Women actually gave it to the man, as it happens

Delaware Dem's diary of this morning ("A Man Took it Away from a Woman") misses an important point. If American women had continued to support Hillary Clinton the way they did at the beginning of this race, she wouldn't have lost the nomination. From one point of view, women themselves gave the nomination to Obama.

American women were not slow to understand that Obama is a near-miracle of a Democratic candidate, but also, both Clintons made it all too easy to jump ship as the campaign unfolded.

The stark contrast between the candidates' initial response to the Iraq war was only the beginning. The skeevy politicking of Clinton, from the Nevada caucuses to race-baiting to the Bosnian sniper fire to such minor but constant irritations as the SNL debacle sent a cascade of women straight into the Obama camp (some of them going far more quietly than others,) where collegiality, competence, orderliness and good manners are the order of the day.

Anybody who thinks that the campaign has been "sexist," please consider the matter from this perspective. American women aren't dumb. They've chosen the best candidate. And so have American men!

•  She had women, then she lost them.

  She failed to win the Democratic nomination because she ran a bad campaign riddled with mistakes, mismanagement, misspending, "misspeaking," Mister Clinton, and all around missing the mark.

  Misogyny ain't nothing to do with it.

  by Loquatrix on Wed May 21, 2008 at 08:51:22 AM PDT

  •  But imho, she lost because he is what

    America needs and wants, not because of her errors.

    by Gorette on Wed May 21, 2008 at 08:53:52 AM PDT

    •  That too, natch!

      Obviously Barack Obama embodies the transformational change that America needs and wants.

      But since Clinton and her supporters can obviously never admit he's simply the better candidate, I'm taking the issue of relative merits out of the equation altogether and simply seeking to clarify for Clintonites that it's not their darling "sexism" which caused her to fail -- it was her failures.

      And Barack's excellentness didn't fit into my little "mis-" gag, so I had to leave it out.  ;)

      by Loquatrix on Wed May 21, 2008 at 09:05:53 AM PDT

  •  Exactly n/t

    by superba on Wed May 21, 2008 at 09:03:08 AM PDT

•  Rec'd for: "American women aren't dumb"!!!

  So true. Short diary, but good points.

  I just commented elsewhere on this:

  If Obama were a woman....then SHE would have won over another woman.

  Only a feeling of entitlement leads to the "taken away" meme.

  As an over-60 woman, I feel the best candidate has won out. It has nothing to do with gender. If Hillary were a man HE would not have won, Obama would have won. I wanted a woman to win but she was not the best candidate.

  The only gender bias has been possibly in the hearts of individuals when they voted. Hillary had great press. The rush of inevitability surrounded her (inappropriately) for months and months on end. But just being the first woman in contention does not entitle her to win. Nothing entitles one to win. Hopefully one candidate wins through excellence.

  People were not persuaded by sexism arguments or remarks or lack of coverage or differences in coverage. People were persuaded by a variety of factors including race and fear.

  This woman says the sexism argument is just plain silly.

  by Gorette on Wed May 21, 2008 at 08:52:28 AM PDT

  •  Yes, and yes!

    If Obama were a woman....then SHE would have won over another woman......  If Hillary were a man HE would not have won, Obama would have won.

    I (WF, 60) went to the polls in CA still torn between these two fabulous candidates. {Remember: it should always be like this, not a lesser-of-two-evils choice...} I chose to vote for Obama b/c I thought he was the stronger candidate.  At that time, I fully expected that I would be voting for Hillary in November.  

    Were she to get the nomination now, I would still vote for her - though without the enormous enthusiasm I once had - b/c our purpose in November is to defeat McCain, period.  If the CA primary were now, I would be voting for Obama without question or conflict, mostly b/c the attack campaign by HC has been so destructive.  

    by berkeleybarb on Wed May 21, 2008 at 10:33:49 AM PDT

•  asdf

  To put the results entirely on Clinton's mistakes is to underestimate the brilliant campaigning Obama accomplished this year.

  IMO, Clinton made huge missteps, and Obama ran almost flawlessly.

  by droogie6655321 on Wed May 21, 2008 at 08:56:12 AM PDT

  •  True.

    The point I am making is that Clinton's loss can hardly be construed as sexist when women in their droves deserted her for what they perceived as the superior candidate. It's just the dumbest possible argument.

    by superba on Wed May 21, 2008 at 09:05:46 AM PDT

  •  I wouldn't say that

    Obama's campaign has been good, but not brilliant. In particular, I'm concerned that neither the candidate nor the campaign are today what they were three months ago.

    But he won fair and square, no doubt about that.

    by Angry White Democrat on Wed May 21, 2008 at 10:38:20 AM PDT

•  The women who think it was stolen

  are women who are just old enough to have missed benefiting from the wholesale shattering of stereotypes and glass ceilings (or at least the cracking and poking of large holes in them) that we experienced in the 1970's and 1980's.  This elder generation saw women only one generation younger than them having opportunities they either hadn't enjoyed or hadn't dared to stand up and demand.  They had mixed feelings: delight in seeing such a boat finally sail and despair at having just missed getting on board.

  A lot of that is coming out now in this desperation to see Clinton win one for the team.  Clinton isn't their generation, but she IS the age that they were when they realized the younger generation was getting on a boat they couldn't (or didn't dare to).

  by Alden on Wed May 21, 2008 at 09:00:37 AM PDT

•  Initially , I liked all of our candidates

  and was bemoaning the fact that we had to choose just one of them. I still respect them all for their various expertise and point of view.
  But I must say, I went from not QUITE trusting Hillary,
  to being impressed with her eloquent answers to questions,
  to concern that her speeches seemed increasingly canned,
  to suspicion over her old-school, big money ties to various aspects of the War Machine,
  to outrage over her treacherous endorsement of John McCain's readiness (hah!) to be Commander-In-Chief , as well of course, of her own
  to disgust upon learning of her campaign mmanager's ties to Monsanto , Columbian trade deals, etc., etc., etc.

  The reports on this website from (former)supporters personal experience with her campaign was the icing on the cake of logical opinion , based on all of the above.
  "By their fruits,ye shall know them".

  I will vote for the PERSON, I don't care if they are polka-dotted, paisley or striped.

  by world dancer on Wed May 21, 2008 at 09:19:45 AM PDT

•  Clinton lost my vote

  Well before Obama won it, she lost it. Hillary had my vote at the outset. Her campaign, her attitude of entitlement, and her increasingly dishonest tactics lost that vote.

  It took a few more months for it to land on Obama. He certainly didn't "take" it (or any of the other, more racially-charged subtexts that I hear in that "he took it away from her" line).

  He earned it, with integrity and candor and hope that I found utterly lacking in the candidate whom I'd once hoped would be the nominee.

  by paxpdx on Wed May 21, 2008 at 09:20:34 AM PDT

•  This 51 yr. old white

  woman (who attends church weekly, BTW) decided on Obama solely on his own merits.  Kept an open mind to several candidates, but Clinton was always a third to Edwards and Obama in my mind.

  She herself convinced me I wanted my vote to go elsewhere.  There's no shame in that - we can all only vote for one candidate per office.  Someone always loses my vote, but I would never consider it "stolen."

  by texasmom on Wed May 21, 2008 at 10:06:25 AM PDT