The Undead Campaign

I still maintain that Hillary Clinton’s Presidential campaign is a zombie campaign at this point; most pundits seem to think that her win in West Virginia doesn’t mean much now that Obama has taken the lead in the popular vote, in states won, and in superdelegates. And today, Obama picked up an endorsement from John Edwards, one of the more prestigious endorsements. It doesn’t seem link Clinton has a shot at this point, despite the tone of inevitability about her Presidency that dominated politics just a year ago.

I’m not a Clinton hater, by any means. I have a lot of admiration and respect for Hillary Clinton. I’m impressed by her determination, and I’m thankful that we finally had a woman candidate for President worth taking seriously. I think she got a raw deal in the media. Powerful women don’t do well in the American media in particular (when there are other nations with women as the head of state, you’d think we’d get over ourselves on that issue). Just about every article about Clinton I’ve read mentions what she’s wearing, as if that were relevant. Most of the photographs I’ve seen of her in the news have been epically unflattering. It’s as if she had been reinvented by the media into a parody of herself, which sickens me. Clinton’s just as tough as Margaret Thatcher, and doesn’t deserve to be treated like that.

I would love to have a woman president. It would be kind of hard for anyone to justify gender-based pay inequities, for example, when a woman is leader of the free world. I think her Presidency would have inspired women and girls not just in the US but around the world. Having a woman for President would say a lot for our nation’s ability to develop some moral integrity.

Of course, on the other hand, an African American President would be just as awesome. African Americans have gotten a raw deal in our nation since its very beginning, and any attempt to proclaim that prejudice no longer exists is blatant denialism. Electing an African American for our leader would really make a statement about how far we have come, as a nation. Honestly, this is part of what inspires me about the Obama campaign. There would still be wounds in our nation — and people who insist on keeping those wounds open — but an Obama presidency would be a tremendous gift to future generations (as would a Hillary Clinton presidency, of course).

I still think Hillary Clinton would make a hell of a Vice President. I’m not sure I could handle the joy I’d get from an Obama/Clinton ticket. If Obama is elected and does the job we hire him to do for eight years, then Hillary Clinton would have an even better shot at the Presidency in 2016.

Of course, by 2020, we’d probably end up with another conservative nutjob in office. Our nation generally follows a cycle where we elect Republicans, who screw up our economy and national reputation and our moral high ground, thus paving the way for a Democratic administration to fix up the mess. And once the Democrats do fix things up, the general public gets a bee in its bonnet about something — oral sex, for example, which killed the first Clinton presidency and probably broke Gore’s chances of winning in 2000 since Bush apparently had "character" — and elects a Republican administration to start the whole cycle over again, since Republicans are about "family values" (which apparently means soliciting underage pages and trolling for gay sex in public restrooms while frothing about the "homosexual agenda").

Dammit, now my blood pressure is elevated again. Time for me to stop talking politics and start talking about something less divisive, like religion.

Just remember, politics is like PBS — only without the P.

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