Liz Smith | 05/19/2008 5:43 am

So, You Want to Know Why Hillary Is Still in the Race?

“It is the tragedy and irony of Mrs. Clinton that the year she decided to run for president, her campaign was ambushed by the unforeseen rise of a luminous charismatic candidate.

“It may be the tragedy and irony of Mr. Obama that the year he reached for the far horizon came in the very period when Americans, wondering whether President Bush lacked the experience to succeed in the White House, again made experience the measure of a presidential contender.” — David Shribman, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

Why is she still in the race? She is the first woman to run for president of the United States. And she has fought the good fight, and the bad fight. She has misspoken without a doubt. She has played hardball just like the other contenders, all men. And she’s not a Mike Huckabee or a Ron Paul; she has run a truly close race.

Testosterone aside, I think Sen. Clinton is sending a message to all women, even to young women who don’t support her; the ones who think Obama is the be-all and end-all. Perhaps someday some of these women will find themselves in a position where they are told to get out, go away, give up. Maybe then they’ll remember Hillary Clinton, a woman who did not get out, go away or give up; a woman who kept fighting and trying.

The senator’s candidacy has become an empowering moment for women, just as Barack Obama’s candidacy has been empowering to the young, the hopeful and to African Americans and other people of all colors.

But if the math were reversed and Sen. Clinton had the numbers to win, what would people say if we told Sen. Obama to get lost, to go away, to give up? I believe he would stay on, realizing the symbolic meaning of his actions as the most unusual candidate in decades.

Sen. Clinton will most likely lose this particular battle. But she has already won some of the war – for women and for others who don’t believe in quitting. I guess if you knew her like I know her, you would find this thrilling, empowering and inspirational instead of behaving as if it is an embarrassment and she should just “go away.”

Note: Click on this text to read my nationally syndicated daily column!

Is It Time for Clinton or Obama to Throw in the Towel?

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Cokie Roberts on the Chances of an Obama-Hillary Ticket

Joan Cooney: It’s Something I’d Expect From Karl Rove but Not Hillary Supporters

Poll Says Majority of Dems Want Clinton as Vice President

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

I love it that the appliance question responses are running two-to-one ahead of this question. But give it all time. Sigh. I’ve said just about all I want to on this topic. In a nutshell: Sen. Clinton is a formidable candidate and should stay in the race until she wants to quit, runs out of steam, runs out of money, or decides it’s time to unify the party. I respect her intelligence, her tenacity and her courage. However, I think her campaign has been poorly run and that raises questions about her management style and abilities. I think her husband has not been an asset. The end. (Pretty big nutshell as I re-read.)

By Maurine H on 05/19/2008 11:21 am

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Shall we discuss the composite fiction of Obama and ask why he is still in the race? Shall we wonder why Oprah does not mind when Obama uses composite characters in his “memoir” but does mind when James Frey uses composite characters in his “Million Little Pieces”? If we took the million little pieces of Obama and pieced them together, shall we get a dandelion or a daisy or something less than the sum of the parts?

By A B on 05/19/2008 11:34 am

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A B, could you be more specific instead of just alluding to “composite fiction”? I’ve read his books and books written about him and whateverelse I can find pro and con. Oprah’s endorsement was just a mere blip, noticed and gone along with other people’s opinions. You notice them, do your own reading, listening and research and then make your own decision based on your own impressions and facts. These little nuggets of suspicion arouse my curiosity. I see them with no factual proof to back them up. Enlighten me.

By JJ GB on 05/19/2008 12:03 pm

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JJ GB, Today’s New York Times, May 18, 2008, “THE LONG RUN: The Story of Obama, Written by Obama” By JANNY SCOTT. “Reporters have questioned Mr. Obama’s use of fictional techniques like composite characters, but some editors and critics say that is common in memoirs… . Arnold Rampersad, a professor of English at Stanford University who teaches autobiography and is the author of a recent biography of Ralph Ellison. “It is so full of clever tricks — inventions for literary effect — that I was taken aback, even astonished. But make no mistake, these are simply the tricks that art trades in, and out of these tricks is supposed to come our realization of truth.” Time will tell if truth comes out of tricks. Literary tricks. Political tricks. Hope is not held in a trick, only the illusion of hope followed by disillusionment.

By A B on 05/19/2008 1:11 pm

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hope is what keeps all of us alive all the time. one can hope for something that will never happen, but there is no such thing as false hope. we all decide day to day how to continue.

