It’s hardly news anymore that Hillary Clinton is having a problem with young women. Comments from her older surrogates, Madeleine Albright and Gloria Steinem talking down to millennial women for not supporting Hillary did more harm than help.
But now the New York Times is even addressing the problem with Maureen Dowd’s “When Hillary Clinton Killed Feminism,” a piece published on Sunday.
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Early on, Dowd writes of a certain entitlement from the Hillary campaign:
Hillary believed that there was an implicit understanding with the sisters of the world that now was the time to come back home and vote for a woman. (The Clintons seem to have conveniently forgotten how outraged they were by identity politics when black leaders deserted them in 2008 to support Obama.)
This attitude intensified the unappetizing solipsistic subtext of her campaign, which is “What is Hillary owed?” It turned out that female voters seem to be looking at Hillary as a candidate rather than as a historical imperative. And she’s coming up drastically short on trustworthiness.
Dowd also references Albright and Steinem’s comments, of which she has strong words for. Not only had “Hillary and Bill killed the integrity of institutional feminism,” they did so all the way back in the 1990’s and did because the two older women helped them.
She also calls out those who stood by Bill and Hillary for their treatment of Monica Lewinsky, but who engage in other kinds of outrage, as hypocrites. When it comes to “not only the sex cover-ups but the money grabs,” Dowd calls this “the ugly Faustian bargain.” That bargain is “you can have our bright public service side as long as you accept our dark sketchy side.”
Reason’s Nick Gillespie also jumped on that theme Tuesday, with “Young Women Not Voting for Hillary Because She Killed Feminism.” Gillespie quoted much of Dowd’s piece, and himself wrote “no wonder” when it comes to all the stories about Hillary’s failures with young women.
Gillespie does end his piece with a charitable warning for Hillary:
“No wonder” indeed. If Hillary continues to run such a campaign, such pieces may only continue.
