I think it's time for us Obama supporters and Kossacks to let go of "silly season" and start trying to appreciate what Hillary Clinton has brought to this race and to American politics in general.
Let me first disclaim. I have been as angry as many of you about the tactics of the Clinton campaign against Barack Obama. But in the interest of uniting to the party, which I think we all want so that it is that must easier for Obama to take the White House come November, I think we need to transcend the bickering and back-stabbing of this primary and signal to Hillary, and her supporters, that we want and need them in our constituency and that we are willing to forgive the missteps of the campaign.
I don't need to delineate what went wrong in Clinton's campaign. Those fumbles are mimeographed on our brains and part of our collective history now.
But let's assuage some of the Hillary supporters by conceding a few points. The first point we should concede is that Hillary Clinton has, and continues to be, a victim of sexism. The sexism she experienced IS NOT FROM THE OBAMA CAMPAIGN, but from the media and from popular culture. I don't think we can expect Obama or any of the superdelegates to come out and decry that sexism, as a poster over at Alternet suggested in her article.
But let's not deny that just as racism is operating against Obama in the media (and, unfortunately, from within the Clinton campaign) that sexism isn't operating against Hillary. Of course it is--because it is operating against all women, at all times. I don't think sexism is what accounts for her defeat in all the many primaries and caucuses she has lost. I don't think sexism is responsible for many of the biggest folks in the Democratic party endorsing Obama. I don't think sexism is behind NARAL's endorsement of Obama.
But it is undoubtedly true that for playing politics the way she has opened the door for the dislike of her to be cast in misogynistic terms. She played against Obama the way Bush played against McCain in 2000. We don't see Bush nutcrackers. We see him portrayed as a chimp and his image being sold on rolls of toilet paper.
What hasn't been fair is that there has been little indignant outcry from the progressive community about that sexism. It is difficult to defend someone who is infuriating you on a daily basis and who shows they are willing to exploit the "isms" in our society to her benefit. But even Hillary deserves the right to be defended against sexism. If we can learn anything from Barack Obama, it should be that we fight for people even if they will not fight with us; that we stand up for people's rights even if they actually hate us.
It infuriates me to see sexist mud being cast at Hillary. And in truth, when we let sexists off the hook because she is not "our" candidate, we allow the kind of environment to flourish where racism, or sexism, or homophobia, or classism can be deployed as a wedge issue. We are somewhat at fault for not being as stringently critical of sexism from the MSM and popular culture in this campaign as we have been of race.
Hillary has already gone further than any woman candidate ever has in American history. She has, indeed, broken a glass ceiling. We should not forget that. And she did it, no doubt, to great personal detriment. It will be easier the next time a woman runs for President. And that woman will have Clinton's bid as a case study for what worked and what didn't. She made an opening where there wasn't one and she has come far down the path. She has made something more possible than it was before.
And, as kos pointed out yesterday, Hillary seems to be moving more towards a message of unification. When she begins to defend Obama and push Democratic values once again, we need to be ready to welcome her into the fold. One way we can do that is to begin by conceding that she has suffered from sexism and that she has, indeed, changed American politics forever.