparently she is planning to try) or bring more states into the union.

Which is ridiculous - but so is this campaign. If you've found the election hard to follow of late, that's because the only real issue at stake is Hillary Clinton's extraordinary, irrational, overwhelming ambition.

As I write this, rumours that Clinton intends to drop out are in circulation. Allegedly, she cancelled her talk show appearances yesterday. Allegedly, her campaign is utterly broke. And yet no one can be certain that she won't fight to the last delegate, using up every cent of her own money (she lent her campaign a further $6.4 million last week) and every last ounce of the Democratic Party's credibility, because everything we have learnt about her in the past few months indicates this is possible.

advertisementClearly, she wants so badly to win that she will try anything - and we know that "anything" includes adopting positions and methods of a kind she once claimed to abhor.


...

At one point, this long-time supporter of gun control described how her father taught her to shoot. It would take a psychologist, not a political analyst, to explain why she does this. To prove some feminist point? To show that she's the equal of Bill? To take revenge for Monica?

...

You may be bored by the election campaign, but the Democratic Party, when it wakes from this nightmare, will be very angry. And if John McCain beats Obama in November, it is not the Republican Party but Hillary Clinton who will be blamed.

[MonkeyFunk]

1. and all other candidates

for the presidency are free of the burden of ambition.

[scheming daemons]

2. Their ambition is "rational"... hers is "irrational"... read the OP...

[niyad]

3. interesting that the woman's is"irrational" and all the men's are "rational"

wow

[LisaM]

5. Oh good catch. n/t

[galaxy21]

8. Not really, Huckabee was irrational for staying as well

[niyad]

11. and did anybody say that about him? please show where they did

[The Doctor.]

16. "Huckabee was IRRATIONAL for staying in a long as he did." - There... am I sexist now?

Or is it only 'sexism' when someone criticizes a woman?

You people need help.

[niyad]

19. I am waiting to see where ANY of the media said this. surely you can

figure that part out.

judging from some of your posts, I would say you really do know the answer to your own question.

[The Doctor.]

22. Completely. Over. Your. Head.

Look, whether or not someone is irrational is an opinion in most cases until it can be demonstrated.

You don't care about whether that opinion is demonstrable or not. It doesn't matter to you that there may be valid reasons to consider Clinton 'irrational'. What you care about is that she is a woman, and therefore any suggestion that she is irrational must be an attack on her gender.

Therefore, if it is my opinion that Mike Huckabee was irrational for staying in the race past his window of viability, I must be sexist against men.

Don't get it?

Are you assuming I'm a man?

NOW you're being sexist for thinking that only a man would call a woman 'irrational'.

I'm sick of people who don't even know what sexism is screaming it from every corner.

[galaxy21]

18. SNL had a pretty good laugh about it...and he even joined in!

[The Doctor.]

14. You're being SEXIST!!!! You wouldn't say that if he weren't a MAN!

Oh, right... it's only sexist if we criticize a woman. Got it.

[dansolo]

20. No it wasn't

The difference between Clinton and Huckabee is that Huckabee never actively tried to sabotage McCain. Hillary is damaging her entire party with her campaign. That is what makes it irrational. It has nothing to do with her being a woman, except for the fact that she and her supporters keep citing that as a reason she should keep going.

[The Doctor.]

12. Where is that claim made? It's not. You're delusional.

You people are fascinating specimens.

If a man were trailing Clinton by the same margins across the board but swore he'd take it to the convention, you wouldn't be screaming "Sexism!" when someone called him irrational.

You're just being sexist, and it insults rational women who don't find sexism behind every door and in every shadow.

Hillary is being borderline irrational (no, I don't completely agree with the OP) not because she is a woman, but because she's being borderline irrational.

I don't know what your excuse is.

[TheDoorbellRang]

15. Yup. Hillary's been great at keeping the old stereotypes alive

Hillary - striking blows at feminism everywhere.

[MonkeyFunk]

7. LOL

that's a rather subjective judgment.

[LisaM]

4. Obama started running for Preident the second he unpacked his bags in Washington

I am continuously puzzled why those who complain about Hillary's ego can't see that his is at least twice as large.

Besides, anyone who runs for President has to have an ego the size of a football field.

[niyad]

13. h, but we aren't supposed to notice that. after all, he is all-good, all-wise,

and just the best thing to ever happen to us.

[OzarkDem]

6. Yeah, she's real irrational

especially when she polls ahead of both McCain and Obama.

[ProSense]

9. That makes no sense! n/t

[The Doctor.]

17. What? Are you claiming that someone is being irrational by not being rational?!?

That's just sexist!

(Uh... so is this a female or a male we're talking about? I hear that makes a difference.)

[SlipperySlope]

10. Wouldn't be surprised if she takes it to court

I wouldn't be surprised if Hillary takes the primary to court to force the party to seat Florida and Michigan. She's had her surrogates do the suing before, but this time it might need to be her.

[truedelphi]

21. Hey ambition I DO NOT MIND. Irrational ambuition I do not

Mind When and if combined with decent, wise and moral decisions.

But she voted for the IWR.

And during 2004 electoral cycle, when we penniless voting reformers attempted to get out the word on the hackablility of the machines - she used this knowledge to her advantage in having Carville whisper to Kerry that there were only 160,000 ballots when there were 400,000.

And carville also got his wife MAtalin in gear to whisper to Cheney that Blackwell needed to batten down the hatches in Ohio.

She is no t for the democratic process.

She hates it even more these days.