One of the things that keeps me from backing HRC - not her being corporate or being a hawk

[AtomicKitten]

19. Sexism vs. racism got quite an airing here in 2008.

Interesting times in which Hillary's devoted following regularly complained loudly about sometimes real and sometimes imagined sexism/misogyny perpetrated against her while at the same time she and her Wrecking Crew went after her opponent's race in less than subtle ways.

ELECTION 2008: Hillary Struggles Against Sexism But Regularly Plays Race Card
link: http://www.alternet.org/story/84150/hillary_struggles_against_sexism_but_regularly_plays_race_card

-- snip

The sexist attacks on Clinton are outrageous and deplorable, but there's reason to be concerned about her becoming the vehicle for a feminist reawakening. For one thing, feminist sympathy for her has begotten an "oppression sweepstakes" in which a number of her prominent supporters, dismayed at her upstaging by Obama, have declared a contest between racial and gender bias and named sexism the greater scourge. This maneuver is not only unhelpful for coalition-building but obstructs understanding of how sexism and racism have played out in this election in different (and interrelated) ways.

Yet what is most troubling -- and what has the most serious implications for the feminist movement -- is that the Clinton campaign has used her rival's race against him. In the name of demonstrating her superior "electability," she and her surrogates have invoked the racist and sexist playbook of the right -- in which swaggering macho cowboys are entrusted to defend the country -- seeking to define Obama as too black, too foreign, too different to be President at a moment of high anxiety about national security. This subtly but distinctly racialized political strategy did not create the media feeding frenzy around the Rev. Jeremiah Wright that is now weighing Obama down, but it has positioned Clinton to take advantage of the opportunities the controversy has presented. And the Clinton campaign's use of this strategy has many non-white and non-mainstream feminists crying foul.

From Rolling Stone who captured the sentiment perfectly:

(Edited to add this first appeared in the Florida Sun Sentinel in 2008 and reprinted with permission in Rolling Stone, a distinction moot to this conversation but raised downthread.)





Finally, my steadfast support for Elizabeth Warren 2016 renders much of your essay laughable. Although I'm flattered by the PMs I received from your buddies here asking if I'm afraid to answer your post (I have a life and don't spend much of it here), DU has been here before (2007/2008 - although I see you joined in 2012) and remember clearly the mis/abuse of the accusation of sexism used as a cudgel. The brow-beating didn't work then and won't now. Your candidate is going to have to pull up her socks and answer to her record because it stands between her and the White House.