Tuesday, February 26, 2008

Hillary, channel Xena, not Carry Nation!

I feel mostly sad for Hillary Clinton at this point in her campaign. She won't go down without a fight and she's clearly up to it, but to compete with Barack Obama, she is coming across as a scold, not as a champion of justice.

I read somewhere recently that the archetype Hillary should be channeling is Joan of Arc, heroic and daring. Of course, Joan was acting according to what God told her to do (IHHO) and we might not want Hillary to go with that theme.

I rather like the archetype of Xena, warrior princess. She's funny, she's strong, she's willing to knock a few obstreperous types around, she recognizes goodness when she sees it, she has women pals, she's smart, and people don't seem to get weirded out by what she says.

Hillary, at this point, is operating like Carry Nation, the battleaxe who, in the early days of the 20th century, scolded the country for its ills, especially alcohol. Carry Nation was not into hope; she was into punishment. And she punished every tavern owner she could, physically laying into their establishments and destroying property. She had a legitimate gripe---alcohol had damaged her first marriage. But vandalism was her method, and Hillary seems to be using psychic vandalism as her tool these days.

Yep, I think Xena, warrior princess, is a better bet, archetypally, than Carry Nation!

2 comments:

Miss Kitty said...

I totally agree, Ms. K. And it IS sad how she's coming off these days. [shaking head]

Comrade Kevin said...

She will prove to her own undoing, and that is the truly tragic and ironic dynamic of it all.