Is This Feminism?

Vote for Hillary or go to Hades
By Roger Simon, Politico
02/09/16 05:17 AM EST

On Saturday, for example, Madeleine Albright, a secretary of state under Bill Clinton, took a stage in Concord, New Hampshire, with Hillary Clinton to promote her presidential campaign.

Of all the qualities that Albright could have emphasized — Clinton’s experience, intelligence and courage — Albright emphasized the one quality that Sanders couldn’t compete with: Hillary Clinton is a woman.

What’s more, women who don’t vote for Clinton because she is a woman will be consigned to the eternal fires of Hades, Albright said.

“There’s a special place in hell for women who don’t help each other,” Albright told the crowd.
…
You would think the Clinton campaign would not have to worry about women voting for Hillary, but the signs have been very bad so far. In Iowa, though Hillary won the women’s vote overall, she lost women ages 30-44 to Sanders by a hefty 21 percentage points and women ages 17-29 by a stunning 70 percentage points.

A 70-point gap is the kind of result you’d expect to see in an election in Russia or a Chicago ward, not an Iowa caucus.

Clearly, the Clinton campaign must now do something. So in order to win over women ages 17-29, it has brought out Albright, age 78, and Gloria Steinem, age 81, as surrogates.

And you can see why campaign consultants get the big bucks.

The strategy? Shame women into voting for Clinton.

Clinton has real qualities and real accomplishments. But Albright says the reason to vote for her is God will send you to a special place in hell if you don’t. (As far as I know, God has not yet publicly endorsed, but maybe He did so by email and it got lost on Clinton’s private server.)

Asked to explain why some women flock to Sanders, Albright said, “The bottom line is: I don’t know.”

Steinem does know. When asked by TV host Bill Maher why young women are going with Sanders, Steinem said it was a good way for them to meet boys.

“When you’re young, you’re thinking, ‘Where are the boys? The boys are with Bernie,’” Steinem said.

Having read that, I have to ask- is this Feminism?

Is it Feminist to suggest, as Gloria Steinem did, that the only thing on young women’s minds is sex and that they are rendered totally incapable of rational political thought by the prospect of the scent of testosterone?

To her credit Ms. Steinem walked that back and apologized for the remark.

More problematic is Ms. Albright’s assertion because it is an endorsement of Identity Politics over larger policy concerns.

Should Blacks only vote for Blacks? What about Jews, should they only vote Jewish? Perhaps Women should vote for Carly Fiorino, she’s a woman. Will women go to a special place in Hell if they don’t?

Identity Politics has been used by the Neoliberal Establishment to divide us as a nation. You can see it in the Republican’s not so subtle appeal to Racists, but they use it in other areas as well, Abortion Rights, Gun Control, Religious Fundamentalism and Bigotry to name just a few.

Democrats use it also, Hispanic against Black against Jew against Women and above all against those scary, scary Republicans.

The point is it’s a smokescreen to get people to accept bad policies and vote against their own self interest so the Political, Financial, and Media Elites can maintain their positions of power.

As their control over events declines because of the failure of their ideology we can only expect attempts to foster tribalism to increase division.

Don’t be fooled. This is a class war and they are losing. Too many of us if we refuse to be baited and not nearly enough of them unless we turn against each other.

What Ms. Albright and Ms. Steinem said was sexist, not feminist.