| She didn't expect Barack to get so far so fast (who did, he was probably more surprised than she) but she never underestimated him or his appeal. She wanted to win the nomination because she believed she was the best person for the job, but she also felt protective of Barack's candidacy. She didn't want racism to be at all an issue, and she didn't want to 'attack' him in any way that might hurt him in the GE.
She wasn't getting a fair shake in the press, and Barack did need some vetting, not just to be fair to his opponents, but also to inoculate him against 'new last minute' revelations that might take too much time to defuse. And eventually the press complied, and in that way he is protected from any 'surprise revelations' factor, that can make something fairly tame into a losing 'issue.'
She had two groups of staff, and as feminists we can call them - the boy's side and the girl's side, although there were boys on the girls side, and girls (probably) on the boy's side (who was on Penn's side?)
Hillary was running against a sui generis opponent, and in that way he's absolutely new. Barack is a 'realer' American in that he represents our diversity, and his candidacy is unique. As it turned out, even those who didn't like Barack so much, didn't like seeing his 'hope' message diminished.
She couldn't use sex, because that could lead to race and to making a comparison between two unique claims to under representation, and she thought his claim was likely stronger. I now have no doubt that had Hillary not thought the job needed to be done expertly, she would have been on his team. He's just the sort of candidate that Hillary would want to promote, and as I recall, both Hillary and Bill campaigned for him when he was running for his senate seat.
The boy's side wanted her to run like a man, a man inside, a woman outside, the iron lady. Turns out they were wrong, but who knew? The girl's side wanted her to be herself, they knew her, they liked her, and they wanted her to show her real personality. Turns out they were right, but who knew? Hillary didn't know. The boy's side meant she had to take Barack on toughness. The girl's side meant she had to show that she actually liked him.
Hillary believes in experts, and she thinks there needs to be many points of view, but deciding how to run for the highest office in the world is hardly an exact science. She didn't immediately make up her mind which side to choose. She tried some things out, saw whether or not her point had been understood, and then made some adjustments.
Then, she made a choice, and after that she started winning in bigger numbers.
Hillary became herself, warm and funny and sometimes just a tad bawdy. She let her wonk out and talked policy like professor. She let her humor out and joked about herself. She let us see her work ethic by her tireless campaign and her good humor and essential joy in life.
So, in the end Hillary learned, from experience, in a brand new situation - a woman running against an African American man with a compelling hope and change message, in 2008, after 9/11, after Iraq, after Guantanamo, and with a current dangerous incumbent. She won the second half of the campaign, after she made her choice, by a half million votes (is that really right?) I think she showed that a girl can be a girl.
To me she won. |
