I Write Letters

Dear Democrats and Democratic Partisans,

You know how I've been saying that your attempts to pressure Clinton out of the race make it impossible for her to drop out without looking as though she were bullied, and how the last thing anyone with the most basic sympathy for gender equality should want for the first ever viable feminist female presidential candidate is to see her bullied out of the race, of which Clinton is certainly aware, so even the appearance of bullying will make her more entrenched and less inclined to appear as though she allowed herself to be pushed to the sidelines? Yeah:

In comments leaked to the New York Times, Mrs Clinton is said to have told aides that she would not be "bullied out" of the White House race and in a conversation with two allies compared her plight to "big boys" trying to bully a woman.

And given that, in the last few days, three members of her own party—Senators Chris Dodd and Pat Leahy and erstwhile candidate Bill Richardson—have made public calls for her to get in line behind Obama, amidst a slew of media urging the same, often in deeply misogynist frames, it's pretty difficult to argue with her.

It's also pretty difficult not to wonder why so many people in her own party—in D.C., in the blogosphere, throughout the country—seem so reluctant to give her the room to drop out with dignity and on her own terms. Because at the moment, from where I'm sitting, it looks like you're not just content to see her lose; you want to make sure she's humiliated in the process, too. Otherwise known for centuries among Uppity Women as Standard Operating Procedure.

Try to be better than that, wouldja? It's 2008, for fuck's sake.

Love,
Liss