the sexism debate is a trap (and it's working)

Sexism didn't cost Hillary Clinton the election.

Yes, she faced misogyny. But she understood - in a way many of her supporters obviously do not - that she could never be credible as a leader* unless she took every smear they threw at her and defeated it and won voters' respect anyway.

Which she did.

Hillary Clinton lost because the DNC did everything in its power to flip the election to its preferred candidate. They fixed the rules to benefit a particular candidate's strategy (which they probably helped design), and then broke those rules anyway. They used their positions of power and authority irresponsibly, even fraudulently (for instance, feigning neutrality even as they took questionable actions to sink one candidate and promote the other). And so on.

Even now, they are working to skew the convention because Obama still hasn't actually won; an actual vote of the superdelegates must be prevented or else the nomination could very well go to the woman who won the popular vote and every big state except one.

Now a lot of women are understandably having issues with the sexism, but that's personal. I wish everyone would please stop projecting onto Hillary**. I'm sorry everyone is just now figuring out that a huge number of husbands, boyfriends, sons, and/or governmental leaders have no respect for women whatsoever. But it really is a separate issue from the more immediate, more urgent problem: there is a hostile takeover of the Democratic party in progress.

I think this is why Barack Obama and his supporters actively insulted the Democratic base, even going out of his way (it seems) to antagonize the same groups that watch the news and protests when things are messed up: so that people would be outraged and upset, and then sexism would be an "issue", and we'd talk about sexism instead of about broken rules or even broken laws.

Then those who are protesting against the stolen convention can be dismissed as sore losers, as emotional, as "just women", because they're "just upset" about the sexism.

If you care about the election - you know, trying to save the country from "Bush's Third Term" - be very careful of anyone, any group, any thing that makes the "movement" lose its focus on what is the real problem and what needs to be done.

If, on the other hand, you wholeheartedly agree that talk of stolen elections must be toned down (or disappeared entirely), then by all means - make this be all about sexism.

Because most of the country already knows (and by the way does not care) that women don't get no respect, so that makes the whole issue of stolen elections go away quite nicely, doesn't it?

It also has the side benefit of feeding the narrative that says only old women voted for Hillary, which helps disappear the entire working class, as well as entire states (PA, WV, KY, etc).

We won't have a female President until we have a woman who can and will stand up to the worst they can throw at her - and still get the job done. Hillary Clinton did just that. Don't take that away from her by repeating (as if it were true) that sexism "cost Hillary Clinton the election".

Misrepresentation and deliberate voter suppression strategies (from elected officials pretending to be neutral) and stolen votes and cherry-picked rules cost Hillary Clinton the election. Not sexism.

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* a leader must lead all the people - including the bad guys. Also, our leader must represent us - not just when we're talking to our allies, but also when we're talking to everyone else.

That is why a leader absolutely must meet the challenge, no matter how unexpected or unusual the situation. An election is a test of leadership. "But the other candidate's test isn't as hard as mine is" is not a viable excuse. The whole point is that there are no excuses. That is the test.

**When you redefine the issue away from "Hillary was hurt" to the more honest "I was hurt - I deserve more respect from my party and from society in general, and I am absolutely shocked at how ok everyone is and was with this!" - then it becomes easier to see how ineffective it is to put this up as a national issue requiring immediate attention.

It's a question of anger leading to action. If you are angry about sexism, what action does that lead to? An election cannot be reversed based on the idea that sexism (or racism, or religious discrimination, or any other form of bigotry) played a role. The only outcomes that can come of the anger over sexism are long-term in nature.