[Illustration by ALEX FINE w/ apologies to Shep Fairey]
BY AMY Z. QUINN I’m gonna go out on a limb here and say Alice Paul, OG suffragist and Jersey Girl nonpareil, would not vote for John McCain as some protest of how the Democratic primary played out. Women’s rights and the struggle against racism were — are — too inextricably linked to think she’d hold a grudge against Barack Obama. Neither should we. Hillary Clinton always said, and I believe her, that she would enthusiastically support the Democratic nominee — even if it wasn’t her. I told someone Wednesday that there are two sure ways to anger a woman: Ignore her or underestimate her. What I wrote about in “Damn Right I’m Bitter” was mostly about how Clinton’s candidacy and supporters had been continually minimized and underestimated in the primary fight, and how her victories were ignored.
And sure enough, from Jeff Toobin on CNN talking about “tone” to the editorial finger-waggers at the Inquirer to everyone who got the “rained on his parade” memo, people were just scandalized by the fact that she didn’t prostrate herself in humility before Obama’s “divinely ordered” victory. She — and by extension, everyone who yearns to see a female in the Oval Office — is begrudged even a moment to savor her own historic achievements. She is refused, after 30-plus years of service to the country and the party, even the chance to, in her own time and in her own way, see her own dream deferred. I agree with Susie Madrak — Clinton deserved her moment. MORE
JOHN MCCAIN: Maverick Or Waffle King?