Clintons: A Sinking Boat?

It doesn’t look good, Hillary… Granted, the war is not over. Florida and Super Tuesday may save the day. But after her loss today in the South Carolina primary, it seems clear that the former First Lady is loosing her momentum, and extra efforts will be needed to turn this campaign around.

Anderson Cooper contributors made a great point tonight, on CNN: Like it or not, the Democrat Primary is not about race or gender, contrary to what Bill and Hillary have claimed repeatedly.  While it is true that one African American has won a primary in the past in South Carolina – Jesse Jackson – another lost – Al Sharpton.  There is no clear rule, but almost surely there were maneuvers to lower expectations on the part of the Clinton campaign – the oldest political tactic in the book.

The bottom line is that American people are much smarter than the Clintons think.  

First, gender and race play a very marginal role when it comes down to choosing between Obama and Clinton.  If anything, Clinton could have relied on the strong reputation of her husband in the African-American community, but she blew it.  And now she’s making this about race.

Second, thinking that people primarily rely on ethnicity to determine their choice is plain stupid.  Americans are dealing with real issues, related to the state of the economy and to poverty.  They want answers.

So maybe Hillary should ask Bill to shut up.  He’s not helping.  And she doesn’t look like she’s making history.  Bhutto, Thatcher, Meir and Gandhi look more unreachable than ever.

Another tribute to Women…

[Ce post est reproduit en français ci-dessous]

Perhaps it’s because Mother’s Day is coming up, but I just felt like sharing with you the JC Penney  commercial that keeps on showing on TV and that I just find outstanding:

I remember a French Movie, called Marius et Jeannette, especially because when the main actress, Ariane Ascaride,  won the Cesar for Best Actress – the equivalent of the Oscars in France - she dedicated her prize to “all these women who, anonymously, help this world to continue to work”…  Just thought I would recall this to distinguish the genuine from the not so politically genuine.

Hommage aux femmes (oui je sais, encore une fois…)

Ne me demandez pas ce qui me prend en ce moment, mais c’est peut-être parce que de ce côté-ci de l’Atlantique, la fête des mères sera dimanche prochain.

Une publicité de JC Penney passe en boucle à la télévision.  Elle est tout simplement extra:

Je me souviens du film Marius et Jeannette, et surtout des propos d’Ariane Ascaride quand celle-ci avait gagné le César de la Meilleure Actrice en 1997: Elle avait dédié sa récompense à toutes les femmes qui, “anonymement, faisaient tourner le monde”…  Juste cru que c’était le bon moment de rappeler ces propos, pour distinguer le vrai du  faux…

Golda, Margaret and perhaps Hillary…

I just wanted to pay a special tribute to women politicians, those of the days and some of current times.  Those women who conquered power, or might conquer power one day, displaying novelty and audacity in the political strategy they offered to their respective countries, in times of deep crisis – even though the different instances cannot be compared.

Their argument to obtain power did not solely reside in the fact they were females.  They had or have to fight to obtain political responsabilities, equal to equal, with men.  They were or are harshly criticized by other parties, and not just because politics is a mysoginist environment, but also because credibility and political projects are two closely related notions.

Without one, don’t cry because you don’t have the other.