I thought most of the theatrics in the presidential race were on the Republican side of the race.
Now it appears the Democratic race, specifically Hillary Clinton’s campaign, is jockeying for more attention.
At a campaign event Sunday in Manchester, New Hampshire, former secretary of state Madeleine Albright made remarks about why young women should support Clinton’s run for president.
Albright said “there’s a special place in hell for women who don’t help each other” says Alan Rappeport of the New York Times.
The media quickly leaped on Albright’s remarks. A Google News search of her name reveals almost half a million results.
Albright’s comments reflect a split among younger and older feminists and who they each support for president.
According to the Los Angeles Times, women who were 29 and younger voted for Sanders by a margin of six to one during the Iowa caucuses last week. It was also almost same ratio that Sanders performed in the category of young male voters.
The Los Angeles Times also notes Clinton struggles because many young female voters were either not born early enough or were too young to remember some of her most famous accomplishments, including her 1995 speech in Beijing when she declared that “human rights are women’s rights.”
If these voters weren’t even alive to remember Clinton’s accomplishments, why is Albright going on the campaign trail to slam them for not supporting her?
I’m generally leery of the comments sections on articles news organizations share on Facebook, as they more often than not resemble the cantina scene in the movie “Star Wars” in terms of their politeness and general decency, but one comment stood out to me.
A commentator wondered if Albright was supporting GOP candidate Carly Fiorina’s campaign for president. If Albright’s believes there is a special place in hell for women who don’t support each other, then why isn’t Albright buying Hewlett-Packard products in support of Fiorina’s efforts to win the Republican presidential nomination?
Feminism involves treating female and male politicians equally. It might be difficult to achieve such a goal in general since male politicians vastly outnumber female ones, but in a one-on-one race for the Democratic nomination, it might be possible.
I’m just surprised it was the Clinton campaign that displayed this odd feministic logic on the campaign trail to support Clinton’s run for president in a plea to female voters.
I want to live in a world in which gender doesn’t play a role in presidential elections. But that may be difficult to do if women like Albright chide other women for not supporting a female candidate for office just because she’s a woman.
