The furor is already subsiding. But the tea leaves, thinned out a bit, are showing themselves more clearly.
One pundit on MSNBC said this morning that people calling Mrs. Clinton “Hillary” all time and Mr. Obama “Obama” was a show of subtle sexism that America just can’t admit to itself. She didn’t, in convincing herself, note that Clinton’s campaign signs mostly say “Hillary” and not “Clinton,” if for no other reason than to point out that she is not her husband… she is beyond his identity. And of course, need I point out that both Clinton and Republicans love “Obama” being so easily misspoken as “Osama?”
But I take the furrowed brow commentary of zipless-fuck feminist Erica Jong more seriously, as I think she does speak to a significant, albeit deluded, group of Clinton supporters.
“I didn’t know it would feel this bad. I didn’t know it would feel this personal.”
Well, we knew.
We read it in every column you wrote for the HuffPo. We heard it in every screed by Gerry Ferraro. We got an earful of it last night when Hillary continued to manipulate your generational pain by suggesting that you and your political needs were being made “invisible” by others.
“Losing my last chance to see a woman in the White House feels like shit. And the gloating by the press is even worse. It sounds like “I told you so.” It feels like watching Joan of Arc burned at the stake.”
Yeah… I hear ya. You’re batshit crazy… Joan of Arc… but yeah, I really do hear you.
You must realize, as the fog lifts, that the “gloating by the press” is a campaign manipulation by The Clintons & Co. You must realize, as you get back from Stockholm, that every rational analysis of this race knew that Clinton overcoming Obama was a 100-to-1 shot all the way back in March, as she has never gotten as close as 100 delegates since then and the reason “the media called the race” after North Carolina and Indiana is that she slipped 25 delegates further behind that night, making her only opportunity a million-to-one shot at getting a large number of Obama superdelegates to turn on his candidacy.
This was not, to use a sports analogy (I know… more sexism!), wide right on a 40 yard field goal at the end of a football game. This was down two touchdowns and a field goal late in the fourth quarter. There was still time on the clock… anything could happen… the opposing team could drop dead on the field. But from the Obama side, it was like playing loose defense – a choice both sportsmanlike and actively defensive – and having the losing opposition score one touchdown, and their receiver spiking the ball in the face of the defender who blew the coverage… as though the wining team was being dominated… or the losing team had won.
It’s time for the Erica Jongs of the world to start looking in the mirror and realizing that it is not sexism they are suffering… it’s ageism.
She writes:
“’It’s not sexism — it’s her’ seems to have replaced, ‘I’m not a feminist, but’ in our national lexicon. This is not to imply that Hillary Clinton is faultless — far from it. But it’s clear that the faults we tolerate and even overlook in men, we see as glaring in women. The problem with sexism is that it’s so damned invisible. McCain can confuse Sunnis and Shiites and nobody blinks. Bush can admit to his press secretary that he outed a secret agent while claiming that he’d fire any aide who did so — and the press sleeps. Men make mistakes. Women are not allowed to. We are held to such high and impossible standards that the possibility of any woman penetrating the barrier again seems remote.”
Let’s not even bother spending a lot of time correcting the delusion that McCain or Bush “get away” with those mistakes. No one has impeached Bush, but he doesn’t go a day without getting slammed in the groin for his mistakes as president. And “Sunni/Shiite” is a daily talking point about McCain and his age issue.
But the reason that sexism “is so damned invisible” is that it has become so damned invisible. This is not to say that there isn’t sexism or misogyny or racism, for that matter. But for starters, women are the majority in this country. But sex and race are not what they were 40 years ago or 30 years ago.
Reagan/Bush were the last presidents of the “pat ‘em on the head and wait for ‘em to clear the dishes” generation, smiling all the way and thinking they were treating women the way women were meant – even wanted – to be treated, all the time revering their mommies. Bill Clinton was the first of the Boomer Confused presidents, charming and talking feminism, all the while looking for a girl who would don the kneepads in the back room, not thinking twice about her pleasure. (I am more offended, personally, by his treating Monica like a drunken frat house conquest than the fact that he sought sex out of a marriage in which his partner clearly was/is aware of his proclivities and sticks around for more.) W is of the same group as Willie, kicking his coke habit and apparently finding God back in his wife’s arms.
