Hillary has had a tough week.  Falling poll numbers, falling flags and more importantly a loss of her sense of invulnerability.  For weeks her attitude and that of many has been that she is the inevitable candidate.  Now suddenly she is just another candidate.

The reasons is that the other democrats are actually treating her as a front runner, one whom them want to stop, which means when she waffles in the debate as she did recently, her behavior is fair game.

And her reaction?

Clinton Regroups As Rivals Pounce

After a rare night of fumbles by Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, her rivals for the Democratic presidential nomination rushed to maximize the damage yesterday, even as her advisers argued that the "piling on" engaged in by an all-male field of opponents will ultimately drive more female voters into her camp.

Clinton strategists grudgingly acknowledged that the performance in Tuesday's debate in Philadelphia was not her finest and they sought to contain the fallout. They worked to clarify her muddled response to a question about whether she supports giving driver's licenses to illegal immigrants -- she backs it, they said -- and quickly produced a video, titled "The Politics of Pile-On," splicing together in rapid-fire fashion her rivals' attacks from the event.

She is playing a dangerous game.  She is carefully walking the line of using her gender as a political tool as she and her husband make comments about "the boys" who are out to get her.  She needs to transcend her gender and make it not an issue, and become the best candidate, not the best woman candidate.  What's more, if she claims to be more qualified being a woman but attacks claims she is less qualified being a woman she straddles hypocrisy.

As Sister Toldjah notes:

There’s been some diversity amongst the reactions amongst liberal feminists as to whether they consider her a victim of a “boys-club” attack or if they view her playing of the victim card as a setback of sorts for the feminist movement. Ben Smith and David Paul Kuhn at The Politico reported yesterday on the mixed reaction from feminists to Hillary’s victim card defense:

After jeers from her Democratic rivals and many commentators, Hillary Rodham Clinton has backed off her suggestion last week that her opponents were ganging up on her because she is a woman.

But the debate is still churning in feminist circles, where some women’s activists said she had every right to invoke sexism and gender stereotypes as a defense on the campaign trail — and predicted that this tactic will prove effective against fellow Democrats and against a Republican, if she is the general election nominee.

One prominent feminist and Hillary endorser made excuses for Clinton’s hiding behind her gender, calling it a “visceral gut reaction” to being around all those men:

“It goes beyond logic — it’s a gut response,” Eleanor Smeal, president of the Feminist Majority Foundation, said of the spectacle of Clinton onstage confronting seven male rivals and two male moderators at a debate in Philadelphia on Wednesday night.

Smeal, who has endorsed Clinton, compared the debate scene to the congressional grilling of Anita Hill when she challenged Clarence Thomas’ Supreme Court nomination in 1991.

“Every woman — it was just so visceral — that panel was all male,” Smeal recalled. “It didn’t matter almost what was being said. It [was] a visceral gut reaction, and I think that’s what you’re seeing here again.”

Sure - it’s a “gut reaction” to instinctively think the worst of a group of people simply due to their sex. Women just can’t help but think the worst! Now, imagine if the shoe was on the other foot, and a prominent male public figure described his “visceral reaction” to having to stand on stage with several female contenders for political office, and then imagine the howls of outrage that would be sure to follow for weeks, the calls for apologies, healing, etc. Double standards, anyone?

Will she be able to control this visceral reaction if elected and she is facing the (men) leaders of the other countries in the world?   Or will that be her chief weakness?  It is a fair question if she intends to hide behind sexism.

She needs more then the feminists who are drooling over the prospect of a woman in power to win, she needs the confidence of the masses, but she will not be able to do that when she cannot hold a consistent line on her positions. 

Instead she presents herself as the candidate for all by having an agenda for none.  By that I mean that if you cannot take a stand on a solid issue, you may think you are becoming a person who can transcend issues and appeal to all, but instead you become a person who cannot connect to anyone because you alienate everyone.

At this point she is trying to win the primary and become the nominee.  The democrats are certainly making a great effort to knock down her hallowed status, but for the moment, assume she wins.

The republican nominee is certain to make great use of all the foolishness.

And if she makes her gender an issue, so will they, not in saying she is unqualified because she is a woman, but that she is unqualified because she cannot present any other reason to show she is qualified.

Her latest strategy of planting questions raises huge concerns on her honesty, her integrity and her ability to respond to honest debate.  No one believes it was an accident or a one time good deal.

And considering the fact she is still a relative amateur in politics she will always have to face the same questions Obama faces:  What are he actual qualifications.

The reality is she works by intimidation and depends on the reputation of her husband.  Being first lady is not the same as being the president, no matter how she wishes otherwise.

If she wants to win, she needs to focus and prover her mettle by displaying leadership and integrity, and by presenting a better vision of the future then her opponents. 

She has to make a stand on her principles and let her values be judged.

The time for walking the middle road has passed.

  Trackposted to Outside the Beltway, Perri Nelson's Website, Blog @ MoreWhat.com, Rosemary's Thoughts, Right Truth, Shadowscope, Stuck On Stupid, Cao's Blog, The Bullwinkle Blog, The Amboy Times, Conservative Cat, Adeline and Hazel, Pet's Garden Blog, Diary of the Mad Pigeon, third world county, DragonLady's World, The World According to Carl, Pirate's Cove, The Pink Flamingo, Wake Up America, Dumb Ox Daily News, High Desert Wanderer, and Right Voices, thanks to Linkfest Haven Deluxe.

Trackback URI | Comments RSS