The New Normal

    Below is our future President and Commander-in-Chief. While there have been loads of photos of politicians with kids, this one seems to say so much - not teasing, not mugging, simply doing what women do with children, communicating on so many levels including just being there, calmly.

    As I read yet another "Hillary doesn't know why she's running" article, I think somehow they haven't been listening. For 25 or 40 years. Or the ultimate damning quip, "she's running on a laundry list", I think, "what's wrong with a laundry list? that's how my wife gets 3 million things done before I get home." Most of us need an app for that.

    Politics has long been a male sport, and many of the successful women are seen as somewhat unfeminine - whether Merkel or Thatcher or Queen Victoria - or a bit fake and plastic, like Sarah Palin or Nancy Pelosi. None of them quite strike you as "stay up all night with kid with a cold" (though I'm sure they all did), and of course still go to work the next day (as female professionals must).

    Like it or not, Hillary is one of the most normal people who ever ran for office - just a very prepared one. Even her sensitivities are extremely normal - most people would react to vindictive press onslaught by protecting their privacy - and most people aren't pro with the karate hand chop or the finger stabbing to make a point. She took her college debate style and extended it to the campaign trail, discussing issues when everyone says we need to discuss issues more.

    Yet being "natural" isn't the same as being natural, as any Photoshop expert will tell you. The trend towards au natural photos, including plus size women, is a tiny segment of our marketing budget. And likely there was a good amount of Photoshop used on the photo below. That's okay. Hillary's had enough awful photos with her mouth half open or her eyes bulging. Here's one where she just looks caring and serious and interested and warm.

    Meet the new normal - a woman and mother and grandmother in the Oval Office. New things will happen.

    PS - original American Prospect article  on her agenda worth reading.

    Comments

    Thanks, Perecles.  I needed this!


    Reading (okay skimming) this makes me so depressed.  It seems clear we can't ever bridge our political differences.  For PP and CVille and probably Clinton's other supporters here, this pic is momentous.  They truly believe that Clinton's apparent comfort with a little child evidences a commitment to progressive governance and reflects a kind heart, common decency, and the possibility that she will be a great President.  Perhaps they are right.

    For me Clinton's record belies everything that PP, et al., read into the photo so it leaves me utterly cold.  By the same token, nothing critical I (or Wattree or Sync or Lulu or Wolraich) have written makes one bit of difference to Clinton's allies.

    This disconnect in what constitutes pertinent evidence regarding the quality of a candidate would seem to moot the whole process of political dialogue between adversaries.


    Hal, just FYI  it wasn't the picture I was responding to.  After all the negative screeds around here  I was just happy to see something positive about our next President.  You feel as though no one heeds your laments about Hillary's past actions, but you won't allow that she has done good things for women, children, and families.  We have listed them, but you are unimpressed. 

    Yes, those of us who are HILLARY supporters do realize she isn't perfect. But a felon? No.  A Wall Street whore? No.  And on and on... Shillary?  No.  For me it comes down to who I think can do the most of what I think matters. She understands that incremental change is the way to get things done, and she has no illusions that the GOP will be her friend. She is far more prepared and experienced that's Bernie, who has a short list of interests, and has no comprehension of how to accomplish any of them, as shown by his lack of any accomplishments in 25+ years on Congress.  And other than his very narrow focus, no ideas or even thoughts about the many other myriad things that our president needs to be good at.

    Synch said elsewhere they she doesn't have time for incremental change, sounding just like my adolescent niece, who doesn't have time for anything except what she wants right now.  

    I said it wasn't about the picture, but actually the one you posted of Nixon with his family is very telling.  There are those who only care about their own families, and then there are those, like Hillary who have worked for the betterment of other people's families.  Thanks for helping to illustrate that.


    Yeah, I wrote a feelgood piece that didnt have anything to do with Bernie, but Hal had to come along and drop a turd anyway. Well done, Hal - you went poopy.


    Thanks, Peracles...I was in need of a feel good piece. 

    It is no secret that I have come to my admiration of Hillary recently. And I did it through lots of research and challenging myself as to "why" I felt so negatively toward her. I didn't just wake up one day and say, "Gee, I think I'll start liking Hillary" all of a sudden. 

    I find it so interesting that people don't do more of that. 

    The transition was fairly easy for me once I realized she'd been a victim of the same kind of sleazy right wing BS the President has been subjected to. Of course, if you're in the camp that thinks the President has been a disappointment, maybe they aren't seeing what I'm seeing.

    I think that being a grandmother has softened Hillary a bit. Or it could be I'm doing some transference, since I'm a grandmother as well, and I desperately want the world to be a softer place for my grandkids, as she does hers. But her whole history is of trying to help make the world a kinder, gentler place for women and children. Why can those who HATE her so much not see that?

    I am under no illusions that she is perfect. She is far from, but who is? Certainly none of the other choices...

    But I'm not voting for the lesser of evils. I'm voting for the person I think has the best shot at building on what President Obama has accomplished.

    And the more the people on the left try to tear her down, the more personal it gets for me. I EXPECT the right to do it, they've BEEN doing it for decades. The left? No, I find that offensive. Disagree with her policies if you can (they are NOT that far off from Bernie's) but the personal stuff? The name-calling? Uncalled for.

     


    Even here, Hal, Pat Nixon has her hand around the kid, Tricky Dick is cuddling the dog.

    It speaks volumes - a woman's touch. It might depress me that you'll never bridge that divide if I cared.


    Hal, nothing said about Sanders lack of depth on the issues and his uncanny ability to alienate minority groups makes an impression on you.


