There Are Plenty of Things to Dislike About Hillary Clinton, But This Isn't One of Them

I read an article at Alternet this morning entitled There's Something About Hillary. The article explores the question about just what it is about her that provokes such strong reactions from people, wondering whether the problem is her or whether it's us. (Personally, I think it's a combination of the two, but that's not the point of this entry).

After reading the article, I went on to the comments. Most of the comments were unremarkable, both detailing what's wrong with HRC and also decrying the ubiquitous sexism of our culture.

But then I came upon a comment that was so asinine that I had to comment. Below is the comment that set me off, followed by my response.

The original comment:

Hillary's a WOMAN?

Sorry, I don't think so... she may be a member of the female sex, but that's no woman - that's a crocodile in disguise. Hillary showed us what's she's made of when she did not immediately walk out the door when Slick Willie got caught with his damp cigar smoking. If she had any conscience, any concern for other women, she would have set an example and made mincemeat of the guy. Who would have needed an impeachment hearing if he had his just desserts from the person who ought to have delivered them?

Nope, sorry, no Hillary now or ever.

My reply:

There Are Plenty of Things to Dislike About HRC, But This Isn't One of Them

Let me get this straight -- you dislike Hillary Clinton for not publicly acting like a jealous shrew and throwing a tantrum about Bill's dalliances, but rather for choosing to act in a mature, dignified way?

Number one, none of us knows the exact dynamics behind the Clinton marriage: why they got married in the first place, what they expect out of their marriage, and why they remain married and no doubt will continue to be. It apparently works for them, so who are any of us to criticize them for departing from the script of expected reactions to certain events.

Secondly, her private relationship with Bill is just that, private, and has absolutely nothing relevant to do with her fitness or lack thereof to be elected President of the Unites States. It's not as if the President is elected to uphold the sacred cow of monogamy.

If one chooses to vote against her, there are plenty of relevant reasons to do so, without having to resort to Judge Judy or Jerry Springer reasoning.

This comment also made me think of the recent negative attention directed toward John McCain about his apparent anger problem, which was partially touched off by news that he'd once called his wife a "cunt" in public with very little provocation.

Attention was called to his anger problem, with people being concerned about someone who apparently cannot adequately control their anger being POTUS. People rightly expect those who hold powerful offices to be able to control their negative emotions and act in a responsible manner.

But the comment above betrayed a common mindset that expressing uncontrolled jealousy, especially about infidelity, is not only acceptable, but should be mandatory. They believe controlling jealousy is not only not possible, but that it's not healthy, either.

I couldn't disagree more. Jealousy, like anger, is natural, but it's also a negative emotion that should and can be controlled, especially by someone in a position of power. Just as we don't want someone as President who cannot control their anger, we don't need someone who can't control their jealousy, either.

Hillary gets a thumbs up for me on this one for handling this issue in a mature fashion.

Your thoughts?