Liza Featherstone - False Choices: The Faux Feminism of Hillary Clinton

A play in one act.

CHARACTERS: Laura and Elizabeth, a couple in their middle years.

SETTING: A New York City loft.

TIME: October 13, 2015, the first Democratic debate of the 2016 presidential election.

ACT I
SCENE 1

ELIZABETH

Its starting! Come on!

LAURA

Wait, while I bate my breath.

(On TV: ANDERSON COOPER: We are live at the Wynn Resort in Las Vegas for the CNN/Facebook Democratic Debate)

LAURA

A casino! Perfect. A company that parts us from our money teamed up with one that parts us from our data. The presidential process, courtesy of gamblers and con men. How perfect! With advertising, I see, from Lockheed Martin.

ELIZABETH

Look. There she is. Doesnt she make you proud?

LAURA

As proud as Margaret Thatcher.

ELIZABETH

Oh come on.

LAURA

Eight years on, same couch, same candidate, same point of contention.

ELIZABETH

Hush. Im trying to listen.

(On TV: Sen. LINCOLN CHAFEE: Ive had no scandals
Sen. JIM WEBB: I know where my loyalties are
Gov. MARTIN OMALLEY: I am very clear about my principles)

ELIZABETH

Scandals, loyalties, principles Do you think theyre trying to get a dig in?

LAURA

Ya think? Its dog-whistle Hillary baiting, the Democratic version. The Dems cant go in for the Hillary Clinton nutcracker dolls or the sexist swipes at her ambition or her age, but if they can say the word scandal often enough, itll trigger the same script. They clearly havent noticed that attacks on her character only seem to make her stronger, at least among moderate women voters. Clintons numbers rise in lockstep with feminist hackles. I hear the sound of pen on check even before she says a word.

ELIZABETH

Here she goes.

(On TV: HILLARY CLINTON: For me this is about bringing our country together again. And I will do everything to heal the divides the divides economically because theres too much inequality; the racial divides; the continuing discrimination against the LGBT communityso that we work together and yes, finally fathers will be able to say to their daughters, you, too can grow up to be president.)

ELIZABETH

Thats my girl! Heal the divides. LGBT! Bill was the first president even to say the word gay. He made history and shell make history. Just like she said. Forever, girls will grow up knowing they can be president. Thats a game changer.

LAURA

Same old game. Whats the liberal version of dog whistle? Catcall? Say the words race and inequality often enough; get your tongue around LGBT with the right initials in the right order, and your people will think youve said something significant. Thats Democratic identity politics in action: win over your voting base identities while guaranteeing nothing on the politics.

And may I just say, its not a disembodied racial divide thats killing Black Americansits white supremacy. Chattel slaverya racial divide? Just what sort of together again country does she imagine bringing us back to?

ELIZABETH

Oh come on. Can you really deny that having our first female president would be historic?

LAURA

No, I cant. But an opportunity for one is a pretty meager antidote to the jobs crisis.

ELIZABETH

A female commander-in-chief?

LAURA

Why not murderer-in-chief? Torturer-in-chief? The service sectors crammed with women doing nasty, dirty, demeaning jobs. Maybe commander-in-chiefwith its very peculiar requirement of power-lust plus panderingis one bad public job we could leave to others.

ELIZABETH

Youre being ridiculous.

(On TV: COOPER: Just for the record, are you a progressive or are you a moderate?
CLINTON: Im a progressive but Im a progressive who likes to get things done. And I know how to find common ground and I know how to stand my ground, and I have proved that every position that Ive had, even dealing with Republicans who never had a good word to say about me, honestly, we found ways to work together)

LAURA

For the record? Whats the good of a record if youre just going to ignore the last twenty-five years of US political history? Clintons record couldnt be clearer: she and Bill were founding members of the Democratic Leadership Council. Anti-welfare, anti-single payer healthcare, pro-banking quote unquote reform. Whats she progressing to? The whole idea of the neoliberal DLC was to progress the party away from progressive anything.

ELIZABETH

The point is, shell get things done. Theres no point being progressive if you cant get anything done. She knows how to handle the other side, to work across the aisle.

LAURA

Handle them? You just heard her. Shes touting her record of finding common ground with them. Have we learnt nothing from the long wasted years of the Obama administration? I like the aisle. What if I dont want my president hopping over it to find common ground with madmen and misanthropes?

Besides, that whole progressive who likes to get things done line is a classic centrist put-down of Bernie Sanders and anyone who fancies a bit more serious change than the speaker feels like fighting for. Living wages? Rule of law? Free college? Its a quick and nasty way of dismissing very reasonable things that Americans generally favor by branding them nave and unrealistic. Peace instead of war? You must not like to get things done.

Liking to get things done is what killed off single payer health care in the 1990s, before most Americans ever got a chance to vote on it. Bill Clinton got welfare reform done, leaving millions of poor moms in poverty, and criminal justice reform done, sending tens of thousands more to prison. He got NAFTA done over the dead body of the US labor movement. I have no doubt Hillary Clinton will get things done. The question is, what things?

ELIZABETH

Well, maybe gun control. Shes coming on very strong compared to Sanders.

LAURA

Yes, well, now that the candidates have dispensed quickly and breezily with Coopers cute little question about capitalism vs. socialismwhat did Clinton just call inequality, a function of capitalisms excesses? Its not the superfluous sauce; its the meat and potatoes of the very system. Sanders let the socialist side down on that one.