    This is Bernie telling his wife to get off the stage, but I'm sure that other than Hillary, Debby W-S and Jane, he's probably very respectful of some women.  (Sorry, I don't know how to imbed videos.)

    https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=N9MDXJy6BDQ

     


    Hal even Tricky Dick Nixon makes Bernie look like a failure.

    While Sanders was taking his new wife to a dirt floored shack in the hills of New England,  Nixon created the EPA, OSHA to protect workers, the Endangered Species Act, the Clean Water Act, employment quotas and affirmative action, added Social Security SSI for the disabled, and expanded food stamps by a factor of 5.... Nuts as he was, and as much as the right wing wanted to get rid of him, Nixon had a record of doing some lasting good, with progressive/liberal legislation.

    Sanders? A champion at finger wagging.


    Oh come on Hal. Nobody supports Hillary because the like the pretty picture. Some might like the pretty picture because they support Hillary. That's all.


    Hal,

    It´s too soon for either side to stop treating  Bernie and Hillary as contestants in a zero sum game. Giving  Hillary credit , for example , for her 20  year involvement with Marian Wright Edelman takes nothing away from Bernie. 

    BTW something was responsible for Bernie 's victory margin increasing  each time he ran for mayor of Burlington. And  criticizing him  for not  compiling a more extensive DC  legislative record always seemed  like criticizing Pedro Martinez´ batting average. Not his game.  And in any event the voters in Vermont had the  responsibility  for evaluating his performance . As they did.

    As to his endorsing Hillary. He can and should do that at the Convention. Not before. As I occasionally repeat here Leo Durocher had it right ,saying,

    ¨Show me a good loser and I´ll show you a loser¨

    As was true 8 years ago we were lucky to have had the chance to choose between two such highly qualified,if contrasting candidates ,. There are lots of ways to San Jose.

    Consummate professionals as they are , my guess Bernie and Hillary aren´t a fraction as antagonistic as their impassioned dagblogger supporters.

    When he finally retires maybe Hillary will  put Bernie  in charge of the SEC. That would put the cat among the pigeons .

     No more fraudulent  Trump Universities .And maybe he´d be invited to address Goldman Sachs!

     

     


    Show me a good loser and I´ll show you a loser

    No Flavius that's only true if one defines losing in purely personal terms. Is it all about Sanders or is it about the country, the world, the future. If Trump wins I'll be devastated. But why? I will lose nothing if Trump wins. nothing. If Trump Supreme Court nominees over turn roe v Wade it won't affect me at all. If cops kill more black people in the cities it won't be me they kill. If the ACA is ended and millions of people lose their health insurance it won't be me. Loss of gay rights, not me.

    I'm old, I have no children, and I live so far on the fringe of society that nothing Trump could do will affect me. So why do I care? It's about compassion, about empathy. It's about caring about the future and making a better world.

    Sanders only lost if the fight was about him. If it's about the future than the fight goes on. The first step in that fight is endorsing Hillary to defeat Trump. What I see so far is for Sanders it's not about the future. It's not about making a better world. It's all about him.


    I agree with every word except the last four. 


    PS - I take Wolraich seriously and Lulu mostly seriously. You I don't take very seriously, while I don't take Sync or Wattree seriously at all, though for vastly different reasons. Please don't lump yourself in with the rest - I'm not treating everyone who's meh to Hillary as a group.


    Contrast is nice sometimes.

     


    Thanks, Peracles.  Hillary is looking better and better all the time.  The story of Trump and the GOP is looking like the craziest soap opera ever, so it's good to see someone out there talking about policy and coming up with real solutions.  Love the picture, too.  I'm glad she's feeling like she can show her human side now.  She's a much better candidate for it.


    This piece was about a *WOMAN IN THE WHITE HOUSE*. It's a very different vibe. While it's obviously about Hillary as well, it was focused on her womanly attributes that people find strange but hopefully will soon find normal.

    Female politicians are different, and we haven't come to grips with how different in what ways. All our framing about tough Commander-in-Chief and what not leads us to one set of expectations, but half the time the President is trying to calm a nervous public over some shock or trauma. In any case, we're still doing a lot of projection and transferal based on our own roles and our relation with our parents and grandparents, and there certainly hasn't been enough professional female history to well cover the wide spectrum of possibilities. The candidacies of Carly Fiorina and Sarah Palin give us a hint of how much of a joke it's been up to now. Though Nancy Pelosi's performance as Minority Whip on through Speaker and Minority leader has been a powerful example for 15 years of a competent skillful woman in a complex high-level political position - likely a big help to our acceptance of our current nominee. Here's a picture of Pelosi pre-botox, so we're reminded both of how normal she's been, and how long she's served (since 1987 in Congress, with the DNC since 1976, 40 years).

     


    Until Sept 2008 I was dubious about Pelosi,  at least unimpressed by her interviews. When the chips were down at the onset of the financial  crisis she was completely right to reject the superficially appealing -to some on the left - response of letting Bush/Paulson/Wall Street stew in their own juices..  

    Whatever the merits  of "Occupy Wall Street" arguably we, at least the Western/capital chunk  could have entered -and still be sunk in- a 1930-type depression if she had emulated that month´s  self indulgent Republican performance.  

    Go , Nancy!


    It's an adorable photo, but this one is more real-world realistic, imo, and the complete photo was well-represented in the BLM Twittersphere.  (smile)  (I hope Tweets work here.)

    https://twitter.com/elonjames/status/681187757490880512


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