No Woman, No Cry?

(Okay, that was a cheap shot.)

Here's what I think about the Hillary crying video.



1) She didn't really cry, she just got kinda teary and emotional.

2) Contrary to the stupid statement that Edwards made, it's [not]<-typo - PS: how to do strikethrough? bad for a president to only be macho and full of testosterone and unfeeling (the first would lead to President Ar-nuld, the second to . . . Veep Cheney.)

3) It's really hard to only get a few hours of sleep every night, and be constantly flying everywhere, all the time, and always on the go, never in the same city for a week. Been there, done that. Ain't pretty. Takes a toll on staff, on candidates. Hence candidates tripping over their signature lines, and saying somewhat ungrammatical things.

4) Hillary is human, despite all thoughts (and sometimes evidence) to the contrary. Somewhere deep inside of her is the college student who wrote her thesis on Alinsky. (Nestled inside of that is the former College Republican.) All this goes to show is that Hillary is like a Russian grandma doll, and not super easily unpacked, but rather very complex.) <--Yes I did just use mathematical notation and defied grammar. So sue me. 5) Did it look slightly rehearsed? Possibly. She got some really good attacks on Obama in there ("some of us are wrong, and some of us are right. Some of us are ready, and some of us are not.") But I don't doubt that she feels real frustration at the state of our country, the same frustration that I feel. Granted, that frustration is partially borne out of her seemingly endless sense of entitlement to the position of the presidency, but it's real. 6) Do I think Hillary did it to appeal to women voters? I don't know. I think she is also genuinely disappointed in herself and I think there is a real person, somewhere in there - we catch faint and stirring glimpses of her real feelings like that of a fleeting deer in the woods. Or perhaps its the proverbial unicorn. 7) Also I think she's really disappointed by how she did with the women's vote - her campaign is supposed to be (no, IS) historic. It's the first time we've had a female frontrunner for president. someone who could really win. Losing the female vote in Iowa 30-35 to Obama must have been a huge blow, especially since Hillaryland is made up entirely of women. And she has the blessings of Emily's List and other women's groups. 8) What must suck for her advisors is that a scumbag like Mark Penn, aka "chief Hack of the White Boys," is THE trusted advisor who gets to vet everything, when there are lots of really talented and smart women on her staff, Karen Hicks (aka "the turnout queen") being one.

9) If this is manufactured emotion, it's a whole lot better than trying to sell Hillary as the "agent of change," which is an entirely laughable concept. I'd buy Hillary being real and vulnerable underneath all her armor any day over her being the change agent.

10) Change. This word must sting because it's not that Hillary hasn't tried to create change, it's just that she's really used to the top down model. And that when she has stuck her neck out on a limb for things she cares deeply about like health care reform, or when she said that (gasp!) she does believe in drivers licenses for undocumented immigrants, she gets flak. Blowback. And she shies away from it, from what she really believes.

I think that if Hillary had said, "This is what I believe and I'm going to stick to it," there would have been less impact. But instead she flipped and she flopped. It took a courage that I hadn't seen a lot of in her to make those statements during the debate, and she knew it was politically risky. But for a few seconds, I could see what she really believed, and that she was genuinely concerned for their plight, as some of the most vulnerable people. Then she switched her tune, and got bashed for it, rightfully.


Read this dkos post for a good explanation of what might be going on inside her head.