Tom said some people were blaming sexism on Hillary's loss. I said, "What people?" Tom replied in comments:
Fair enough point. I'm not talking about any of those (female) commentators you're citing ... but there was all sorts of rank-and-file hillary supporters, many of them quoted on tv and in print, as attributing hillary's loss to some sort of nefarious conspiracy against her b/c she's a woman. No, we don't judge an idea or a candidate by its/her adherents, I'll grant you, but the discussion was happening, very prominently, across the country in the last week and, dare I say, will still continue for some time.
"The discussion" did take place last week, but it was made up, to my eyes and ears, of quite a bit of MSM hype and selective quoting of the angriest women bystanders. I reported from the pro-Hillary rally outside of the RBC meeting, and the majority of people I spoke to there said they'd either definitely be voting for Obama or were seriously considering him. True, many women said they felt Hillary had been treated unfairly by the media. But they were also seriously pissed that sources such as CNN were characterizing their own protest as dominated by "angry, middle-aged women." Those stereotypes were used to advance a narrative of washed up feminists in rebellion against Obama -- a narrative that isn't borne out by the facts. Just today, for instance, Planned Parenthood enthusiastically endorsed Obama. NARAL's website has kicked into general election gear, trumpeting, "Pro-Choice! Pro-Obama!"
I think most fair and balanced commentators last week called sexism just one among many lenses through which we could view Clinton's run, and her loss.
--Dana Goldstein
