feminism exhumed

linda hirshman in today's "slate" (see article here) disinters the old feminist bugaboo of "hysteria"* in rushing to the support of hillary clinton.

hirshman asks, à propos of hillary, whether she belongs in the company of lucia di lammermoor, lady macbeth, and "anna o" from freud's quack studies. the answer is a gimme. no. she doesn't. hillary isn't an hysteric. in fact, she appears to have no feelings at all. she is gelid. the lady macbeth comparison is nice but doesn't quite apply: hillary would never fall apart after attaining power.

who then are hillary's natural analogues? two immediately spring to mind: nurse ratched from "one flew over the cuckoo's nest" and mrs danvers from hitchcock's "rebecca". but i think hillary's real affinity is with norma desmond from "sunset boulevard": a faded star, desperate for the limelight, who doesn't realise the audience has moved on. presidential politics is still big, it's hillary who got small.

*(a word i'm glad to say jane austen uses frequently)

the problem with hillary

yes, the problem with hillary has nowt to do with experience, or expectation (her belief that america owes her the presidency for not rocking the boat during bill's felate-gate boo-boos), or even competence.

hillary's problem is there aren't many people, bless them, who want a termagant in power.

there's a moment in "great expectations" where joe gargery explains to pip his sister's cruel nature. "your sister is given to government," he says. that is, the bossing about and hectoring of others (made worse by a flaunting tone of self-righteousness). that's essentially hillary.

simply regarded as a human being, hillary is a lousy specimen. that's an awful handicap in an election.

while the upside of an obama candidacy is the chance to finally leave behind the squalor and the squabbles of the 60s. something i'm sure we're all sick of. the culture wars are over anyway. look around. the left won. there's no culture left to speak of. instead we have the "turner prize".

"rancorous, coiffeured old sow"

is it only me? or do others notice an impressive likeness between hillary clinton and sybil fawlty? both demonstrate the same "governess" manner toward their errant husbands; the same frosty efficiency at work; the same excruciatingly banal private personalites. "oh, i know, i know". and the preposterous hair, of course. and yet who wouldn't relish seeing the dramatics of "fawlty towers" reprised for 4 years in the oval office, albeit with the "little pirhana fish" in charge this time? we'll know soon enough, i expect.