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A Friend Stopped By | 06/26/2008 10:00 am

Message to All Whining Female Democrats: Hillary's Out. Get Over It, by Barbara Goldsmith

By Barbara Goldsmith
© iStock

Editor’s Note: Barbara Goldsmith is a prize-winning bestselling author and historian. She served on the Presidential Commission for the Celebration of Women in America History during President Clinton’s administration.

"Whoever is set up to be president of the United States is just set up to have his character torn off from his back in shreds and to be mauled, pummeled and covered with dirt by every filthy paper all over the country. And no woman that was not willing to be dragged through every kennel, and slopped into every dirty pail of water like an old mop, would ever consent to run as a candidate. Why, it’s an ordeal that kills a man. It killed General Harrison and it killed old Zach [Taylor]. And what sort of … a woman would it be that could stand it and come out of it without being killed?"

So commented Harriet Beecher Stowe when Victoria Woodhull announced her bid for the presidency in 1872.

The place: a distinguished publisher’s Park Avenue apartment. The date: Wednesday, June 18. The time: 8:45 AM. The occasion: a breakfast hosted by Gloria Steinem. The stated objective: to bring the Women for Barack Obama and the Hillary Clinton supporters into one cohesive group.

These emotional outbursts ... are just what male chauvinists say about woman's incapacity to coolly assess a situation.

The little blonde stood, arms akimbo, and vented her wrath: "I am a good friend of Hillary’s," she declared. "I’ve had her at my home, and I have always been there for her. I am here to tell you how angry and hurt I am and how hurt all Hillary supporters are by the sexist, disgusting way Hillary was attacked and pilloried by the media in this campaign. Until some acknowledgment of that is made, I am full of anger. I know the Democratic Party could have stopped it. I know Obama could have stopped it. But, everyone was silent and just let it happen and …"

Next up: a professor who took a full six minutes announcing her credentials and then said, "I used up my entire pension supporting Hillary. I went to 13 states and knocked on doors. I want everyone in this room to write in the name of Hillary Clinton on the ballot when they go to vote and …"

Another woman announced that she intended to launch a boycott of MSNBC. "I want all of you to sign my petition."

The chairperson of "Women for Obama," Becky Carroll, had flown in from Chicago and said she was tired. You’d be tired too with all that invective flying around the room. But Ms. Carroll couldn’t very well intervene, if catharsis was what was needed to unite Democratic women. Ms. Carroll was in a tough position – too tough to point out that Hillary Clinton had announced that her supporters should "take our energy, our passion, our strength and do all we can to help elect Barack Obama …" These emotional outbursts — and there were several more — are just what male chauvinists say about woman’s incapacity to coolly assess a situation.

Please note that so far there’s been no "I" word in my comments. The "I did this, I did that, I am hurt, I may not vote, I may vote for McCain," and so forth that have been heard lately may be what’s holding Democratic women back from fulfilling their potential to become a powerful coalition that could help guide this country back to safer ground.

