Hillary's Victimhood: Is She Addicted to Sympathy?

I can't help feeling as if Bill Clinton, in order to assuage what I imagine must be a very guilty conscience, is going to use some kind of back-room shenanigans to finagle a win for his wife. I'm counting on this feeling being nothing but paranoid insecurity on my part, based entirely on the fact that I finally deeply care about a presidential candidate--Barack Obama. Just in case, I say a prayer every night that our democracy is truly just that--and that people, not political machines and party elites, decide who's in charge. We'll see, I guess.

As for Hillary, I'm still trying to figure out how a person who failed tremendously at overhauling healthcare in her husband's first term intends to be successful the second time around. I'm also trying to figure out where all this experience she supposedly has comes from -- she was in the EAST WING during HER HUSBAND'S presidency, not the West Wing. Unless you've actually been the president, I don't think you should be able to claim you have experience being a president. It's just not the same as any other job any of the candidates has ever had before--obviously. Nothing really can prepare a person for it, and the best we can hope for in a leader are good management skills, integrity, and intelligence. End of story. (For more on this see Maureen Dowd's latest article). Judging by the way Hillary has run her campaign, I can't see how she's going to run a country. Her loyalty to people simply because they're loyal to her, whether or not they're the right or best person for the job sounds eerily familiar (who will her Dick Cheney be, I wonder?). But is it any surprise she'd value loyalty above all else? Perhaps if she'd gotten it from her husband she wouldn't have to compensate for it elsewhere.

Her tactics before the New Hampshire primary, as well as a couple of other instances in which she's shed a tear or two, makes me wonder if, should she become president, she will cry to get what she wants. Will Monsieur Sarkozy have to make sure he has clean hankies in his pocket whenever they meet? Is that what she learned being married to Bill Clinton for most of her adult life? Has she worn the mantle of victim for so long it's become her identity? I honestly suspect she's addicted to sympathy. She is so used to people feeling sorry for her, she's learned to use it to her advantage. Chris Matthews got in trouble suggesting such a thing, but there was a undeniable hint of defensiveness from his critics as they rallied to Hillary's defense.

I'm just hoping Obama gives her a real reason to cry very soon by destroying the ambition she's been clinging to all the years she's been putting up with her philandering husband's hi-jinx. I wonder if she ever asks herself was worth it--being a doormat in the hope's she'd someday be president? (Oh, yes, she's a feminist's ray of sunshine all right. I might be voting for her if she'd left Bill in 1998). All I can tell for sure is she'll apparently do or say anything for power. She's a Clinton. And what is a Clinton without power? Maybe it's time we found out.

Generation X: Time to take the lead?

As Generation X at last has an opportunity to elect one of its own in Barack Obama (well, almost--he's closer to our generation than to the Baby-Boomers; also, he's the same age as Bono, so he can't be that old, right?), I thought I'd do a Google search and see what I could find about our particular demographic. Call it generational narcissism, but I'm interested in what people my age are doing and thinking, particularly right about now when the Democratic race for the nomination has proven to be so much fun to watch. I myself am an independent who voted for Obama in the California primary and will do so again in the general election. I hadn't planned it that way. Having left the Democrats in disgust in 2004 because I felt like I was forced to accept John Kerry as my nominee, I intended this time around to vote for John McCain, whom I respect and admire for his straightforward, maverick toughness. Imagine my surprise and annoyance when I found out I wasn't allowed to vote in the Republican primary! I was so looking forward to making a statement and sticking it to my former party. However, when I calmed down and finished shooting off a disgruntled email to the California Republican Party, I realized McCain didn't need my vote here, and that it would be put to better use in the Democratic primary. After all, I had to vote for somebody, and I couldn't really stomach the thought of another four to eight years of Clintons (that would make 24-28 years of Bushes and Clintons. A little creepy for a democracy). This situation led me to actually pay attention to the Democratic race, and to Obama. So I guess I should thank the Republican Party for excluding me. Hey, thanks!

I've always felt if John McCain and Barack Obama were the nominees in the general election, then both parties and this country had already won something. McCain is shaking up his party by forcing the far right to either except him or shut up (how glorious would that be?), while Obama has created a movement that I can't quite find the words to describe. Not yet, anyway. He is inspiring and I want to follow him. I've never felt that way about a candidate, not even Bill Clinton. Some say Gen-Xer's are cynical. I like to think we're just practical and have a low threshold for B.S. Given that, I'm amazed at my own surrender to Barack and his "Yes We Can" mantra. But, there it is. I want him to be my president. I wouldn't mind if he were my Valentine, either. It's a strange and awesome thing to be physically attracted to a potential president. But I digress...

We Gen-Xer's are not a very large generation and we've always existed in the shadow of the Baby Boomers. Hopefully now we can step out into the light.