Photo by Flickr user lissalou66. Used under a Creative Commons license.
Even though it’s old news now I’ve been meaning to blog about this for more than a month. A class assignment on gender, status, and power as it relates to presidential candidates is as good an excuse as any.
The funny thing about that “Hillary Clinton cried“ thing last month is even right after it happened you sort of had to dig to learn what she was saying when she did.
Photo by Flickr user lissalou66.
Used under a Creative Commons license.“I just don’t want to see us fall backward as a nation. I mean, this is very personal for me. Not just political. I see what’s happening. We have to reverse it.”
I don’t want to sound all goopy, or old, but when I was growing up we didn’t call that “gender,” or “weakness,” we called it patriotism.
It’s what the old guys in their old uniforms, sometimes with an empty sleeve pinned up, did in the middle of their speeches on Veteran’s Day, on Memorial Day, and on the 4th of July, when the enormity of what they’d done, or the enormity of what needed to be done welled hot inside them, and they’d have to stop for a moment and look up blinking, and you’d look around at the grownups around you and see the eyes of other old men, World War I vets my grandfathers’ ages, and younger men, World War II vets my father and uncles’ and neighbors’ ages looking not all that different.
And if they mentioned it at all, when children my age would ask “why’s that man crying” we were never told, “They’re not being ready for the Presidency.” Instead we were told that was love of country.
Photo by Flickr user lissalou66.
Used under a Creative Commons license. So anyway while I don’t intend to vote for Senator Clinton in this month’s caucus, to the extent anyone, man or woman, says “Hillary crying” makes her somehow unfit is actually saying far less about her than they are about their own connection to their country.
Me? I guess if it’s good enough for those who cared enough to fight and win World Wars I and II then I guess it’s good enough for any Presidential candidate you care to name.
Not that there’s anything magical about military service or militarism, and chickenhawk conservative squalling to the contrary there are only casual links between militarism and love of country. In fact I will support Senator Clinton’s opponent, Senator Obama, in my state’s upcoming primary because I believe he’s far more steadfastly opposed the kind of “fear-of-wimpiness” adventurism that conservatives so often confuse with patriotism and love of country. But from the bottom of my heart I’m thankful that at least one White House contender understands what it takes to love his or her country till it hurts.
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Note: When I grab illustrations for posts I tend to make up sort-of-related sets of keywords, check the “creative commons only” box, and take whatever looks like fun regardless of context. In this case I wanted to quote the text from photo caption at the top.
This man, Doug (who I later met) changed what Veteran’s Day now means to me in the matter of 2 hours. He personally thanked each group of men and women walking in the parade, some individually. He saluted, he welcomed home those who have been home for decades, he wept and wiped tears from his eyes more than once. He later thanked me for my service in the Army as well. I, in return, thanked him for his and told him how his actions welled tears in my eyes too.
Rest my case.
Submitted by 1910 (not verified) on Sat, 2008-02-02 20:31.
While I don't particularly care for Mrs. Clinton, if her tears were coming from a real place then good for her for showing some emotion. If it was a ploy to entice voters then shame on her. Like you said, there are many people who have very true and deep feelings regarding patriotism and the acts they have done in its name. For her to "fake" that kind of emotion it would seem that she was making light of all those who truly do care about those issues. I imagine that we can all speculate on her motives but only she truly knows if it was honest emotions or not.
Submitted by 1910 (not verified) on Sat, 2008-02-02 21:00.
Gosh, figleaf, you're wonderful when you get political. I'd love to see you do it more often.
I have the same reservations about HRC as you do. There's a great piece in the Nation this week by Christopher Hayes where he lays out the argument more eloquently than I could. Basically, he says that foreign policy is the area where presidential power is least restrained by the Congress or courts, and that's precisely where the candidates' differences are greatest.
It's worth pointing out, though, that Clinton faces a double bind when it comes to foreign policy and the role of commander-in-chief. A woman is automatically assumed to be too wimpy and too emotional. So Clinton has taken a relatively hard-line stance regarding Iran and kept herself so tightly checked that she's been called a robot. But she lost a lot of her natural constituency, me included, when she didn't apologize for her Iraq vote and then voted in favor of Kyle-Lieberman. (For me, fear of war with Iran trumps just about any "feminist" consideration - not least, because you can't advance feminist goals while waging perpetual war.)
That's probably also why Clinton's "tears" were so vastly exaggerated. Yeah, she got choked up. But it's not as though a single tear slid down her cheek. You'd never know that from the media coverage.
Before I blather on any more about this, is it okay if I just link to a couple of little analyses I've written - of how stupidly race and gender have been pitted against each other in this campaign, and how each imposes particular double binds?
I'm envious that you 1) get to caucus instead of plain old voting (a friend of mine in Iowa had a fascinating tale to tell after her caucus experience) and 2) get to do it while it still matters! Here in Ohio we don't get to vote until March 4!! If it's not decided by then, we're probably looking at a brokered convention, and I'm not sure my old nerves can take it.
Submitted by 1910 (not verified) on Sun, 2008-02-03 08:50.
I like what Sungold said. It is so obnoxious that "Hillary crying" was even news. She got a little choked up, people! She didn't actually cry. She gets a little choked up and people say-"Look at her crying, typical emotional woman. How will she handle the strain of being President?" Good grief! If a male candidate had gotten a little choked up, you are right, they would say he was patriotic. Nothing wrong with crying anyway. A good cry can be very healing. Heck, I cry when I laugh! I can't help it but it doesn't mean that I am not strong when I need to be.