Hillary Clinton and her supporters had better be careful what they wish for.  If, by some remote chance, she were to succeed in winning the Democratic nomination through her increasingly direct appeal to racial bias, she will have endorsed a campaign strategy that can be used against her as well. This is because it would be all too easy to turn the racially-divisive tactics used against Obama into equivalent gender-based attacks against women.

But how did it come to this?  The primary race between Clinton and Obama was supposed to be an historic moment for the Democratic Party and the country.  For the first time, a woman or an African American would be on the presidential ballot in November and very likely in the White House in January!  But something went wrong.  When the Clinton campaign found itself in trouble after Super Tuesday, with no real game plan, the sense of entitlement felt by Hillary and some of her supporters led them to adopt the tactics usually employed by Republicans and other conservative interests.  Abandoning any pretense of feminist values, Hillary Clinton has shown that she relates more to the white-male power structure, whose sense of entitlement and privilege is at the very core of its opposition to equal rights for women and minorities, than she does to the Obama campaign that is trying to break down the barriers to the White House.   

This is not to say that many Clinton supporters are not sincerely motivated in their desire to elect a female president.  It is just that the Clinton campaign and some of its supporters seem to have lost sight of the reasons why a woman or African American has never been elected president.  We’ve seen Hillary praise the qualifications of the anti-abortion Republican John McCain in her quest to defeat her pro-choice Democratic rival.  And instead of educating the voters on issues affecting women in this country, Hillary has made nice with the right-wing media interests that routinely attack feminism and women’s rights issues.  

During the self-serving truce between Clinton and her former enemies (i.e , the vast right-wing conspirators), the media has focused primarily on Obama and the issue of race.  However, if Hillary were to win the nomination, it is naïve to believe that the right-wing media would not come after her as ferociously as it has against Obama.  I mean, these are people who use terms such as “feminazi” and  “baby killer”.  The problem for Hillary would be that she would have no moral authority to condemn the use of such tactics because she has essentially endorsed a campaign strategy based on bigotry.  It would be all too easy to turn the table and use the same tactics on Hillary that were used on Obama.  In fact, because racism and sexism are two sides of the same coin, it often just requires replacing “black” with “woman”.  A few examples are:

1.  Hillary Wouldn’t Be Where She Is If She Weren’t A Woman
It would be all too easy to for Hillary (or any woman) to be attacked by right-wing pundits and political “experts” making claims similar to those made by Geraldine Ferraro about Obama.  In fact, this is nothing new.  The accomplishments and qualifications of women are routinely dismissed as being the result of preferential treatment or affirmative action.  The reason this tactic is so effective is because it is cheap and easy.  The accuser doesn’t have to prove anything because the very claim is designed to tap into the resentment and bias that many men feel about women taking the jobs and opportunities that they feel entitled to.  It should not be underestimated how effective and damaging this line of attack can be during our growing economic recession when many men, especially the very blue-collar, lower-educated white men whose support Hillary has sought, are losing their jobs and are anxious about how to support their families.  

2.  Feminists Are Extremist and Hate America
The non-stop coverage of selected video clips of Rev. Wright has been especially damaging to Obama because they took Wright’s words out of context to portray him as extremist, un-American, and anti-white.  It would not be difficult to use the same tactics against Hillary, especially since she is supported by feminist icons such as Gloria Steinem and national leaders of NOW.  For those familiar with feminist theory, it would not be unusual to hear a feminist leader or scholar speaking about the oppression of the patriarchy or denouncing the use of violence to dominate women.  By taking such messages out of context, it would be easy to portray feminists as being just as extremist as Rev. Wright.  Of course, the right-wing punditry would have a field day with such statements (especially if they had video clips) and would dictate the terms of the discussion to keep Hillary on the defensive:  Does Hillary agree with these feminists?  Do feminists hate men?  Why has she associated with such radicals who are against the American family and the American social structure?  If Hillary renounces and rejects the feminist community, she risks alienating the older women who make up her base of support.  If she does not reject them, she is forced to discuss the complex issues of sexism and discrimination in an environment that is hostile to the principles of women’s rights and gender equality.  Sound familiar?

3.  Women Are Too Weak and Emotional To Be President
These attitudes are unfortunately ever present but have not yet made their way into the mainstream media coverage.  This is partly because Clinton and the conservative media have kept the political dialogue focused on race rather than gender.  But Hillary knows these attitudes are out there and it is clear that she has been taking pre-emptive measures to refute them.  Unfortunately, she has not spoken out on the inherent strength of women and the attributes that make them well suited to lead the country.  Instead, she has been attempting to prove in increasingly desperate ways that she is in fact more masculine than Obama!  While Obama is portrayed as the effete arugula-eating intellectual who is all talk but no action, Hillary drinks shots of whiskey, went shooting with her father, and has dodged sniper fire.  According to her surrogates, she is the working-class fighter with “testicular fortitude”, the female Rocky Balboa.  In fact, Hillary “makes Rocky Balboa look like a pansy”!  Hillary is the she-man who even has the “extra cojones” that the wimpy Obama is so dearly in need of.  And she’s learned from George Bush that being presidential means never having to admit to mistakes, so why should Hillary have to apologize for her Iraq War vote?  Anyway, those Iraqis need to take care of themselves now because Hillary has some obliterating to do in Iran.
 
Is this the female president that we have been waiting for?  How has her campaign advanced the interests of women in this country?  While Hillary has been trying to prove how tough and working-class she is, she has actually been perpetuating the sexist perceptions that have hindered women’s progress for so long, especially in politics.  Women shouldn’t have to be action figures to succeed in a man’s world.  Rather, we need female candidates with the inner strength to take on the complexities of sexism in our society in the same way that Obama has tried to address the racial divide.  

If nothing else, this primary has made it clear that racism and sexism are still very much misunderstood within society at large.  Even here at TPM, many Clinton supporters have denounced the sexist and misogynist attacks against Hillary while taking offense at the criticism of Clinton’s race-baiting tactics against Obama.  Some of them even feel justified in denying that racism is a problem in this country.  Unfortunately, the same denials exist with regards to sexism, and I have seen cases where even well-intentioned men do not see gender bias or harassment when it is present.  

Given these social dynamics, both Clinton and Obama have been faced with the daunting challenge of gaining broad popular support within a hostile political climate fueled by conservative bigots.  Sadly, Hillary made the choice to stand with the bigots for short-term political gain, but in doing so she has failed both her female and African American constituencies.  For example, Hillary chose to publicly repudiate Rev. Wright and Barack Obama’s association with him while remaining silent on the anti-feminist positions of right-wing religious supporters of John McCain and the Republican Party such as John Hagee and Jerry Falwell (who blamed the Sept. 11 attacks in part on abortionists, feminists, and lesbians).  Hillary needs to be reminded that it is the religious and political conservatives who support the very patriarchal structure that the feminist movement has been striving to change.  This system will not change by trying to join their club.