More on Hillary hate

So if you read the article yesterday, you know that Hillary hate across the entire political spectrum has to do with her presumed fence-sitting on every position she's ever held in order to get ahead. As a result of her personal and political evolution, however, she can be a target of every attack and every accolade that anyone can dig up. Yet, she is just doing what every self-proclaimed feminist of the 1970s said they would do: she's getting what she wants, what she believes she deserves. The Jack Hitt piece backs Hillary up on her feminist ambitions, but I think the root of Hillary hate is the route to power, not the movement she embodies.

I've got Hillary hate myself, not as much vitriol as most, but still enough to not want to vote for her. This will no doubt be her biggest liability as the Democratic candidate... everyone already has a pre-formed opinion of her. Even if she appears as the embattled woman fighting off chauvinism, she'll still have a tough time fighting preconceived public conceptions. At the same time, she won't have to go through the trouble of "defining" herself... she's already done it so many times that we know the refrain.

I find the Hillary hatred to be particularly notable in America, because of the Ségolène Royal phenomenon in France. I believe that if Royal loses, it will be because she's a woman. France is still chauvinistic but that's not why her sex plays such an important role. As a woman, she's had to define herself unusually to gain entry into male-dominated politics. Many see her, like Hillary, as a political opportunist, using the power of her husband, Socialist Party elder (well, life-partner) François Hollande, to take the Socialists by storm.

Her campaign has been defined by fending off attacks based on her femininity. How many men would have to do as much chest-thumping flag-waving as she has? Of course, her problem of indefinition is exactly the opposite of the Hillary problem. Still, note that both of them aren't known by their last names so much as their surnames. Ségolène's nickname is Sego; Sarkozy's is Sarko. Hillary and Ségolène have to take on all these multiple roles because society expects it. They have to be feminine and masculine, devious schemer and naive newbie, domineering and submissive, national mother and national father. With all these identities, it's no wonder that everyone can find something to hate.