One of the great ironies of this sexism argument is that it completely overlooks Michelle Obama, who is no shrinking violet herself. She has a somewhat less impressive legal resume than Hillary did (another reason to call her “Hillary” is not to call her “Mrs. Clinton,” which seems like a diminutive), but her Harvard Law degree (at 24) matches up pretty well with Hillary’s Yale Law degree (at 26). Like Hillary was 16 years ago, Michelle is being held up as “dangerous” to the Obama candidacy. But not by the Hillary Feminists… she is pretty much non-existent to them.
Does Erica Jong really believe, “(Women) are held to such high and impossible standards that the possibility of any woman penetrating the barrier again seems remote.”
She’s writing this, mind you, on The Huffington Post, a website led by a woman that now competes as one of the top independent news sites in the world, arriving there by the actions of that woman (and many men and women in her support). The blanket, “No We Can’t” attitude of 70s feminists, who really did face impossible standards in breaking into the business and cultural worlds and being taken seriously, is as narrow and self-defeating as the idea that America should not talk to its enemies unless its enemies concede their political positions.
The notion of this is that disagreement defines the person (or nation) who disagrees as inherently evil and irrational. But at the very least, every one of our “opponents” in this world can be expected to act in their own self interest.
We are long past the point where, in the vast majority, men/businesses/voters will allow they sex or race biases to lead them into choices that are inherently self-destructive. We are still at the point where the determination of what is most effectively pro-active is blurry and when faced with that blur, many men will still choose men over women when they can’t be sure that the woman is not a significantly superior choice.
We are not sex blind. Nor are we color blind. We will need more time for that. And in that pursuit, women ARE at a disadvantage in the long run, as compared to other groups, because men and women will, presumably, continue to have sex with one another… and sex is a messy thing, either in the act of it, the pursuit of it, the consideration of it, or the denial of it. It would be nice to think that the world could never think with its groin in arenas where the groin is not the issue… but I don’t know that it is possible so long as penises are used to deliver sperm to eggs.
Jong’s internal conflicts are apparent. As she moans about sexism, she is also worrying that racism will lead to Obama getting assassinated or not elected (in that order).
I think one key reason why I – and other Obama supporters – find sexism and other excuses for the loss – the pundits got her! – so irritating is not only that it diminished Obama’s remarkable accomplishment, but that Jong and so many others are processing a personal loss in public and foisting the responsibility onto everyone – anyone – else.
Truth is, those of us who are thrilled about Obama being nominated want to celebrate! It’s exciting. He isn’t Jesus walking across water, but he offers the hope of a highly intelligent, well-intended person whose philosophies we share. We shouldn’t be asked to apologize for that. And all the second place finisher can talk about is whether our winner was on steroids. It sucks.
And in perspective, Jong is a representative of a dead form of feminism… one that asks for what it hopes to be given. The new feminism is about taking your spot… fighting for it… expecting it. As a Jew who has qualms at times with Israel’s shows of force, I also know why Israel stills exists as a nation. It’s not by whining about being hated. This is a theme of boy culture, from The Godfather to Iron Man.
You might not like Michael Corleone, but as reluctant as he is, when time comes to act, he acts. Sonny is too macho… Fredo too weak. Women in that film are still victims in that world, though Michael’s wife, Kay, is a modern woman on the cusp of feminism. Part of Michael’s tragedy is that he doesn’t know how be with her and to still be part of his Family.
A big part of what makes Juno work is that our 16-year-old female lead takes action… and it’s not easy. She makes the choice to keep and then to give up her child. She navigates all kinds of emotions. But she doesn’t spend her time looking for someone to blame.
And a child shall lead them…

Be Sociable, Share!

• 
•