There’s Something About …
13 comments February 12th, 2008
There is something about Hillary.
As the race for the Democratic presidential nomination drags on, the nation remains transfixed on the senator from New York.
Her words, outfits, decisions and personality are continually picked apart on national talk shows, in newspaper columns and around dinner tables.
It’s not only because she is running for president. There is just something about Hillary.
New Yorker editor Susan Morrison also noticed the way Clinton “pushed different kinds of buttons than other politicians pushed.” So naturally Morrison decided to give 30 respected female scribes a national platform to flesh out her theory.
Well, it’s just another book to add to an ever-growing bookshelf.
This weekend, I popped into my favorite Springfield bookstore. Among the vast 20,000 books, I stumbled across three tall bookshelves devoted to U.S. presidents and yet another devoted to their wives.
I scanned the titles and was not surprised that books about Hillary Clinton dominated the section. I even purchased two of the books because it epitomized the Hillary fascination – “The Case Against Hillary Clinton,” by Peggy Noonan and “The Case For Hillary Clinton,” by Susan Estrich.
The other books claimed to be about her failed healthcare initiative of the ‘90s, about her husband’s sex scandal that nearly cost him the office and about her rise to power. On the surface, the books profess to be about Clinton’s policies, but I would be willing to wager my small monthly paycheck that most of the pages are spent parsing her personality, not her policies.
Similarly, Morrison’s book likely has some high points, if the reviews are any indication, but it is also clear that it hits some real lows — namely, an essay about whether Clinton is a dog or cat person and another about her eating habits based on past lunch choices.
Really? Are those facets of Clinton’s life really that fascinating?
Perhaps they are. Something tells me that we would be really bored if we learned Barack Obama enjoyed peanut butter and jelly sandwiches with the crusts cut off or found out that former Vietnam prisoner-of-war John McCain was a cat person.
Even if we were interested, books like that about male presidential candidates will probably never appear on the shelves of American bookstores.
Clinton has been under a microscope for much of her adult life, and largely, by her own volition.
Since the 2008 presidential race actually began early last year, I have kept a keen ear out when people – and by people, I mean the ones at our favorite coffee shops and around our kitchen tables, not the pundits – begin explaining why they dislike Clinton.
It is rare that someone will provide anything but a superficial criticism. There is probably plenty to not like about Clinton – perhaps her hawkishwar stance or the millions of dollars her healthcare proposals would cost the country.
Yet many just don’t like her.
Sometimes politicians are slimy people who betray the public’s trust. Those people deserve our anger and contempt.
But it seems unfair to dislike a politician’s personal attributes, whether it is Clinton and her “Miss Frigidaire” exterior, or Gov. Rod Blagojevich and his perfect hair.
Perhaps if people spent more time dissecting the issues, not the person, then we can truly, as Clinton is wont to say, start the conversation.
What do you think? Is this sort of criticism warranted?