581 Reader Comments (so far…) Sign In or Register to comment

C Hardy
I guess the Country will vote a Democrat in just “cause” so this way when everything goes to Pot, they wont have anyone to blame but themselves…I mean the House & Senate are now Democartic so once a Democrat becomes President-who to blame then? And when we are fighting the War that no one wants here on our soil-who will you blame then? Bush? I dont like either canidate but I guess I’ll vote for the lesser of two evils……
By C Hardy on 07/07/2008 7:39 am
Rush L
I started blaming them the second they won the house and senate back. Whew! Just in time too. Just so long as the GOP doesn’t have to be accountable for the situation we are in, that’s fine with me. Damn Dennis Kucinich and his blasted war!!! (Waving fist in air)…Look at the debt you ran up?! When W came into the White House we had a surplus..now after 2 years of the Democrats running the House and Senate we have a massive debt! The democrats did it faster than over night!!! The horror! The horror! And on top of ALL they the Democrats trashed the U.S. Constitution by forcing President Bush to write all those signing statements. They have no shame.
By Rush L on 07/08/2008 8:43 am
Deni G
ROTFLMAO yet again…
By Deni G on 08/08/2008 2:26 pm
Maureen D
I’m not a whining female Democrat, I’m a very independent independent; I’m not geting over it, and I’m voting for Hillary, like it or not. It’s my vote and I’ll decide who will get it.
By Maureen D on 07/07/2008 8:32 pm
C Hardy
I guess voting for Hillary makes you feel better…I mean do you really think Hillary is that great? I don’t get it? I never liked her even when Bill was President. Hillary has always come across as she is better than us so why the heck would you want her to be President…so she can look down her nose at you even more? Plus not to mention what she didn’t do with her husbands cheating…Just smile and it will all be ok, maybe I won’t look too stupid for staying with him….NOT!!! I don’t see how Hillary could even make “friends” with the Middle East…they don’t respect women so Hillary wanting or scary enough one day becoming President would send a message to them “American’s don’t really want to have a relationship with us, they voted a woman”…Look outside the box and see that America is hated, truly hated for all the freedoms we have and this comes from someone who knows Soldiers fighting in these Wars & hearing it face to face…They hate us & especially hate how us women in America have so much Freedom to do what we do, so yeah let’s go ahead & vote Hillary & make it worse.
By C Hardy on 07/08/2008 9:39 am
The One
I must say some of the comments you read on this site truly amaze me. The majority of the people on this site strike me as intelligent, until you read a few a of their posts. They seem to go from being intelligent to emotional from one post to the next. You see where people are saying “I wont vote for him because there is something about him” or ” I have been a Dem all my life, but he doesnt have the experience to be POTUS” and my favorite is “He is sexist and when the MSM talked about Hillary he didnt do anything about it”. I will tell you, you really make me laff. Ok, so lets see - something about him - Yes there is something about him, Mom and Dad didnt give him a free ride to school, or pull strings to get him in the Academy or get him assigned as an avaiator, which he didnt rate as a C student coming out of the academy. All he did was study become President of the Law Review and then return to a city to help poor organize the poor. hmmmmmm, now that does make me think there is something about him. No experience - Dang, I forgot that McCain was the leader of the free world at some time or other. Been in the Senate 20+ yrs but was never thought well enough to become the Senate Majority Leader. Obama was only a State Senator and then on to the US Senate and only 2 yrs there. Yet, he has raised more money, ran a better campaign and has setup a campaign stucture that will be modeled from this moment on. So I guess my point is I will take intelligence over experience 90 % of the time. And finally Sexist - I am sure that when every other politician is running for office, they are required to defend the woman that he is running against. Or is it just him. See I think thats an easy word for people to use because they having nothing relevant to say about his candidacy. Or Hillarys lack of having run a good campaign. I am sure its his fault that she and her staff was living in luxury suites and running out of money to pay local vendors. Ultimately, it comes down to whether you are a dyed in the wool Democrat, or a person who likes to call themselves one, because it is a good talking point. Like Barbara said, get over it, because to tell you the truth, our party isnt for fair weather Democrats. You are either in or out. If you dont like it, change your affilation and stop whining about what you used to be, because you are that no more. We will be just fine, with or without you. Tho we would prefer to have you with us. But we are moving forward, so stay stuck in the mud and after we win the White house, I am sure because of the weather you will call yourself a Democrat again. See you in November.
By The One on 07/09/2008 11:53 am
Es  Right
God Bless your thoughtful post. You have more patience and class than I do. I have no time to lecture these ‘hurt’ voters who deep down did not see the Obama train coming. They got their views of Hilary’s inevitability from the same MSM that they are now cursing. Many of these Hillary supporters were in it for personal gain. Many of the prominent ones thought that a President Hillary Clinton would reward deep pocket supporters with Ambassadorships. They were on the wrong train and the Obama driven engine has left the station. They want to get on, but they have a price. They need to be reassured that they have a shot at plum positions. Nothing is for free. So until then they are trying their damn best to ‘whinemail’ Obama. The Democratic Party will be stronger without them. I suppose the GOP will be stronger with them cause they will get in line and be the silent voters that the GOP expects of them, particularly the women. Good riddance and God Speed!!
By Es Right on 07/21/2008 11:19 am
C Hardy
So you truly think America is ready for a black president? I mean truly, deep down in the roots, that most are ready…As I have said before it scares me to think how many attempts will be made on his and his family’s life if he is voted in or before that…I honestly don’t feel that some of our “skin heads” or think they are, are truly ready for Obama to be President and IF and its a big IF something happened to him or his family do you really think other African American’s would not try to retaliate? I DONT WANT ANYTHING BAD TO HAPPEN but if it did, I would immediatly get in my car & drive as fast as I could to my family in Canada…Don’t want to be caught in the middle of a race riot…Not with my Fiance’ being a State Trooper.