By mary lou s on 05/19/2008 4:48 pm

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Mary lou S “hope is what keeps all of us alive”. It is always surprising to me how much energy is put into the concept of hope. What is hope? Hope is just an expectation. What happens when you have unfulfilled expectations? Anger. I would almost go as far to say that all anger is a result of unfulfilled expectations. Think about it - so unfulfilled hope results in anger. Stifled lives. It doesn’t result in positive actions. You can hope and hope and hope and end up nowhere. Hope is not action - it is not even belief. It is nothing but childlike wishing. As intelligent as Obama is, to me this is the weakest area of his platform. In some ways this makes him seem empty to me. He doesn’t think outside of the box. Okay, what about belief - isn’t it giving mental assent to something? That isn’t even action. You have to take your beliefs and trust, or have enough faith in them to put them into action to eventually come up with a result. The result is the experience or the known. If you believe you can graduate from college, you have to have faith in yourself and get in there and take the actions for success. Or, you can just keep hoping, and using it as an excuse that you are powerless to be responsible in your own life. Or that circumstances are against me to succeed. That concept is a ticket to nowhere. That doesn’t build self respect or self esteem. So, to me to hear this ‘hope’ platform is to say that everything that has been accomplished by civil rights activists, affirmative action, judicial action, legislation, education etc. has just been a waste of time. “Keeping hope alive” is keeping action and success unattainable. Don’t give them hope - that is like teaching them show up for dinner, but not teaching people how to fish and then make their own dinner and respect themselves for it. Teach them how to use the system. Teach our young people to stay in school - and major in something that can get them a job. Teach them that, yes it is hard work, but a worthy endeavor. Hope is a waste of time. It just keeps people wishing instead of using methods that work to pursue and accomplish their dreams.

By Frannie Em on 05/19/2008 10:16 pm

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frannie, i think we agree more than we disagree. i don’t mean passive wishing is hope. hope is believing that your goal is attainable and that you can struggle toward it. if you ever give up hope entirely, you may have an idea where i started from.

By mary lou s on 05/19/2008 11:52 pm

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Mary lou I think the very first baby step is to have hope, but hope is not believing - it is just hoping. If you believed in a truth, you wouldn’t need hope. Hope is not putting anything into action - it is just hoping that something might happen, or hoping that someone is going to pave the way for you. If hopes are unfulfilled people start to die inside. So if you have a continuous process of having hope and then it is unfulfilled, you become angrier and angrier, and then die a little more inside, and eventually give up. Then someone comes a long and says - “here, I am selling hope”. THey want to believe it again, and it will work for awhile, but realization of your dreams comes from hard work, not hope. At some point you have to give up the ‘hope’ and pick up the tools for your success. You have to surrender to the process and not stand on the sidelines hoping. “Hope is believing that your goal is attainable and that you can struggle toward it.” Once again, hope, by definition, is not belief. Believing is just agreeing that it is possible - you have to go even further than that and have faith in your belief in order to get busy about it. There was a time as a child when all I had was hope, and not much of it. I think I do know where you started from. I understand what you are saying, it is human nature to have such a big investment in hope. But people get where they are with hard work, not hope.

By Frannie Em on 05/20/2008 1:16 am

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Frannie, you always say what I need to hear. Even though this is about politics. It can be used for others who are having other troubles. Thank-You I need to hear that………Always me.

By CAROLINE MuLVEY on 05/20/2008 7:13 am

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What we have here, ladies, is a failure not to communicate. Liz Smith, you ‘ole Texas sodbuster; you have put a bee in the bonnet of each of these lovely ladies, knowin’ full well we’d stir up enough West Texas dust to blind justice and pret’near tear up our lacey pretentions. 95 in Fot Woth, Liz, but you got it 105 in the shade of your purty words. Lucky to get a piece of grace today

By beth willis on 05/19/2008 3:20 pm

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Beth you are funny lol - you crack me up. I needed a good laugh

By Frannie Em on 05/20/2008 11:33 am

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A B, Beautifully written. Obama has gotten a free pass on all his ‘misspeaks’, dandelion fluff that the Republicans have already begun to bat at. Time will loosen the rest. As for Hillary, she has become bigger than her name. Whether she lies or doesn’t comb her hair doesn’t matter anymore. She represents something more important than that.

By Marjorie C. on 05/19/2008 12:15 pm

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Marjorie…I agree that Obama has received a free pass on all his ‘misspeaks’. Since I am not voting for either of these candidates maybe I can be objective about all of this. I have a problem with Obama on a statement from his book “Audicity of Hope” in which he says ‘I will stand with the Muslims should the political winds shift in an ugly direction’ — to me that statement is scary at best. Hillary Clinton should stay until and as long as she wants to. It’s still out there. No one has crowned a winner. I think she is a great female role model in that she has tenacity, has incredible political ability, is a tireless campaigner and is an articulate speaker. She will run again in four years. We have not heard the last of Hillary Clinton. And, to all the ladies who have contributed thus far on this subject — thank you for your imput — thank you for being so thoughtful of each other’s posts - thank you for the wonderful feedback. Many of us were treated rudely on another site here — it’s refreshing to be able to post without being derided, degraded and demeaned. Just want to say ——God Bless!

By Lady Gator on 05/19/2008 1:45 pm

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Lady Gator, so glad you are here. On this site you may be treated to criticism but rarely rudely expressed. If someone’s posting makes you feel “derided, degraded and demeaned”, hold on, just hold on, because what follows will be a counter posting from a perfect stranger defending your point of view. The women and men who post on this site are ensemble players.

By A B on 05/19/2008 2:25 pm