Corporate Media Just Won't Let the 'Clinton Drama' Zombie Die

Posted by Melissa McEwan, Shakesville at 10:17 AM on December 4, 2008.

Eric Boehlert makes a good observation here:

Does Hillary + "drama" = sexist coverage?

Or let me put it this way: Does anybody really think think that if Obama had reached out to a former, high-profile male primary opponent for a senior cabinet position that the press would be all atwitter with incessant and clichéd talk of "drama," which, let's face it, isn't a very far leap to, Hillary's a drama queen.

Like the Campbell Brown commentary about which I posted yesterday, Boehlert's rhetorical is, of course, evident to anyone with the merest capacity for critical thought—so why, despite its being patently obvious, is he the only media critic saying it? (Or one of a precious few, anyway.) No need to answer that. There are 112 pieces linked at the bottom of this post that already do.

One of the most interesting (where interesting = totally fucked up) narratives of this campaign has been the constant promise that Hillary Clinton was going to cause some sort of wild drama: She was going to do anything to ensure the nomination would be hers, she wasn't ever going to drop out of the race, she was going to take it to the convention floor and turn the entire Democratic Convention into a circus, she was going to singlehandedly destroy the Democratic Party, she was going to refuse to endorse Obama, she was going to make the veep slot a condition of her endorsement, she was going to tell her supporters not to vote for him, she was going to refuse to campaign for him, she was going to run on an independent ticket, she was going to thwart his campaign somehow so McCain could win and she could run in 2012, she was going to make life difficult for Obama in the Senate, she was going to refuse a cabinet position if offered...

None of it happened. Not even close.

And yet still, still, the same people who have incessantly predicted "drama" of one sort or another from Hillary Clinton, and who have batted exactly zero, are now positively insistent that her relationship as Secretary of State with President-Elect Obama is going to be "dramatic," despite all evidence to the contrary.

If I had been so utterly wrong, so many times, as the "Drama Queen Clinton" criers have been, the last thing I'd be doing is predicting more drama that will never manifest. I'd be writing an open letter of apology to Hillary Clinton.

Tagged as: sexism, clinton, obama, secretary of state, hillary clinton, hilllary, corporate media suck

Melissa McEwan writes and edits the blog Shakespeare's Sister.