By C Hardy on 07/09/2008 1:41 pm
JoAnna Selle
I put America first before any party. A small group of men in the Democratic party told the American people that their votes did not count. Hillary won the popular vote and the delegate vote and that is why they only allowed a partial vote from Florida and Mich. The Democratic party told us our vote did not matter for like the Republican party had done by getting the Supreme court to put Bush in office so the Democratic party had wanted obama in office and they did whatever they wanted to in order to accomplish their mission. They don’t care about you or me, they only want someone they can control. See Hillary could not be bought, Obama can. Hillary would have gotten rid of all the pork and they did not want that. They wanted someone green in office that did not know the ropes that they could take advantage of. That person being obama. From the obama camp everyone is saying that those of us that voted for Hillary will come around after all the economics of the Democrats are better. No, they are not. The Democrats have proven that they are as slimy as the Republicans they proved it by this primary. I know the economy is bad but I won’t sell out my values or what I believe in for the economy. The difference between the Katrina people and the Iowa people is this: The Katrina people cried that they were discriminated against and they wanted to be given homes and money. Many of them were not even home owners only renters yet they were given $200,000.00 from my taxes. when CA. had our earthquake, we lost everything. Then we moved into another home riddled with mold and lost everything again. The government did not bail us out. No one came to CA. to help any of us. Look at Iowa. The people there have lost everything the same as they did in Katrina yet the difference is the people in Iowa do not believe that the government owes them a living. They have said on national television that they will rebuild again and they will get through it. I see no one going to help any of them in Iowa. Where is Oprah for the people in Iowa? Talk about discrimination. The democratic party made a fatal mistake when they thought we would get over it. I cannot be bought. The democratic party did not care about how we all felt by what and the way they treated Hillary, that was their fatal mistake. I am no longer a democrat because of it. I will not vote for someone who I believe deep down in my core is not who he says he is. He has listened to and been friends with the last 20 years racists, his own father is one as demonstrated by the letter he sent to Obama’s mothers parents. You are your parents child. His politics abroad of wanting to include Russia is a wrong move. Russia cannot be trusted. Russia has not changed and will never change, she still wants to rule the world and we are the one stopping her. I don’t like his economic package or his military views or his lack of experience. Just because Hillary will play ball with the Democrats I won’t. That is her profession not mine. Because of the reality shows teaching people to sell themselves and their integrity for money or prizes people have lost who their are. I have not and I will not vote for Obama even though we are headed for a depression. McCain is not my first choice but compared to obama I will vote for McCain because I know that McCain is not a racist and that he does love this country. Obama does not want the American flag on his presidential logo because he thinks we should be for all nations. So I believe he wants have the power America can give to him but he is not really just looking out for our best interests. I put America first and there is so many things in my gut telling me how wrong Obama is that I could never go against myself on this one. Another thing I feel it is very low classed for Obama to ask Hillary to campaign for him when he is not even asking her to be on his ticket. Now if she were on his ticket I would vote for him. If he put another woman on his ticket I would not vote for him.It is not just that Hillary is a woman but she is someone who I believe in. And Obama may get the Presidency but he won’t be voted into office by me. I wonder if he gets in he will screw everyone with his inexperience and agenda than what will all those people out there say that voted for him? Because when he fails and he will, they will have helped him to screw us all over. Another thing that bothered me was how the press and the party kept saying that only the educated was voting for obama as though none of us had degrees. Not true. what they needed to say was it was the college students still partying, fighting and putting it on youtube, wet behind the ears still living off mommy and daddy voting for obama.
By JoAnna Selle on 07/13/2008 12:26 pm
C Hardy
Joann…WOW Thank You! I agree with everything you said…I have often wondered why the Government hasn’t stepped in to help those in Iowa…I know Katrina was bad but I have friends in New Orleans & he works for an insur company & his biggest complaint was people were given these checks to do whatever they wanted to do with. They didnt have to rebuild their homes if they didnt want too…they have a FEMA Trailer, more than one of his friends took those checks and bought cars, motocycles with…Come on now…You cried b/c no one was there but you were given a week to get out…Yes a week, he said the warnings came out 5 days before Katrina hit…5 days!!! How is that Bush’s fault…the President can’t step in if the state doesnt want him there…OH well…Katrina is over & I learned from it is that if you cry loud enough you will get what you want b/c of the Media…Where is Brad Pitt w/ $5 for those is Iowa as he gave to Katrina victims? Guess the Iowa residents are hard working American’s who know how to do it on their own. Back to Obama…that man scares me more than everything…Don’t see how anyone would or could vote for him & feel good about it. Just don’t get it. He will be our commander and chief over our Military & the fact that he doesnt know anything about the Military…tell me that doesnt scare you? We know nothing about Obama…Not sure our country is ready for Hilliary but at this point I think she would be better than Obama and I am not a Hillary fan…she may be a strong woman in some sense but is very lacking in other and its that other that I can’t support.
By C Hardy on 07/14/2008 8:32 am
Cathy Savage
Its hard to ask people to “get over it” when Hillary was treated so poorly and unjustly by the media. It is going to take a long time to “get over” this one. Obama does not have my vote.
By Cathy Savage on 07/14/2008 3:48 pm