In the latest instance of Obama leads and the Clintons follow, Hillary Clinton appeared on the Tyra Banks show, as Barack Obama did in October 2007.
“I never doubted Bill’s love for me, ever,” Senator Clinton told Banks, when asked how she kept her head above the covers as the Monica Lewinsky affair was exposed and the remnants of her husband’s integrity were incinerated.
Marianne Pernold Young, the questioner who appeared to bring Clinton to the verge of tears in New Hampshire, expressed a similar curiosity and implied admiration regarding the candidate’s coping mechanisms: “How do you do it? How do you keep up… and who does your hair?“
Clinton’s New Hampshire tears. Her unwavering blind faith in Bill’s devotion to her. What do these intimate revelations say about the person who is delivering them?
Clinton is appealing to women who’ve faced the loss of and chosen securities rather than confront spousal infidelities, who measure dignity by how perfectly a head of artificially coloured hair is coiffed, who maintain a public and private face even after their secrets have been revealed widely. Clinton endured the recurring betrayals and humiliations of marriage to a serial adulterer in exchange for a turn at the presidential wheel. Will the marriage finally end if she loses the race?
The strategy seems to be working on women, many of whom have likely endured far harsher circumstances for lesser rewards, or are close to – were perhaps raised by – such a person. Older women account for the Clinton wins in New Hampshire and Nevada.
“So as tired as I am — and I am. And as difficult as it is to try and keep up what I try to do on the road, like occasionally exercise and try to eat right — it’s tough when the easiest food is pizza —”, Clinton shared.
So tough it is for some women to call Clinton’s dirty campaign what it is – a person running not on her own steam but on the jet stream of her politically-potent husband — a slice of revenge built upon the crusty patriarchy it claims to revile – or a last ditch attempt to save a marriage doomed from the start.