They Just Can't Explain It

... or maybe they don't want to try.

Hillary Clinton won't back down, play nice, take her toys and go home. And the American voters are simply not behaving... predictably.

On Tuesday night, March 4th, Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton won the Texas and Ohio primaries, ( the ones that everyone said that she HAD to win ), and the media pundits just can't explain it. Even when they try to explain it, they seem to only end up more confused.

Many in the commercial media and in the blogosphere have thrown "everything but the kitchen sink" at Senator Clinton during this campaign. Of course, it's whining when anyone points this out.

Now the media wants to verbally smack Senator Clinton's hands because she's "thrown everything but the kitchen sink" at Senator Barack Obama to revive her campaign. Of course, that's not whining.

Listen carefully to the US mainstream media coverage of the Democratic primary elections and you will here statements like this:

• virtually all African Americans are voting for Barack Obama
• virtually all Hispanics are voting for Hillary Clinton
• John Edwards supporters were all rural white men
• college educated people are voting for Barack Obama
• non college educated people are voting for Hillary Clinton
• young people are voting for Barack Obama
• senior citizens are voting for Hillary Clinton
• Barack Obama is the candidate of "change" even though he has the support of most of the Democratic party establishment
  
• Hillary Clinton is yesterday's news because she has too much baggage and she is a part of the Democratic party establishment
  
• when Barack Obama wins a primary it is because he is a uniter who brings together people across all groups and,
  
• every time that Hillary Clinton wins it is because of "white women".

Of course, some voters are probably conforming to those stereotypes. But the media is painting a pretty ugly picture of a Democratic party that is splitting along racial, gender and age lines? Is this really the case or could there be real issues at the heart of the election outcomes? Is anyone really taking an in depth look at the issues that separate the groups and not just focusing on the demographics?

If it's all about race, sex and age then how do the pundits explain African American women like Maya Angelou and Reps. Sheila Jackson Lee (TX) and Maxine Waters (CA) who are supporting Hillary Clinton.

How do they explain all of the "white women" that I know who are so adamantly anti-Clinton that it's hard not to confuse them with Ann Coulter?

How do you explain a little African American woman like myself, who supported John Edwards and who both admires and find faults with both Senators Clinton and Obama based on their stance on the issues.

And how do they explain that every time that they pronounce that it's time for Hillary to just fade away, a large group of the American people say "Hillary Stay!"

They Just Can't Explain It.

As for Hillary Clinton's refusal to go away, the poetess Maya Angelou may have summed it up best when she shared this poem in The Observer:

"State Package for Hillary Clinton

You may write me down in history

With your bitter, twisted lies,

You may tread me in the very dirt

But still, like dust, I'll rise.

This is not the first time you have seen Hillary Clinton seemingly at her wits' end, but she has always risen, always risen, don't forget she has always risen, much to the dismay of her adversaries and the delight of her friends.

Hillary Clinton will not give up on you and all she asks of you is that you do not give up on her.

There is a world of difference between being a woman and being an old female. If you're born a girl, grow up, and live long enough, you can become an old female. But to become a woman is a serious matter. A woman takes responsibility for the time she takes up and the space she occupies. Hillary Clinton is a woman. She has been there and done that and has still risen. She is in this race for the long haul. She intends to make a difference in our country. Hillary Clinton intends to help our country to be what it can become.

She declares she wants to see more smiles in the family, more courtesies between men and women, more honesty in the marketplace. She is the prayer of every woman and man who longs for fair play, healthy families, good schools, and a balanced economy.

She means to rise.

Don't give up on Hillary. In fact, if you help her to rise, you will rise with her and help her make this country the wonderful, wonderful place where every man and every woman can live freely without sanctimonious piety and without crippling fear.

Rise, Hillary.

Rise. "

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/jan/20/usa.poetry