Monday 7 January 2008

Down with Hillary

And yet another reason Hillary Clinton should and will lose, is her recent statement that she will require Americans to not only purchase their own health insurance, but that they will be forced to do so or be penalised. One thing about Americans, whether negative or positive, is that no one tells us what to do. Perhaps Hillary should be thinking a bit harder about who she is speaking to before throwing her plans for healthcare reform out there. This plan for healthcare reform is not only impractical (although hey, it may create jobs, as there’ll be openings for those people needed to chase up payments and penalties) in that it will create more debt for Americans who can’t or won’t pay for healthcare, but is also fundamentally against our cultural mindset. Look at how wrapped up people get in taxes. If we are to have universal healthcare at any point (which I don’t necessarily believe is appropriate or practical), it’s going to have to be a slow go.

It’s also interesting to me that Hillary is ahead of Obama. As much as he has my vote above anyone else, I really wasn’t sure if America was ready for a black president. I am pleasantly surprised that it seems to be a non-issue for the majority of Democratic voters. And to be honest, I don’t think Hillary being behind has much or anything to do with the fact that she is a woman. That being said, I do think women in general can be much less forgiving of other women’s weaknesses in the workplace and that she has to work even harder to get ahead. A given, right?...on either side of the voting gender, but I would guess to bet she has to work harder to get the female vote than we might think at first. How many of us have worked for women we hated? I’ve had many more male supervisors I could tolerate, even if I didn’t love ‘em, than women. There’s unfortunately a catty nature to many female supervisors, whether it be from bitterness resulting from the harder work it takes to break through the glass ceiling and gain respect from male peers in the workplace, or simply because they’re class A bitches (in the negative sense of the word). And we expect a bit more from women, unfortunately, in regards to nurturing or sympathetic tendencies. If Hillary is going to get my vote, she's going to have to try much harder to convince me my gut feeling is wrong and that she is not going to be one of those female bosses I hated.

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