The Woman Who Cost Clinton the Election

See “The Men Who Cost Clinton the Election”, Jill Filipovic, New York Times, 2017-12-01.

Jill Filipovic wrote an interesting column about the bad treatment that Hilary Clinton got from several male interviewers.  I don’t watch TV and so I don’t know the details, but I believe she is right about their bias towards Clinton and their misplaced bias in favor of Trump.

However, in many ways Clinton was her own worst enemy.  Many felt she had a sense of entitlement to the presidency.  I can think of several women who would have made better candidates: Elizabeth Warren (who supposedly decided against it), Amy Klobuchar, Kathleen Sebelius, and many others others who are already prominent in politics.

I would have gladly voted for any of them over Clinton.  However, given that her opponent was Donald Trump, I reluctantly voted for her.

Unfortunately, too many others who thought that she was not the best possible candidate stayed away and gave the election to the worst possible candidate.

Remember, the only way you throw your vote away is to stay away.

Advice for the Democrats

Kevin Baker wrote an interesting opinion for the New York Times: “Delusions of the Democrats” subtitled “Demographics will not save them”.

He asserts that more female voters and more non-white voters will not help the Democrats in future election.  He asserts that past successes were built on bottom-up ideas rather than top-down pronouncements.

My own take on the Democrats is that they have too many who focus on identity politics and not enough on issues that affect larger groups of people.  Which is a larger group?  Gay marriage proponents or people looking for good jobs?

His closing remark sums it up:

“Invite us to dream a little. You don’t build an enduring coalition out of who Americans are. You do it out of what we can be.”