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Monday, March 18, 2024
March 18, 2024

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Marcus: Clinton needs to learn how to talk to women voters

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In a devastating outcome for Hillary Clinton in New Hampshire, this was the unkindest cut of all: Women flocked to Bernie Sanders. Not by single digits, but by a margin of 55 percent to 44 percent.

These numbers matter, and not, as Shakespeare wrote of Brutus stabbing Caesar, because “ingratitude, more strong than traitors’ arms, quite vanquish’d him.” Clinton is not vanquished by what she and her supporters may see as female voters’ ingratitude; she will soldier on.

But moving forward, the candidate and her campaign need to figure out how better to speak to women, especially younger ones. In particular, they need to navigate the treacherous waters of celebrating the prospect of the first female president without sounding as if that is a qualification in itself. Or, worse, as if female voters tempted by Sanders are traitors to the feminist cause — Brutus to Clinton’s Caesar.

Women are key to electoral success, especially for a Democrat. Not long ago, analysts could debate whether the country was ready to elect a female president. Not anymore. If Clinton loses the nomination or the general, she won’t have been defeated because she’s a woman. She’ll have lost despite that electorally helpful fact.

In short, in an unimaginable world in which women still lacked the right to vote — indeed, in a world in which women voted in fewer numbers — Clinton would stand no chance. “Her gender is still a very strong asset for this campaign,” said Democratic pollster Celinda Lake.

What should she do?

So what should she do? First, drop the argument, heavy-handed and unconvincing, that gender is Clinton’s anti-establishment calling card. “Honestly, Senator Sanders is the only person who I think would characterize me, a woman running to be the first woman president, as exemplifying the establishment,” Clinton said at the most recent debate, and she’s made this point before.

Come on. The Clintons embody the Democratic establishment. Women know that. Instructing them differently just makes them feel treated like fools by another typical politician.

Second, stop the insinuations, subtle and explicit, that Clinton is the victim of sexism. Yes, the “Bernie bros” have tweeted ugly things. Yes, women who raise their voices face criticism that is not leveled at shouting men. But the Clinton campaign has been too quick to suggest sexism — more accurately, to leave it to their supporters to make those suggestions — when confronted with what is simply tough politics as usual.

Third, cut the guilt-tripping. It won’t only fail to convince younger women — it’s going to insult their mothers as well. Madeleine Albright was understandably frustrated about complacent young women who fail to grasp the significance of electing the first woman president, but the former secretary of state edged into offensive lecturing.

“So people are talking about revolution. What kind of a revolution would it be to have the first woman president of the United States?” Albright said. “We can tell our story of how we climbed the ladder, and a lot of you younger women (think) it’s been done. It’s not done. And you have to help.” Then, the controversial part, “And just remember, there’s a special place in hell for women who don’t help each other.”

This is true in general, and great advice on a Starbucks cup. It’s offensive in the specific context of instructing young women about their electoral obligation. Clinton would have been better advised to acknowledge this point than to dismiss it. “Well good grief, we’re getting offended by everything these days,” she told NBC’s Chuck Todd, channeling her inner Trump. Not everything. Just suggestions that it’s a slap to the sisterhood to fail to support the female candidate.

Feminism doesn’t mean imposing a moral obligation on women to vote a certain way. It means trusting them, not demeaning them, when they choose the candidate they like best, male or female. Even if their mothers disagree.

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