The other day I tried to actually imagine Hillary as president. In doing so, I realized that, so far, I've been thinking about her as a candidate, but candidacies can lead to presidencies, and what would that be like?
The Ohio State-Michigan game gets hit by terrorists. 25,000 Middle Americans die in their arena seats (seriously, I have thought since 9/11 that this would be the best next move for Al Qaeda: forget the predictable targets, forget Washington, ports, New York yet again--go for the heartland, where everyone thinks they're safe). Hillary gets on TV. How do I feel? Not so good. Hillary in Iran face to face with Mossadegh? Ugh. Hillary on the ground after the next hurricane? Blech. Hillary proposing a budget (does the president propose the budget? god, I should know that)? None of it is very palatable.
Then my internalized misogyny meter started flying code red (I have no idea what that means, but it sounds good). Could I really be just like those old white men who can't envision a woman president? Do I think she's not strong enough, not tough enough, not manly enough?
Not so much. I'm pretty down with the idea of Nancy Pelosi as president. Or Barbara Boxer. And I don't think it's just because I like their liberal politics better. I think it's because they are who they are, and we'd know what we were getting.
The fact that I was only thinking of Hillary as a candidate seems important: she's just presenting herself as the candidate, she's not standing up for anything, and that means we have no idea what she'd do as president.
I know none of this is very original. David says it at greater length and depth. Rob gets at it too, from a different angle, without mentioning her by name. But I've decided I really don't want Hillary to be the nominee or the president.
(I've been hearing nasty scuttlebutt about the Edwards campaign, and it has nothing to do with bloggers. I guess I should pay more attention to Obama, but there's a gubernatorial parallel that's got me a little cynical these days. Really, I just have to say, I'm pretty much waiting for Gore. Let's hope Beckett didn't write the screenplay [and I don't mean Melissa Etheridge's kid].)
2 comments:
you know, this is interesting since the piece in this morning's NYT was all about how she is "reintroducing" herself (again!) to the country. The obsession with image may be a necessary evil for someone like HRC, but I think you're right that it makes it hard to imagine her as president.
She's a hawk and she's disingenuous about it. That's enough bad news for me.
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